HBO for the first time in its 39-year history will telecast a boxing weigh-in live when Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez hit the scales Friday at 6:00pm ET. Jim Lampley will host the 30-minute telecast from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas alongside Max Kellerman, Emanuel Steward and Harold Lederman. The show will be streamed live at insidehboboxing.com (John Ourand, THE DAILY).
FINDING NETWORK HEADQUARTERS: In San Jose, Jon Wilner notes the Pac-12 Conference is “in the process of choosing a Bay Area location for its massive broadcasting center and hiring an executive team to run the TV and digital networks.” Once those issues are resolved in the next few weeks, the conference “will begin developing the programming grid -- the specific content that will fill the national and regional networks 24/7.” Live events “will provide the foundation for programming.” One source of content will be what Wilner described as “Pac-12 Classics, the league’s version of ESPN’s offering that will feature replays of the best games in conference history” (MERCURYNEWS.com, 11/8).
SAME ROUTINE: The GLOBE & MAIL’s Bruce Dowbiggin wrote under the header “TSN Refusing To Push CFL Envelope.” He noted “many of the features that elevated” the CFL and its TV product “have been around for a few seasons without much change.” Having TSN as exclusive broadcast partner “was a financial success for the CFL.” But “part of this season’s malaise may have been TSN’s monopoly status.” TSN “could and should look at freshening the product for next season” (GLOBE & MAIL, 11/7).
