West Coast viewers were unable to watch Friday's Novak Djokovic-Roger Federer French Open men's semifinal match live on NBC, as the network opted to tape delay its broadcast. An NBC spokesperson would not address why the decision was made to tape delay the match to West Coast viewers, but emailed a statement saying, "For the areas of the country that are not getting the match live on television, there is a free live stream available on NBCSports.com." NBC will broadcast the match at 11am in all time zones. (John Ourand, THE DAILY).
SHIFTING GEARS? In England, Christian Sylt wrote F1 Management Chair Bernie Ecclestone has signaled that the series "could drop its free‑to‑air television coverage on the BBC since the exposure it gets through the pay‑per‑view broadcaster Sky is sufficient on its own." Ecclestone's comments come after Thursday's announcement that the rights to broadcast live F1 races in Italy "have been sold to Sky Italia in a deal which further reduces the sport's free-to-air coverage." This year, "for the first time in the modern history of F1, not all races are being broadcast in full on free-to-air TV in the U.K." Splitting the coverage "has already dented the BBC's viewing figures and this could push the F1 rights exclusively into Sky's hands when the current joint contract expires" in '18 (GUARDIAN.co.uk, 6/7).
RINGSIDE SEATS: DAILY VARIETY's Jon Weisman noted Showtime is "unveiling a new sports documentary series, 'All Access', premiering June 13." The show "will be largely centered, at least at the outset, on figures from boxing and mixed martial arts." The first episode will focus on boxer Victor Ortiz, "who has been preparing to fight Josesito Lopez in a Showtime-televised bout June 23, and will replace a 'Fight Camp 360' program on the event." The program "will also air on sibling cabler CBS Sports Network, in addition to Showtime Extreme and Showtime on Demand" (VARIETY.com, 6/7).
BROADCAST NEWS: Louisville-based WDRB-Fox this week announced that former Louisville Courier-Journal writers Rick Bozich and Eric Crawford are joining WDRB Sports. WDRB said Bozich and Crawford "can be read and seen exclusively on WDRB.com and WDRB News" (WDRB). Crawford wrote, "I loved being in the newspapers. I did not love the newspaper business." He wrote, under the header "Why I Walked Away From The Only Job I Ever Wanted Growing Up," the "shrinking of a newspaper I grew up with and loved was not something I cared to watch from the inside any longer" (WDRB.com, 6/5).
POINT OF VIEW: In N.Y, Hugo Lindgren noted Grantland's com's Chuck Klosterman has been named "full-time Ethicist" for the N.Y. Times Magazine beginning Sunday (NYTIMES.com, 6/7). An ESPN spokesperson said that Klosterman's new position "won’t affect his role at Grantland at all" (THE DAILY).
