TSN announced Thursday that it has "grabbed the Canadian broadcast rights" to the NCAA men's basketball tournament, and will show games on both TSN and TSN2 starting March 17. In addition to game coverage, TSN also will "produce original studio shows along with live cut-ins to games." Newly signed analyst Dan Shulman is expected "to have a role" with the broadcasts. The GLOBE & MAIL's Bruce Dowbiggin notes it is a "bitter loss for The Score, which had clung to the tournament as a centrepiece franchise even as its other properties disappeared" (GLOBE & MAIL, 2/25).
TALK IS CHEAP: In St. Louis, Dan Caesar reports the MLB Cardinals will bump syndicated talk show host Rush Limbaugh from his spot on KMOX-AM next month as the team returns to the radio station "after a five-season absence." KMOX will "carry the full schedule" of Cardinals games that are broadcast during Spring Training. KMOX Sports Dir and broadcaster Ron Jacober said pre-empting Limbaugh for Spring Training "never would have happened before." But Caesar notes part of the Cardinals' deal to return to the station "includes the provision that the exhibition games air live" (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 2/25).
MISSING THE TURN: In San Diego, Jay Posner writes Fox "had some good sound and pictures during last week’s Daytona 500," but the network "totally mangled the post-race analysis, mainly because it didn’t have any." Showing winner Trevor Bayne's "emotion was great, but at some point Fox needed to remember this was a sporting event and fans wanted to see just how Bayne won." Posner: "If that had been a baseball or NFL game, we would have any number of replays. In this case, we got zero" (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 2/25).
WITH THIS RING... NASCAR Media Group has reached a distribution agreement with the Style Network for a behind-the-scenes special chronicling driver Kyle Busch's wedding. The show, "Fast and Fabulous: A NASCAR Wedding," will premiere on Style March 5 at 8:00pm ET. It will follow Busch's fiancee, Samantha Sarcinella, from her search for a wedding dress to her walk down the aisle. It also will show moments from Busch's and Sarcinella's bachelor and bachelorette parties. Busch and Sarcinella approached NASCAR Media Group about filming the lead-up to their nuptials. NASCAR Media Group spoke to several networks before reaching a distribution agreement with Style late last year (Tripp Mickle, SportsBusiness Journal).
