"The Disney/ABC Television Group and its Walt Disney Co. sibling ESPN finalized their retransmission consent and cable carriage deal with Time Warner Cable without any of the popular channels fading to black on the cable system," Jon Lafayette writes, adding, "The Disney Time Warner negotiations were being closely watched because broadcasters like ABC are seeking cash payments from cable operators and the resulting disputes have frequently resulted in highly publicized battle as each side tries to sell its story to the public. Just before their Sept. 1 deadline, both sides said that they had reached a framework for an agreement, leading to expectations that these talk would be settled peaceably."
"Are ya ready for some football?" Brian Lowry writes, adding, "Alrighty then. And are ya ready for a potential NFL lockout in 2011, a compensation dispute if owners expand to 18 regular-season games, and questions about the potential long-term health effects related to football collisions? The networks that carry the National Football League don’t deserve pity. Still, it’s hard not feel a little sorry for them as they tiptoe along trying to report on what feels like an abundance of behind-the-scenes intrigue — unrelated to their customary focus on wins and losses — as the new football season begins."
"The National Hockey League has hired former NFL veteran Charles Coplin to the new position of executive vice president of content," Mike Reynolds writes, adding, "In his new post, Coplin — who had been serving as the pro football league's vice president of programming – will integrate and focus the efforts of all NHL media and content, including NHL.com. He also will oversee and optimize programming and production for NHL Network, manage all television broadcast and rights-holder relationships, and direct the NHL Digital Studios and original broadband productions."When the NFL kicks off the 2010 season next week, about 1 million fans will turn out to watch games in stadiums across the nation," Sean Leahy writes, adding, "And in their living rooms, an average of 16 million fans will gather to watch each of the 16 opening-weekend games in what has become the golden age for NFL consumption. . . . At-home viewing has become so attractive that the NFL — mindful of a 2.4% drop in attendance last season, the second consecutive year with a small decline — is increasingly concerned about making sure that fans consider trips to the stadium to be worth the effort. "
"Sports Business Journal reports that CBS 'expects to renew' its deal to air the U.S. Tennis Open 'by the end of the year,''' Sports Media Watch writes, adding, "The network's current contract ends after the 2011 tournament. The new deal could take potential rain delays into account, though it is 'uncertain what form rain relief' would take." 
"NBC's Sunday Night Football may have taken the week off, but FOX still scored with preseason NFL action Sunday night," Sports Media Watch writes, adding, "Sunday's Steelers/Broncos NFL exhibition game drew a 6.8 overnight rating on FOX, down seven percent from Bears/Broncos on NBC in Week 3 of last year's preseason (7.3) and down six percent from Vikings/49ers on NBC last Sunday night (7.2). Despite the decline, the 6.8 overnight is tied as the highest for an NFL preseason game on FOX since '99." 
"The biggest questions in sports media these days revolve around Comcast’s acquisition of NBC," John Ourand writes, adding, "We still don’t know much about what a Comcast-owned NBC will look like. We do know Comcast’s Steve Burke will be in charge and that NBC’s chief executive, Jeff Zucker, will report to him. Everything gets murky after that. That uncertainty is causing anxiety inside the Comcast and NBC offices. . . . It seems that everybody is speculating about what a new Comcast/NBC company will look like — but not on the record. After talking with several executives, I believe there are five moves that are almost certain to happen once the deal gets approved."
INDIANAPOLIS — Two of America's most accomplished journalists and authors will talk about strategies for outstanding sports writing at a special workshop next month sponsored [...]
"You don’t realize how big Ron Hunter is until you’re standing right in front of him," Nick Petr writes, adding, "You’ve rehearsed your question a [...]
It’s tough enough to challenge prejudice when you’re just looking at one side of the equation. So what can you say about a guy who has chosen to bite off both sides of the problem in tackling NASCAR’s historic focus on white guys driving cars? Already a pioneering African American in the sport, Max Siegel is attempting the equivalent of walking while chewing gum as you execute an Olympic-level backflip off a balance beam perched on top of Mount Everest. He’s going to put NASCAR on Black Entertainment Television.
Two summers, two columns, two different results. Last summer, Jerod Morris of Midwest Sports Fans wrote a blog post about Raul Ibanez of the Philadelphia Phillies and the excellent season he was putting together. Responding to jibes from a fellow fantasy-baseball GM, Morris tried to prove it was unfair to speculate that Ibanez’s numbers were the result of performance-enhancing drugs. He reluctantly concluded that he couldn’t single out other factors that would clear Ibanez of suspicion, and blamed Major League Baseball for the fact that such suspicions are now routine.
More than once, frightening things have happened to me on the golf course, though I’m hard-pressed to remember a more chilling moment than occurred one morning on the first tee when the producer of the ESPN teevee thing, “Around the Horn,” asked if I’d like to be on the show. This was early in the long, successful, rollicking life of ATH. My pal Woody Paige was in the rudimentary stages of developing his ATH persona, which he would come to define memorably: “I am not an idiot, I just play one on TV.”
"Obviously, I stand behind my objections to Jenn Brown serving as an Icehouse endorser but the notion that media voices such as myself and @Ourand_SBJ [...]
"Let's say you've just finished a brutal day at work," Dan Le Batard writes, adding, "You come out of your cubicle and are immediately met [...]
