USA TODAY's Michael Hiestand asks, "Should networks consider hiring [Saints coach Sean] Payton as an analyst?" Hiestand: "In a word: Yes. That he'd only have a one-year gig is no big deal." As to whether image-conscious networks, "a description that fits all of them," should see Payton as damaged goods, Hiestand writes, "Probably not. As the NFL's punishment of the Saints continues to ricochet around on-air echo chambers, Payton might even end up looking like a sort of victim." The media and fans probably are not going to "settle on Payton as a singular villain and instead conclude he's just another guy who went overboard in a violent sport whose violence has to have some boundaries" (USA TODAY, 3/23).
REALITY CHECK: In N.Y., Bob Raissman writes, "Not even the coming of Tim Tebow" will convince the Jets to be on HBO's "Hard Knocks" this season. Raissman: "Too bad. There would be nothing better than, immediately after they thrashed the Jets for acquiring Tebow, hearing the same self-righteous offended parties pursue the verbal equivalent of jumping off a roof if Jets suits then announced the team would be doing an encore performance" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 3/23).
PROMOTING MAJORS: GOLFWEEK's Beth Ann Baldry notes for the “first time in recent memory, officials from the four LPGA majors recently got on a conference call” with Golf Channel Senior VP/Programming Tom Knapp to “discuss a new branding platform to help elevate exposure around the majors.” LPGA Chief Communications Officer Kraig Kann said that Golf Channel “plans to broadcast a one-hour special on the tour’s major during the week of the Kraft Nabisco.” Baldry writes that type of coverage is “unprecedented for the LPGA” (GOLFWEEK, 3/23 issue).
ALL ABOARD: BROADCASTING & CABLE's George Winslow noted Broadcast Sports has "added three new HD on-board cameras, for a total of four systems, for coverage" of this year's Izod IndyCar Series races. The new cameras, which are "incorporated into the chassis of cars, will first be used" in this weekend's Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on ABC. Most IndyCar races this season will have six cars "equipped with the new four-camera system, a number that will increase" to 12 cars for the Indy 500 (BROADCASTINGCABLE.com, 3/22).
