THE STREET's Jeff Berman reported Fox' sales "related to sports" in the company's Q2 earnings report were "discouraging." Bernstein Research VP & Senior Analyst of U.S. Media Todd Juenger in a research note wrote, "The surprise for us was ad revenue being down for sports." 21st Century Fox COO Chase Carey on Wednesday acknowledged that Sunday NFL ad revenue "was down" in Q2, while its "marquee football game ad revenue was down a lot." But Macquarie Securities Senior Media Analyst Tim Nollen "cautioned against putting too much weight into one quarterly report." Nollen said, "If anything, next year maybe, they have a series of really good games and ratings are really good versus this. I don't think anyone questions the value of owning sports rights" (THESTREET.com, 2/5).
SAME SAPP STORY: In N.Y., Phil Mushnick writes the person at NFL Network "who should have been fired was the one who hired Warren Sapp." Sapp on Monday was arrested in Phoenix on charges of soliciting a prostitute and assault. There was "nothing in Sapp’s personal and professional file and profile to indicate he was anything but a conspicuous, all-day, all-night, on- and off-the-field (ejections from games count as both) conspicuous creep." Mushnick: "As they say on let’s-not-go-there TV, 'It’s well-documented'" (N.Y. POST, 2/6).
PEOPLE & PERSONALITIES: In Chicago, Ed Sherman reports WBBM-AM, the new radio outlet for the Cubs, "has been actively looking to hire a third person to join Pat Hughes and Ron Coomer on the game broadcasts." A decision "is expected shortly on who will host the pre- and postgame shows as well as provide score updates during games." Judd Sirott, who "filled the role last year, is staying" at WGN-AM "to concentrate on his Blackhawks responsibilities" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 2/6)....ESPN.com's Dan Rafael reported CBSSN's Dana Jacobson will be the "host of the monthly cards" for Spike TV's "Premier Boxing Champions" series (ESPN.com, 2/5)....AL.com columnist Kevin Scarbinsky will begin a new afternoon weekday radio show Monday on Alabama-based WNSP-FM. It will also be streamed live on AL.com and can be heard on the WNSP app (AL.com, 2/5).
