Media Notes
ESPN Senior VP/College Sports Programming Burke Magnus said that the net is "in 'active negotiations' with Comcast about carrying" ESPNU, and he indicated that the new 15-year rights deal with the SEC "would serve to 'accelerate' the negotiations between the parties." MULTICHANNEL NEWS' Mike Reynolds noted ESPNU does not have a carriage deal with Comcast, which leaves a "major hole in its carriage lineup" within the SEC footprint. ESPNU also does not have deals with top 10 MSOs Cablevision and Cable One (MULTICHANNEL.com, 9/1).
OTHER CARRIAGE NEWS: In Iowa, Chris Johnson reported a "small part of northwest Iowa ... will not be included in the first phase of the new agreement" between the Big Ten Network and Mediacom. Mediacom Communications Dir Phyllis Peters "couldn't make any guarantees, but the areas are expected to be addressed in the immediate future" (Ft. Dodge MESSENGER, 8/30)....Golf Channel has reached a new agreement with Dish Network, putting the net’s domestic distribution total past 80 million customers. The net will be included in Dish’s “America’s Top 200” programming package (Golf Channel).
NEW EDITION: MLBAM has released an updated version of MLB.com At Bat, its baseball-specific application for the iPhone and iPod Touch. The revision includes a full-featured version of MLB.com Gameday, its live graphic representation of every MLB game with running pitch-by-pitch accounts. The application update is being distributed free, while the full version of MLB.com At Bat carries a one-time $4.99 fee and also includes live boxscores, game summaries, video highlights and other features (Eric Fisher, SportsBusiness Journal).
TIGHT RACE: Nielsen and Integrated Media Measurement reported that ESPN’s coverage of the July 14 MLB Home Run Derby tied with Fox’ “House” as the top primetime shows for out-of-home viewing from June 30-August 10. NBC’s coverage of the Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony topped the “specials category” with 1.1 million out-of-home viewers (BROADCASTINGCABLE.com, 9/2).
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