In Portland, Mike Rogoway wrote subscription video service Evoca TV affirmed that it "will cease operating at the end of December." Evoca offered a “bundle of local channels and regional sports on broadcaster Root Sports for $30 a month,” but the platformed also offered “fewer of the popular programs and cable networks to draw viewers, and apparently couldn’t establish a financially sustainable niche.” The Boise-based company faced an end-of-year shutdown unless it “secured more funding” (Portland OREGONIAN, 12/30).
HAHN SUSPENDED: In Raleigh, Luke DeCock reported N.C. State radio broadcaster Gary Hahn was “suspended indefinitely after making a reference to ‘illegal aliens’ in El Paso, Texas” during the team’s loss to Maryland in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl on Friday. Hahn was updating listeners to the score of the Sun Bowl, which was taking place at the same time as the Duke’s Bowl, and said, “down among all the illegal aliens in El Paso it’s UCLA 14 and Pittsburgh 6.” Hahn, who has called N.C. State football and men’s basketball since 1991, is an “employee of Learfield Communications, the N.C. State broadcast rightsholder, and was disciplined by that company” (Raleigh NEWS & OBSERVER, 12/31).
VIEW FROM THE ICE: In Toronto, Kevin McGran wrote if TSN on-ice camera operator Nathan Eidse is “doing his job correctly, no one is ever going to notice him” at the IIHF World Junior Championship in Eastern Canada. Eidse wears “all white” while “skating among the players: before and after the game as well as during stoppages” in play, for “close-ups unlike any other in televised hockey.” Eidse "captures reaction to a goal or a penalty while doing his best to blend into the background.” Other networks have “used camera operators on the ice, but not camouflaged and not as frequently” as TSN does for international hockey, and the “angle has been part of the world juniors since 2019” (TORONTO STAR, 12/31).
