Media Notes

ABC/ESPN Moving All But Three Of Its 17 Sprint Cup Races To Cable This Year

SCENEDAILY.com's Bob Pockrass wrote the "problem" with ABC/ESPN moving all but three of its 17 NASCAR Sprint Cup races this year to cable is that NASCAR and the circuit's tracks "have been touting the fact that for the last three years 24 Cup races have been on network television." But now that is "not the case," as there "will now be 20 points races on cable and 16 on network television." Pockrass: "No one should blame people for being angry and having the perception that things are better on network than on cable. It has been NASCAR people who sold us that theory in the first place" (SCENEDAILY.com, 1/14).

AIR WAVES: In Pittsburgh, Bob Smizik reports a new sports-talk radio station in the city is “in the advanced planning stages and could be on the air as early as next month.” The CBS Radio Group is “planning to launch the station on the FM dial,” either on WBZW or WZPT. Pittsburgh’s two current sports-talk stations – ESPN Radio 1250 and Fox Sports Radio 970 – both are on the AM dial. It is unknown “how much local programming will be carried by the new station,” but a source indicated that it “will be considerable, and in that respect comparable to 1250 ESPN” (POST-GAZETTE.com, 1/15).

BROTHERLY LOVE: HBO Sports has begun production on “Broad Street Bullies,” a documentary about the ’74 and ’75 Stanley Cup-champion Flyers teams. The documentary is set to debut during the Stanley Cup Playoffs in May (HBO Sports).