ESPN named Spirited Media CEO Jim Brady its public editor, a position formerly known as ombudsman. He will assume his new duties Nov. 15 and will serve an 18-month term. Brady previously served as sports editor of Digital Ink, the first new media undertaking of the Washington Post. Previous ESPN ombudsmen include George Solomon ('05-07), Le Anne Schreiber ('07-'08), Don Ohlmeyer ('09-'10), The Poynter Institute ('11-'12) and Robert Lipsyte ('13-'14) (ESPN).
OLD MEETS NEW: Wimbledon Head of Digital & Content Alexandra Willis said that the event is "working on an app for the new Apple TV." She said that the app was "still very much 'blue sky thinking' but added that this could be a chance for the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club to cement its status as an early adopter." Willis said that a Wimbledon app "wouldn’t show live gameplay, but could feature archive footage or analysis." MARKETING magazine's Shona Ghosh noted this is the "first year Wimbledon has funnelled digital budget into social media, with experiments in Periscope, Snapchat and Facebook video" (MARKETINGMAGAZINE.co.uk, 11/4).
SOME COMPETITION: In N.Y., Bob Raissman writes the Mets "now control the media landscape the Yankees have owned for many moons." Commanding the spotlight is "extremely beneficial to the bottom line, especially when it comes to selling tickets and producing TV ratings." But it is "unlikely" Yankees GM Brian Cashman "will go out and sign a big-ticket, larger-than-life star who could juice ticket sales and TV ratings, which would have been George Steinbrenner’s reaction." While the Mets' average season rating on SNY "did not surpass" the Yankees’ average on YES Net, it was the Mets’ most-watched season since '10, and the Mets are "positioned to surpass those numbers" in '16 (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 11/6).
DIGITAL AGE: Campus Insiders has reached an agreement with American Sports Network to air the inaugural Nova Home Loans Arizona Bowl Game on Dec. 29. ASN is making it available across Sinclair's TV stations, other linear broadcasters and RSNs. The game was announced by the Arizona Sports & Entertainment Commission as the first-ever "digitally-focused" bowl game (Campus Insiders).
