Media Notes
On Long Island, Neil Best reviews MLB Network's eight-hour coverage of "MLB Tonight" from Tuesday and wrote the show offered a "potpourri of real-time, no-frills baseball, especially on a busy night." The MLB Net studio hosts talked to Pirates P Matt Capps via phone for four minutes, 36 seconds, "stunning for a guy most fans have not heard of." The sport "has not had anything quite like this on TV," as ESPN "has other sports to cover" and local networks focus on the home team. That "lack of local focus is one of the network's challenges in a notoriously provincial sport," but it also is a way of "differentiating itself in a world awash in Yankees, Red Sox and Mets games and news" (NEWSDAY, 4/24).
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| TSN2 Will Air Five Blue Jays Games This Season |
HOME SWEET HOME: In Dallas, Barry Horn reports the Cowboys and KRLD-FM Thursday announced the station will become the team's flagship in a deal that is for at least 10 years. Terms of the deal, including the exact length, were not disclosed, but a source said that KRLD "will not pay a rights fee." Instead, the Cowboys and KRLD will "have a revenue-sharing agreement" (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 4/24).
TAKING FLIGHT: TSN2 will exclusively broadcast five Blue Jays games this season, beginning with a May 13 contest against the Red Sox (TSN). In Toronto, Chris Zelkovich writes TSN2 "has become a flashpoint for sports fans because it's not available to Rogers Cable customers," and TSN President Phil King said that he is "hopeful but not counting on a settlement to end a dispute that has gone on since TSN2 launched in August." Zelkovich notes "all other major cable and satellite systems in Canada carry the channel" (TORONTO STAR, 4/24). Meanwhile, the GLOBE & MAIL cites sources as saying that NFL Network games this season "will air in Canada on Rogers Sportsnet instead of TSN." TSN "will continue to air games on Sunday and Monday nights" (GLOBE & MAIL, 4/24).
REALITY CHECK: In Toronto, Rosie DiManno reported the CBC this fall will air "The Battle of the Blade," a new reality series that will "match up hockey players with figure skaters in pairs competition." Players will be "voted off the program from week to week," similar to ABC's "Dancing With The Stars." DiManno wrote it "appears unlikely ... that active pros will be tapped for the gig" (TORONTO STAR, 4/23).
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