On Long Island, Neil Best notes Fox will "take the plunge" into weekday morning radio Tuesday with "First Things First" on FS1, starring Cris Carter, Nick Wright and Jenna Wolfe. They "hope to stand out" from 6:30-9:30am ET by "offering a compelling mix of personality and experience." ESPN’s mornings long have centered on Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic, whose "18-year-old radio show is simulcast on ESPN2." But that will "change soon, with Trey Wingo replacing Greenberg on radio in November and Greenberg starting his own morning television show on ESPN in January." Fox sees that as a "chance to refashion viewers’ routines, and to establish a new beachhead in a daytime slate built around debate, conversation and personality" (NEWSDAY, 9/1).
DODGER THAT: Media writer Jim Carlisle noted seven of the Dodgers’ final 30 regular-season games "will be on TV channels other than SportsNet LA." Three are slated to air on KTLA-CW, one on Fox, one on ESPN and one on TBS. The TBS game -- Sept. 10 against the Rockies -- is "especially rare because those games are usually blacked out in home markets" (JIMCARLISLE.WORDPRESS.com, 8/31).
THE DREAM STREAM: The WALL STREET JOURNAL's Ben Fritz noted Disney’s recent announcement that it will "launch an ESPN streaming service" in '18 and a family-friendly one in '19 will "one day be remembered as the inflection point in how we consume media." After years of "talking about how they needed to adapt their business models to be more appealing to consumers but doing nothing because the checks from Comcast and DirecTV to maintain the status quo were too enticing, Hollywood’s entertainment giants are rushing in the opposite direction." The more entertainment companies start "dividing their content into separate, and separately priced, services, the harder it could be to find what you love and the faster the costs for your household will add up." The future is "ideal for the single person who just wants to watch sports, or Disney" movies. Many of use, though, "live in households with people who have varying tastes" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 8/31).
