Media Notes
CABLEFAX DAILY cites sources as saying that the FCC Enforcement Bureau "has recommended that Comcast not be required to carry MASN in some systems" in Virginia and Pennsylvania where it carries Comcast SportsNet. The bureau filed comments Friday "on the merits of MASN's program access complaint against Comcast, but it will be awhile before redacted comments are available to the public." While the bureau's recommendation is "good news for Comcast, the ball is still in play," as FCC Chief Administrative Law Judge Richard Sippel "still has to make his recommendation on the case, and then the FCC's 5 commissioners get to have the final say" (CABLEFAX DAILY, 8/4).
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Writer Criticizes ESPN Announcer For Teasing
Race Action During Sunday's Rain Delay |
TELL IT LIKE IT IS: In Charlotte, Jim Utter writes of ESPN's coverage of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Sunoco Red Cross Pennsylvania 500, which was postponed by rain from Sunday to Monday, "I understand the need to try to keep the television audience engaged, but at least half a dozen times during Sunday afternoon's telecast on ESPN of the rain-delay, Allen Bestwick made references -- typically going to commercial breaks -- in which he claimed we were only 'minutes away' from green-flag racing." Utter: "At no time Sunday afternoon was the race 'minutes away' -- never. What was wrong with simply saying what everyone else knew about the situation -- that no one knew when the race would start" (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 8/4).
HOLDING THE LINE: The WALL STREET JOURNAL's Matthew Futterman reports talks between ESPN and Telemundo to "gain a wider platform for the World Cup qualifying match between the U.S. and Mexico in Mexico City on Aug. 12 are dead." Telemundo "owns the U.S. broadcast rights for Mexican national team games played in Mexico, and it doesn't want to let competitors in on the action" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 8/4).
NOTES: SI.com's Richard Deitsch wrote of ESPN's decision to lift its ban on N.Y. Post staffers, "The network's senior management made a thoughtful and correct reversal against a group that had no part in the Post's cheap and smarmy decision to splash blurred nude stills of [Erin] Andrews" (SI.com, 8/3)....NBA Digital said it has surpassed 1 million total downloads of its various mobile applications, most notably NBA Game Time and NBA Highlights. The applications were released beginning this past spring on a variety of wireless platforms including the iPhone and Android (Eric Fisher, SportsBusiness Journal)....FS Ohio has hired AHL Lake Erie Monsters play-by-play announcer John Michael to "host home postgame shows, and do rinkside reporting and conduct interviews all season" for its Blue Jackets coverage (Cleveland PLAIN DEALER, 8/4).
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