THE BIG LEAD's Ryan Glasspiegel noted new ESPN President Jimmy Pitaro addressed employees at a town hall meeting in Bristol yesterday, saying there will be an "intersection between sports and politics," and the net "will cover that fairly." Pitaro added, "We are focused on serving the sports fan." He also said he has "already had conversations with the NFL" following a SportsBusiness Journal report on their relationship. Pitaro: "It's a complicated relationship. Because it's complicated there will be days when we agree and days when we don't agree. There is a very very solid foundation that exists between ESPN -- years and years of success -- and also, on top of that, trust." He added, "There have been issues. It would be ridiculous to say there haven't been. The leadership team is focused in moving that in the right direction, including me" (TWITTER.com, 3/14).
TOP OF THE LINE: ESPN.com's Dan Rafael reported there will be "even more Top Rank boxing events coming to ESPN as part of its long-term agreement with the network." In addition to the cards being televised on ESPN on a regular basis since the deal began in July, Top Rank and the network "have amended their agreement to add another 12 cards that will stream exclusively on the ESPN+ subscription app that is due to launch this spring." Pitaro made the announcement at yesterday's town hall. Top Rank President Todd duBoef "declined to comment ... on Pitaro's announcement other than to confirm the plans" (ESPN.com, 3/14).
DATA MANAGEMENT: MARKETING DAILY's Chuck Martin reported ESPN has "agreed to use the Veritone artificial intelligence platform to capture, monitor and measure ESPN’s sports talk programming and live coverage." The AI platform "also will be used for television and podcasts and will provide real-time transparency, verification and analytics for ad campaigns." ESPN Radio has worked with Veritone since '16 for "analyzing its national network programming" (MEDIAPOST.com, 3/12).
