PRO FOOTBALL TALK's Charean Williams reported ESPN has hired former NFL ref Jeff Triplette as a "rules analyst," and he will join the "MNF" broadcast with Joe Tessitore, Jason Witten and Booger McFarland. Triplette is "replacing" Gerald Austin, who had "worked for ESPN" since '12. The NFL "steered ESPN to hire Triplette" (PROFOOTBALLTALK.com, 6/20).
LIGHTING THEIR OWN FIRE: In Nashville, Kyle Madson noted the Titans are "offering a rare look behind the scenes at their preseason workouts in their online series 'Igniting the Fire.'" The team "posted the first preview of the series online Monday morning." The series looks like it will be a "'Hard Knocks' style series, only the Titans will have total control over the production." It will be "interesting to see how detailed it gets and what sort of things they include and leave out" (TENNESSEAN.com, 6/19).
DIGITAL AGE: The FINANCIAL POST's Emily Jackson reported London-based OTT service DAZN is now "negotiating with all TV providers to offer Sunday Ticket again next season, though it's keeping the highlight-reel channel NFL RedZone exclusively online." DAZN CEO James Rushton "doesn't think DAZN's entry into the Canadian market was too soon." Instead, Rushton is "confident it's prime time for online viewing of live sports." Rushton said, "We were pretty much bang on. We just didn't execute as well as we could have" (FINANCIALPOST.com, 6/20).
