Sports Media Digest- January 3, 2012

Happy Tuesday! Here are some sports media news items for those of you returning to work today…

ESPN Sees Ratings Increase After First Two BCS Games- ESPN reports that through the first two BCS games on its network, ratings are up 8% over 2011. Yesterday’s Rose Bowl (11.8) and Fiesta Bowl (9.7) registered a combined rating of 10.7, up from the 9.9 rating of last year. Individually the Rose Bowl was down 10% from 2011 while the Fiesta Bowl was up 37% over last year. ESPN also reports that online viewing of the games on ESPN3 saw significant increases. Online viewership for the Rose Bowl rose 46% while the Fiesta Bowl numbers were up 88% over 2011.

Ratings for NHL Winter Classic Tumble- NBC reports that the rating for yesterday’s NHL Winter Classic between the Rangers and Flyers was 2.1, down from 2.3 for the 2011 affair. The 2.1 rating makes yesterday’s game the lowest rated Winter Classic since the series launched in 2008. The game yielded a 11.9 rating in Philadelphia and a 4.3 rating in New York.

NBC to Air NFL Awards Show on the Eve of Super Bowl XVLI- The NFL is launching its first NFL Honors program, celebrating the best players and plays of the 2011 season, to air on NBC Saturday, February 4th beginning at 9:00p.m. ET. The two hour awards show will become a yearly feature to be held at the site of each succeeding Super Bowl.

Baseball Hall of Fame Inductees to be Unveiled on MLB Network and MLB.com- The 2012 class of the Baseball Hall of Fame will be announced next Monday, January 9th with the announcement coming on the MLB Network and on MLB.com. The announcement begins at 2:00p.m. ET with Matt Vasgersian anchoring the coverage with analysis by Bob Costas, Greg Amsinger, Brian Kenny, Harold Reynolds, Peter Gammons, Jon Heyman, Ken Rosenthal and Tom Verducci.

Barkley to Vacate Studio for Thursday’s TNT Telecast- Turner Sports has announced that NBA studio analyst Charles Barkley will join Kevin Harlan and Regie Miller courtside to broadcast this Thursday night’s Miami Heat/Atlanta Hawks contest on TNT. Coverage begins at 8:00p.m. ET. Game two of the TNT double header will pit the Los Angeles Lakers at the Portland Trail Blazers with Marv Albert, Steve Kerr and Cheryl Miller.

College Basketball Studio Shows Return to CBS Sports Network- CBS Sports Network has announced the return of two popular college basketball studio programs this week. Courtside with Seth Davis and Inside College Basketball will be back on the air beginning tomorrow night at 7:00p.m. and 10:00p.m. ET respectively. Inside College Basketball will have a new face as former Michigan State standout Mateen Cleaves joins analyst Wally Szczerbiak, insider Jon Rothstein and host Adam Zucker on the show.

ESPN Names New Studio Host for Friday Night Fights- ESPN today announced that Bernardo Osuna will be the new studio host for Friday Night Fights on ESPN2 and ESPN3 beginning with the new season this Friday. Osuna, who has covered the sport for 17 years, served as a guest analyst in Friday Night Fights‘ studio in 2009-2010, part of a rotating list of guests that included World Champion Bernard Hopkins, ESPN.com’s boxing expert Dan Rafael, and cruiserweight contender B.J. Flores.

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