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Fox drew the highest ratings among the networks that show NFL football for the second consecutive year. Fox said its NFL games averaged a 10.5 Nielsen household rating and a 22 share CBS’s Sunday games drew a 10 ratings and 21 share. Fox’s Sunday afternoon rating also beat the 10.2/16 NBC drew with its...
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The National Association of Broadcasters is issuing a warning to policy makers and Congress about the potential impact of ESPN’s winning exclusive rights to air most of the Bowl Championship Series. The new deal takes much of the series off broadcast TV and moves it to basic cable. In a policy statement...
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ESPN Tuesday formally announced an agreement to air all of the college football Bowl Championship Series games on cable television beginning in 2011. Fox on Monday said it wouldn’t match ESPN’s offer, said to be $500 million over four years. Fox bid $400 million, up from the $330 million it’s paying...
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ESPN has outbid Fox for the rights to most of the major end-of-season college bowl games,b including the BCS Championship game. The $500 million, four-year deal puts the football games on cable for the first time. College football becomes one of the few major sports to have its championship decided on...
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ESPN has signed a multiyear deal with the R&A, organizer of golf’s Open Championship, that takes effect in 2010. ESPN will televise 34 live hours of the British Open’s four rounds and also will produce six hours of encore highlights coverage on ABC. ABC Sports will air the tournament’s championship...
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The 2008 Breeders’ Cup World Championships, which aired Oct. 24-25 on ABC, ESPN and ESPN2, attracted 19.8 million viewers. The horse-racing championship was up 62% in viewers from last year’s 12.2 million viewers. The event also attracted a 0.7 household rating, up 11% from 2007, when it was a one-day...
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ESPN is launching a multimedia NBA marketing campaign with the tag “Your NBA Destination.” The campaign will feature ESPN anchors Mike Breen, Mark Jackson, Stuart Scott and Michael Wilbon, as well as NBA players Chris Bosh, Carlos Boozer, Baron Davis, Dwight Howard, Andre Iguodala, Jason Kidd, David...
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Chris Berman will interview John McCain and Barack Obama during ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” on Nov. 3. Mr. Berman will speak to both presidential candidates via satellite from the ESPN studios in Bristol, Conn., during halftime of the game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Washington Redskins...
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Summer is usually a strong season for cable networks, but this year several networks endured a rocky third quarter. With cable drawing viewers away from the broadcast networks, most quarters end with a long list of cable networks touting new ratings records. But during the third quarter this year, G4...
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ESPN and MLB Network have acquired broadcast rights for the 2009 World Baseball Classic tournament. The second international tournament, scheduled for March 5-23, 2009, will feature baseball players representing 16 different countries and territories competing for the top spot. As part of the deal ESPN...
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ESPN is expected to announce a multi-year agreement with the Southeastern Conference to continue to televise football, basketball and other college sports events. A conference call is scheduled for Monday afternoon with SEC Commissioner Mike Slive and ESPN executives John Skipper and Burke Magnus and...
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ESPN will launch its promo campaign for “Monday Night Football” on Friday with two new spots designed to show that, no matter how bad Monday starts, there’s something to look forward to at the end of the day. One of the new spots features MC Hammer—remember him? The two ads are part of a six-spot campaign...
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The Indy Racing League is moving some of its races from ESPN to Versus. The famed Indianapolis 500 will stay on ABC, where it has been for 44 years, until 2012. ABC will air four other IndyCar Series races annually under the new deal. Versus will be covering 13 Indy Racing League contests per year on...
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ESPN is launching a series of live promotional spots for its new live morning editions of “SportsCenter.” The spots feature a real “SportsCenter” staffer, 25-year-old Steve Braband, who will appear in as many as 25 15- and 30-second spots per day. ESPN cameras will follow Braband over a three-week period...
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Monday night’s ESPN telecast of the State Farm Home Run Derby was the most viewed program on ad-supported cable to date this year, averaging a 6.4 rating. The telecast attracted 6,184,000 household impressions, making it the most-viewed Home Run Derby ever among households. The telecast—which was up...