The NFL Panthers and Time Warner Cable SportsChannel announced a multiyear programming agreement to make the channel the exclusive cable TV home of the team. Starting this month, the outlet will carry 250 hours of annual programming that will air throughout North and South Carolina. This includes preseason games, nightly shows, live postgame coverage and a behind-the-scenes series. The debut episode of "Panthers Camp Confidential" will air July 23 at 6:00pm ET (TWC SportsChannel).
DID VIDEO KILL THE RADIO STAR? In DC, Dan Steinberg noted while the Nationals' TV ratings on MASN are down 34% this season, which is "one of the biggest drops" in MLB, the team's radio ratings on WJFK-FM "are actually up this year, and substantially." Through the team's first 46 games, the average per-game radio audience "was up" 42% among men aged 25-54, and up 40% among all adults aged 25-54, compared with the same period in '13 (WASHINGTONPOST.com, 7/16).
THREE'S COMPANY: In Austin, Kirk Bohls notes a "blockbuster trio" of college football games will be played on the same day in '16, as Alabama and USC yesterday announced that they "will meet at AT&T Stadium" on Sept. 3 of that year. This game "now joins Notre Dame-Texas at Royal-Memorial Stadium and UCLA-Texas A&M at Kyle Field." It is "possible network execs may huddle with the hope of creating a Thursday-Friday-Saturday extravaganza, but for now, it's unknown which networks will carry which of the three games" (AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN, 7/17).
BOOK SHELF: The N.Y. TIMES listed the best-selling sports books for this past June, with former Yankees P Mariano Rivera and co-author Wayne Coffey's "The Closer" taking the top spot. ESPN on-air talent Rick Reilly's book, "Tiger, Meet My Sister," came in at No. 2. Roland Lazenby's "Michael Jordan: The Life" came in at No. 3. The book "When The Game Was Ours," by Basketball HOFers Larry Bird and Magic Johnson plus ESPN's Jackie MacMullan, came in at No. 4. David Epstein's "The Sports Gene" came in at No. 5 (N.Y. TIMES, 7/16).
