Media Notes
CBS College Sports has reached carriage deals with Verizon's FiOS service, Bright House Networks and Comcast. The net will debut on each of these carriers throughout this month and December (THE DAILY). The deals will add 4 million subs and see the net's "distribution increase to 29 million homes." The Comcast deal will make the net available on the carrier's Digital Classic tier in Atlanta, Minneapolis and Boston (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 11/17 issue).
DROPPING IN: DAILY VARIETY's Daniel Frankel reported the Ski Channel will launch on December 25 "in front of 15 million digital cable subscribers, with additional video-on-demand distribution deals in place with DirecTV and Verizon's FiOS TV service." The net, which has inked a deal with Mountain Sports Media allowing it to broadcast "ski-themed films from the Warren Miller Entertainment library," will target "mountain-sports enthusiasts with 250 hours of licensed content at start-up" (DAILY VARIETY, 11/17). Ski Channel Chair & CEO Steve Bellamy "had initially hoped to launch the channel earlier this year," but he said that the late launch "allowed the channel to gain more content and availability" (AP, 11/17).
PARTY PROGRAMMING: The AP's David Bauder reported ESPN "plans to ring in 2009 with a motorcycle jump and truck flip in Las Vegas" on New Year's Eve, following last year's motorcycle jump by Robbie Maddison. ESPN VP/Content Development Production Joan Lynch said that the net "plans to air both stunts from Las Vegas without a tape delay." Lynch added that the ESPN show "will break briefly to show the ball drop in Times Square before getting back to the stunts." Lynch noted that last year's New Year's Eve show "brought in more than five million viewers" (AP, 11/17).
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