ADWEEK's Jason Lynch noted CBS has "settled on its programming to follow Super Bowl LIII." The net will debut "The World’s Best," its new global talent competition hosted by James Corden and featuring Drew Barrymore, RuPaul Charles and Faith Hill as judges. This is the "second consecutive time that CBS has looked outside the scripted space" for its post-Super Bowl programming. In '16, the net "aired a live telecast" of "The Late Show" (ADWEEK.com, 10/17).
WORLD VIEW: Celtics Managing Partner Wyc Grousbeck, speaking on the global reach of the NBA, noted the positive impact of having the vast majority of players active on social media, but said what is "more important is the digital reachout to our fans and digitization of our games." That is because the league earns "hundreds and hundreds of millions in revenue from streaming our games in China alone, and all over the U.S and internationally." Basketball has "grown into a global sport, alongside soccer, and a lot of that has been because of digital technology" ("Pro Rata," Axios, 10/16).
FILLING A VOID: In Detroit, Lynn Henning notes the Tigers and FS Detroit this offseason will try to find a new play-by-play announcer who can "knead a new and happy relationship with Detroit’s huge TV audience." If they "choose to stay at home, then it makes sense" to go with Matt Shepard, who "did terrific work" during the past year as Mario Impemba’s fill-in. But it would "make more sense to simply move" radio voice Dan Dickerson to TV. The only "hang-up there, in the bosses’ view, is that even in 2018 a big-league baseball team’s radio presence is so valued and so important that they aren’t interested in jiggling some essential broadcast bedrock" (DETROIT NEWS, 10/18).
