USA TODAY's Michael McCarthy reported ESPN is keeping Jalen Rose "off the air after a report found the NBA basketball analyst waited almost three weeks to tell his employers about his arrest in Michigan on suspicion of drunk driving." ESPN's new ombudsman, the Poynter Institute, Thursday "published a report blaming Rose for not informing his bosses in Bristol, Conn. about his run-in with the cops for weeks," but ESPN VP/PR Josh Krulewitz said that ESPN "made the decision to pull Rose before Poynter issued its report." Rose "apologized for his late night run-in with the law" in a statement last week (USATODAY.com, 4/1).
TWITTER ME THIS: Mavericks Owner Mark Cuban yesterday posted a blog entry under the header, "Does ESPN Have A Twitter Problem?" Cuban: "In the past, sports fans first stop in the search for sports news would be ESPN.com. Twitter changed all that. Twitter means we don't have to go to ESPN.com, we just check our twitter stream." ESPN "responded," as its reporters "started tweeting." But it "hasn't worked." Cuban: "ESPN.com reporters haven't had a lot of success getting followers on Twitter. Some columnists like Bill Simmons have. The vast majority of their reporters have under 100k followers and many of those, as best I can tell, have under 10k. ... Their deficiency in twitter followers is not for lack of trying. Over the past 9 months or so, their reporters are becoming more and more like tweeting columnists and less and less like tweeting reporters" (BLOGMAVERICK.com, 4/3). ESPN said during January and February, ESPN Digital Media is up 25% year-to-year in average minute audience, meaning the number of people using one of its digital platforms in each minute of the day. The number of unique visitors using ESPN.com and ESPN Mobile Web each day was up 13% for ESPN.com (8.6 million people/day) and 58% for ESPN Mobile Web (3.8 million/day) during the same two months (THE DAILY).
NO SIGNAL: In London, Nick Clark reported hopes that people "would be able to use their mobile phones on the underground in time for the Olympics were dashed" Thursday night, "after the UK's largest mobile operators said the work could not be done in time." O2, Everything Everywhere, Vodafone and 3UK "dropped the bombshell to Mayor of London Boris Johnson and London Underground in a meeting" Thursday. One source close to the networks said it was "just too difficult in the time." Still, it is "likely that mobile services will be brought to the underground following" the '12 Games (London INDEPENDENT, 4/1).
STATUS QUO: In Denver, Dusty Saunders reports Broncos radio play-by-play announcer Dave Logan "has signed a three-year contract to continue broadcasting the team's games" on KOA-AM. Analyst Brian Griese "will return for at least one more year" (DENVER POST, 4/4).
