Sports Media Weekly No. 126

http://sportsmediajournal.com/ After two weeks away, Ken Fang of Fangs Bites and I are back with a new edition of Sports Media Weekly. Due to the short week we have no guest, but plenty to catch-up on. We start the show looking at the news today that News Corporation (parent company of Fox Sports) has purchased a minority stake in the YES Network. The YES Network also announced that it has extended its agreement to carry Yankees baseball through 2042. Next we look at the moves by Maryland and Rutgers to leave the ACC and Big East respectively and join the Big Ten. Both Ken and I agree this is great news for the Big Ten Network and not so good news for the Big East as it continues its negotiations for a new television deal. We then look at ESPN’s domination of college football with its recent deals with the Rose Sugar, and Orange Bowls to carry their games through 2026. The BCS PLayoffs should not be too far behind for the World Wide Leader. We shift to the NFL and talk about the piece by Richard Dietsch who speculates whether Jon Gruden will leave ESPN for another coaching job. We then look at the Thanksgiving Day NFL match-ups, with NBC getting the holiday night game for the first time in 15 years. We move to the MLB Network to discuss the hiring of former NESN field reporter Heidi Watney and the appearance this week of Keith Olbermann on the network. We wrap up the show looking at the rumors of who may be filling the morning show slot when the CBS Sports Radio Network launches in January.