Media Notes

The N.Y. TIMES’ Richard Perez-Pena reports the Wall Street Journal is “making plans to start a sports page and move to the Midtown offices of its corporate parent, the News Corporation.” People at the paper who have been briefed on the plan said that it is “very likely that a sports page, possibly tucked into Personal Journal, will be created in the next few months. But they cautioned that it was not yet clear how often the page would appear or what kinds of articles it would contain” (N.Y. TIMES, 1/29).

CONE: In N.Y., Richard Sandomir reports former Yankees P David Cone is “nearing completion of a deal to work as an analyst for the YES Network.” Cone, who was a part-time analyst for the net in ’02, is expected to make “at least 50 appearances for YES in the booth and the studio” (N.Y. TIMES, 1/29). Cone may also serve as host of the weekly “Yankees on Deck” (N.Y. POST, 1/29).

NOTES: The Ravens and Hearst have agreed to terms on a new four-year deal that will allow WBAL-AM and WIYY-FM to continue broadcasting all Ravens games, while WBAL-NBC will now air Ravens preseason games and a lineup of Ravens TV shows, including NFL Draft and training camp specials (Ravens).... ESPN and XM Satellite Radio will rebrand XM channel 141 as ESPN Xtra on February 4. The channel will enhance its current schedule of ESPNews programming with new shows and specials (ESPN)....In Chicago, Philip Hersh writes NBC’s “truth booth” during the U.S. Figure Skating Championships "was a flop." The concept was to create a “place where the skaters would talk about performances,” but with “no one to ask questions, the skaters just rambled on.” The “best thing about the NBC broadcasts were the post-mortems. Dick Button was on his game, and Bob Costas knew how to tweak Button for more information” (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 1/29).

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