The WALL STREET JOURNAL’s Hagey & Jannarone cite sources as saying that Time Warner is “in talks to divest most of its Time Inc. magazine group in a deal with Meredith Corp.” Time Warner “would retain its flagship newsweekly Time, along with Sports Illustrated and Fortune.” But the “rest of its magazines, including People, InStyle and Real Simple, would end up combined with Meredith's titles.” UBS analyst John Janedis estimated that Time, SI and Fortune “account for less than 10% of Time Inc.’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization” (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 2/14). In N.Y., Chozick & De La Merced note keeping Time, Fortune and SI "would allow Time Warner to maintain its name and historical roots, at least until a buyer with interest in the remaining titles emerged" (NYTIMES.com, 2/13).
EAST COAST BIAS? YAHOO SPORTS’ Mike Oz wrote, "For the first time in a long time, the West Coast is the center of the baseball universe.” The Dodgers and Angels are “super teams,” while the Giants are the reigning World Series champs and the A's are one of MLB's “most promising young teams." But when Fox released its schedule of Saturday afternoon national games for the '13 MLB season, "only the Dodgers" represent the West Coast among the eight teams with the most appearances. Oz: “Do we really need FIVE Red Sox vs. Yankees games on Saturday this season?” The West Coast is “what most people will be watching," but apparently "not on Saturday afternoons" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 2/13).
GETTING THEIR KICKS: The MLS Dynamo announced 27 games this season will air on Comcast SportsNet Houston, CSN2 and KPRC-NBC. CSN Houston will produce all matches in HD, with 20 of those matches airing live on CSN Houston or CSN2. KPRC will carry six matches live (Dynamo). Meanwhile, the MLS Earthquakes announced that KLIV-AM and KZSF-AM this year will again cover all 34 games in English and Spanish. KLIV's Anthony Passarelli returns for his second year with the Earthquakes and will be joined for all home games by former MLSer Chris Dangerfield. KZSF's Carlos Cesar Rivera returns for his sixth season (Earthquakes).
THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS: One World Sports yesterday announced a partnership with the Nippon Television Network Corporation to bring the Nippon League Yomiuri Giants to North America. The agreement provides One World Sports exclusive North American rights to broadcast 72 Giants ’13 regular-season games via television and broadband from March 29 through September. One World Sports on average will broadcast three games per week in primetime (One World Sports).
