Miller (l) said NBC has been trying to convince him to remain on the broadcast team through '19GETTY IMAGES
The AP's Doug Ferguson noted NBC's Johnny Miller "will keep busy" four out of the next five weeks, as he will be in the booth for PGA Tour playoff events and then "into the Ryder Cup." He also will be at the Waste Management Phoenix Open in '19. But after that, Miller is "not sure" if he will continue working. He said, "It's been 50 years on the road, and part of me is saying, 'That's enough.' I haven't gotten to that point yet. They're still trying to convince me to keep going. ... Right now, I am planning on scaling down even more. We'll see what happens. Maybe I will say, 'Hey, one more year'" (AP, 8/29).
THE BIDS ARE IN? VANITY FAIR's Joe Pompeo noted after Meredith Corp. in March "put four of its newly acquired magazines up for sale" -- Time, Fortune, Money, and SI -- there was "talk of buyers being locked down by the end of June." But the "casual June 30 timeline turned out to be a fantasy." Sources said that Meredith is "in the ninth inning" of auctions, down to a "small handful of final suitors with each of the sales" (VANITYFAIR.com, 8/29). In N.Y., Keith Kelly cites a source as saying that Alex Rodriguez is "not in the hunt" for SI after reports said that he may be interested in the property (N.Y. POST, 8/31).
ROCKY ROAD: AWFUL ANNOUNCING's Matt Yoder wrote things "aren’t looking promising" for beIN Sports as the the cable net has suffered programming losses, "most notably," ESPN this month winning Serie A rights. Additionally, after being "dropped by Comcast and Verizon Fios earlier this month, the channel has now also been dropped by AT&T, which means it won’t appear on DirecTV or U-Verse" (AWFULANNOUNCING.com, 8/29).
BUILDING EQUITY: THE INFORMATION's Toonkel & Dotan cited a source as saying that streaming service FuboTV is "looking to raise" around $200M, which would be the "second fundraising by the firm in just four months," following a $75M round announced in April. A source said that the money would "largely be used to market the service." FuboTV has been "promoting itself with television ads" and is reportedly "planning its second national TV campaign in September." It had "around 160,000 subscribers as of June, well behind better-known rivals such as YouTube TV and Hulu with Live TV" (THEINFORMATION.com, 8/30).
