The IAAF Athletics World Championships have been a joy to watch. A bunch of finals this morning, two won by Americans, Michelle Perry in the 100 Meter hurdles and Bernard Lagat in the 1,500 Meters. Tyson Gay has advanced to the finals of the 200 Meters. And Great Britain won its first gold medal of the meet when Christine Ohuruogu won the 400 Meters. I believe free streaming is available on iaaf.org, the official website of the World Championships so you can watch the events live. I’ve been watching them on WCSN.com where I have a subscription.
Let’s go to the links this morning.
Michael Hiestand of USA Today writes that viewers aren’t quite caught up in FedEx Cup fever as the ratings for The Barclays, the first leg of golf’s “postseason” on CBS were low.
The Sports Media Watch blog reports that David Beckham has helped to bring record ratings for soccer telecasts on ESPN.
Bob Wolfey of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel asks ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit and Larry Coker to assess Wisconsin’s chances in the Big Ten.
Mike Zuidema of the Grand Rapids (MI) Press says it’s the fans who lose when there’s a dispute such as the Big Ten Network and Comcast. John Dempsey of Variety recaps the dispute for his readers. But even with one day before the scheduled launch of the Big Ten Network, Ed Runyan of the Youngstown (OH) Vindicator (I love these newspaper names) says talks are still ongoing to try to get BTN on Time Warner. Comcast slaps the Big Ten Network with a press release touting that it will have the best Big Ten conference games through ESPN and ABC. Wendell Barnhouse of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram says BTN is just one way for the Big Ten Conference to gouge cable subscribers. Dave Hackenberg of the Toledo Blade says BTN will be on Buckeye Cable locally. And Hackenberg also calls the Big Ten Conference greedy.
While the Big Ten Network does have DirecTV and the Dish Network to fall back on, the mtn., the Mountain West Conference’s channel, has next to nothing and Jake Schaller of the Colorado Springs Gazette has MWC Commish Craig Thompson talking with both companies to get his channel online. Robert Gagliardi of the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle also talks with Thompson about his frustration that the mtn. is not on the satellite carriers, but the Big Ten Network is.
Holly Sanders of the New York Post’s business section looks at the number of outlets televising college football vying for audience and advertisers.
CBS-owned CSTV will extend the synergy of its parent by airing a pre-game show live from the CBS SEC Game of the Week.
Jerry Greene of the Orlando Sentinel calls ESPN’s 25 hour college pregame show starting tonight “excessive”. John Ryan of the San Jose Mercury News isn’t impressed by the 25 hour amount.
Here’s one story that outlines a dangerous trend on local news. WTKR of Norfolk, VA will drop its traditional sportscasts in favor of more news and weather.
Mike Miliard of the Boston Phoenix says NESN’s reality dating show, Sox Appeal, is not befitting of the regional sports network. I totally agree.
Do we care that Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, race car driver Helio Castroneves and boxer Floyd Mayerweather, Jr. are on “Dancing with the Stars”? No? Good. I’m not linking to the story.
That’s it for now. I’ll be back later.
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