In Philadelphia, Bob Fernandez writes Comcast's $40M bid for Sky is a "steaming mess of pros and cons." The deal "could make Comcast the world’s second-largest pay-TV operator." Analysts said that Sky would give Comcast a "global platform for distributing NBCUniversal entertainment and for negotiating global sports rights deals" for the NFL or EPL. But analysts fear that Comcast "could also be mired with Sky’s sluggish satellite-TV business and it might find Europeans unwilling to shell out big bucks for entertainment" (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 3/20).
LIGHTS OUT: In Las Vegas, Alan Snel noted Cox Communications "blocked the non-commercial telecast" of the USL Las Vegas Lights FC's "first-ever regular-season game Saturday, leaving Vegas soccer fans to watch the inaugural franchise game in Fresno on YouTube." The Lights have a "deal with the city of Las Vegas to broadcast Lights games" on KCLV-TV. Lights Owner Brett Lashbrook said that Cox "refused to distribute the Lights game content on Channel 2, arguing the KCLV telecast of a Lights game is commercial in nature." Lashbrook: “It’s been frustrating with Cox” (LVSPORTSBIZ.com, 3/18).
FOR OLD TIME'S SAKE: GOLFWEEK's Kevin Casey noted The Masters’ official YouTube channel last Wednesday "started a playlist" that contains the "full final-round broadcast" of each of the last 50 Masters. The playlist goes back to the final round of the '68 Masters -- which "famously ended with Roberto De Vicenzo accidentally signing for a score one shot higher than he shot and thus missing out on a playoff with Bob Goalby" (GOLFWEEK.com, 3/19).
