Sports Media Digest- July 18, 2012

http://sportsmediajournal.com/ Samantha Steele Joins College Gameday Crew- With the departure of Erin Andrews to Fox Sports came speculation as to who would take over he role on College Football action. ESPN today announced that Samantha Steele will join the show for the 9:00am-10:00am ET hour on ESPNU and provide features for the show from 10:00am to 12:00p.m. ET. It was announced earlier this month Steele will serve as the sideline reporter for ESPN’s Thursday Night Football Game. SiriusXM Radio Has Coverage of the Open Championship- SiriusXM Radio will be the satellite radio home of this week’s Open Championship. Live play-by-play, provided by ESPN Audio, will air Thursday and Friday (7:00 am – 1:00 pm ET) on SiriusXM channel 85 and Saturday (9:00 am – 3:00 pm ET) and Sunday (8:00 am – conclusion ET) on SiriusXM channel 84. MLB Network Has Live Coverage of the Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony- The MLB Network will be the exclusive home of this weekend’s Major League Baseball Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony. Brian Kenny, Harold Reynolds and Tom Verducci will anchor live coverage from Cooperstown Sunday beginning at 12:30p.m. ET. At 11:30a.m. ET MLB Network will air the 2012 Hall of Fame Awards Presentation. The presentation will honor former Major League catcher Tim McCarver, who has served as a national television analyst for FOX, NBC, CBS and ABC and called local telecasts for Giants, Mets, Phillies and Yankees games, with the Ford C. Frick Award for baseball broadcasting; Toronto Sun national baseball columnist Bob Elliott, who will receive the J.G. Taylor Spink Award for his contributions to baseball writing; and all of the living managers who have managed the St. Louis Cardinals to World Series titles: Whitey Herzog, Tony La Russa and Red Schoendienst. ESPN to Produce Late Night Program on ESPNU- ESPN is entering the world of late night television by producing an entertainment show on ESPNU. The program, entitled UNITE, will air daily on ESPNU at midnight ET providing a live late-night snack of sports, humor and social buzz Monday through Friday. Sports and pop culture news will be discussed through the lens of social media, utilizing a specially designed aggregation tool to monitor social trends on the rise, track down tweets, Facebook posts, YouTube videos and photos. The new program debuts August 27th. TNT Sees Ratings Increase for its NASCAR Coverage- Turner Sports reports that its six week NASCAR Sprint Cup coverage earned an average rating of 3.1, up 3% over 2011. The average audience of 5.1 million viewers equaled last year. NBC to Publish Olympics Children’s Book- NBC Publishing and NBC Sports will be working with Rodale Publishing to produce an illustrated children’s book focused on the Olympics. RING FORCE is story about a team of exceptional young athletes fighting a mysterious evil force. The book will be released in both paperback and eBook editions when the 2012 Olympic Games open in London July 27. NASCAR Nationwide Series This Weekend on ESPN- ESPN will have live coverage this weekend of the STP 300 at Chicagoland Speedway this Sunday. Allen Bestwick will be joined by analysts Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree as the telecast begins at 2:00p.m. ET. The Nick & Arte Show Added to SiriusXM Sports Radio Line-up- SiriusXM Radio announced that The Nick & Artie Show, hosted by comedians Artie Lange and Nick DiPaolo will be added to its sports talk lineup. The show will be available beginning tomorrow (July 19th) at 10:00p.m. ET on Sirius channel 94 and XM channel 208. The Nick & Artie Show is produced and syndicated by DIRECTV Entertainment/LABC Radio Group.