McManus Talks About Showtime's Acquisition Of "Inside The NFL"
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McManus Discusses Showtime
Picking Up "Inside The NFL" |
CBS News and Sports President Sean McManus participated in a Q&A with BROADCASTING & CABLE's Marisa Guthrie and discussed Showtime's recent acquisition of "Inside the NFL." When asked how much of the deal was "motivated by Showtime's ability to take a shot at HBO," McManus said, "Any time you have an opportunity to pick up a very high-profile program that heretofore was on one of your competitors, it's a great opportunity. It's one of those shows that has a very loyal following. I'm looking forward to using the heritage and the tradition that the show has and injecting it with new on-air talent, a slightly new approach and really revitalize what is a great institution on cable television." McManus said the show "may use one or two people from CBS Sports," but he is "not just going to make it a spin-off of 'The NFL Today.'" McManus: "I would imagine that if there are four major co-hosts of the show, a maximum of two of those will be from CBS Sports" (BROADCASTING & CABLE, 6/9 issue).
DETHRONED KING: SI.com's Peter King, who also appears on NBC's "Football Night In America," previously was part of the on-air team for "Inside the NFL," but he wrote he "doubt[s] it very much" that he would be back with the program this year. King: "They wouldn't want me. It's more likely this will be a CBS talent-supplied show. I see where profootballtalk.com picks [CBS'] James Brown, Phil Simms and maybe [former NFLer] Michael Strahan to be a possible studio group for the show. I would suggest strongly that they use [CBS'] Charley Casserly, who has done a terrific and insightful job on ['NFL Today'] as the inside-football guy" (SI.com, 6/10).
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