The AP reported the Big East “was working on a plan for members to hand over their most lucrative television rights to the league before Syracuse and Pittsburgh decided to leave” last month. Big East Commissioner John Marinatto said that the league “plans to revive discussions about grant of rights when the conference becomes more stable.” The Big Ten and Pac-12 schools “have granted their rights to the conferences, while Big 12 leaders, in an effort to bring stability to their league, recently agreed to grant their top-tier TV rights to the conference for at least six years.” Marinatto said that the Oct. 2 meeting of Big East presidents in DC “was originally supposed to be about the league's upcoming television negotiations.” The meeting instead “ended up being about how to move on without Pitt and Syracuse.” The conference's deals with ESPN “run through next season” (AP, 10/19).
BIG SCREEN DEBUT: DAILY VARIETY’s David Cohen reports Cinedigm has partnered with the UFC "to bring four UFC events a year to theaters in live 3D.” The initial event in the series, “set for Feb. 4, will mark the first 3D pay-per-view for UFC.” February’s event will “be shown in 120 theaters in the U.S.” Cinedigm did not announce which theater chains will carry the event, but company Chair & CEO Chris McGurk said, “It’ll be broad-based both geographically and in the exhibition footprint” (VARIETY.com, 10/20).
SIGNING OFF: In Vancouver, Ishani Nath reports the CBC has announced “the cancellation of 'Hockey Night in Canada’s' Punjabi-language broadcast.” CBC Media Relations Officer Chris Ball wrote in an e-mail, “We will not be continuing with our Punjabi language broadcast this season as we are unable to secure a sponsor.” The Punjabi edition of the sports program “made hockey accessible to the growing population of Canadians who speak Punjabi -- the fourth most-spoken language in Canada” (Vancouver PROVINCE, 10/20).
PEOPLE & PERSONALITIES: On Long Island, Neil Best wrote SportsNet N.Y. and CBS NFL analyst Kris Jenkins is “one month into his first season as a retired football player and already a budding TV star.” That is because “he is both colorfully quotable and bluntly honest” (NEWSDAY, 10/20)....Former Yahoo Sports college basketball columnist Jason King has joined ESPN.com to cover college basketball (ESPN).
