Sports Emmys crowd hails Johnson, Ohlmeyer

Turner Broadcasting’s Ernie Johnson left the stage of the 28th annual Sports Emmys last week to a standing ovation after taking home the night’s final award for outstanding studio host. The honor signified the most poignant moment of the evening, since Johnson was diagnosed with cancer last yea ...

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SEC will look to Big Ten Net for a signal

Now that the Big 12 Conference has decided against launching its own network — for now — all eyes are on the Southeastern Conference, which will see its media rights agreements with CBS, ESPN, FSN and Lincoln Financial expire after the 2008-09 season. But the SEC’s focus will be squarely on ...

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Bellamy takes a run at VOD

The Tennis Channel’s co-founder is launching a video-on-demand channel for mountain sports, and he already has signed a long-term affiliation deal with the country’s second-largest cable operator, Time Warner Cable. The VOD and broadband-only Ski Channel will be free ...

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De La Hoya to be biggest hit in pay-per-view history

Oscar De La Hoya is expected to become the all-time highest-grossing attraction in pay-per-view history following his May 5 bout with Floyd Mayweather Jr. Since his first PPV bout in 1995, De La Hoya’s fights have brought in $492 million in revenue from 17 PPV events, which is just $53 mil ...

Ad buyers happy with tour’s debut on Golf Channel

Despite a drop-off in the overall number of viewers that are watching the PGA Tour’s early-round coverage this season, a sampling of top ad buyers are calling the first three months of the tour’s 15-year Golf Channel deal a qualified success. ESPN and USA Network, last year’s partners, had ...

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Net adjusts to life without the Orioles

Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic is confident that its strategy of focusing on local sports ultimately will pay off as it goes through its first season in 22 years without Baltimore Orioles baseball games. Programs such as “Washington Post Live” are part of Comcast Spo ...

ABC/ESPN figure skating deal thaws

ABC/ESPN ended a 43-year relationship with the U.S. Figure Skating Association, citing a steep ratings decline, concern over viewer demographics and a change in network strategy that emphasizes higher-profile sports. The loss of ABC/ESPN is a blow for the budget o ...

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Big Ten Net’s subscriber fee shocks MSOs

With the ink barely dry and tempers slowly calming after cable’s rancorous deal with MLB over the Extra Innings package, the industry’s biggest operators are shifting their sights on their next big sports media battle: the Big Ten Network, which launches in August. The n ...

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With Extra Innings deals done, quest for sign-ups in full swing

Major League Baseball’s Extra Innings saga has moved from negotiations, dueling press releases and congressional hearings to the simpler operational logistics of customer sign-ups, but not without an angry parting shot from satellite company EchoStar Communications. ...

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DirecTV to serve up Tennis Channel

The Tennis Channel will see its distribution nearly double this summer after a deal with DirecTV, the most significant carriage deal the four-year-old network has signed. In late summer, DirecTV will launch the Tennis Channel on its Choice Xtra package, which has more than 8 million subscr ...

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