Cynopsis: Sports
10.03.13

Good morning. It’s Thursday, October 3, 2013, and this is your first early morning Sports briefing. 

TBS launched its MLB Postseason coverage with a bang as the Pirates win in the 2013 National League Wild Card Game handed the channel 4.6 million total viewers and a 3.0 household rating, according to Nielsen Fast Nationals. That marks a 15% spike among total viewers and rating compared to last year’s game. On the local front, the contest drew a 33.7 household score in Pittsburgh to rank as the highest-rated MLB game ever on record in the market.  Cincinnati earned a 16.6 rating.

On the Air

Speaking of baseball, MLB Network announced that Ray Liotta will narrate a special opening segment for the channel’s two LDS game telecasts on October 4 and 7. MLB Network will utilize 4K (Ultra HD) and X-Mo camera technology for increased resolution and clarity to replays aired during its LDS game telecasts. MLB Network has officially wrapped up the most-watched regular season in its history and year-to-date, with 239,000 average viewers per game, up 9% over the 2012 season. During the same time, MLB Network’s flagship program MLB Tonight averaged 132,000 viewers, a 29% jump over the 2012 regular season.

ESPN’s own coverage of the 2013 Major League Baseball season (which saw 79 games across ESPN and ESPN2), also saw ratings bumps over last year. The season is up 14% over 2012 with a 0.8 household rating in 2013, according to Nielsen. Additionally, ESPN’s audience was up 8%, averaging 1,101,000 viewers in 2013.

With the Pirates on fire, Root Sports posted over an 8.00 average household rating for the 2013 Pirates regular season, with an average of over 250,000 fans tuning in per game. That marks the highest-rated Pirates regular season in network history.

NBCSN’s first hockey game of the new season drew a 0.70 score with 935,000 viewers for the Blackhawks win, according to Nielsen tallies. Those numbers would make it the most-watched season opener on cable on record and the second-most watched regular-season game ever on NBCSN. That is up 7% versus the channel’s last season opener (in 2011 due to last year’s lockout). Chicago drew a 7.32 rating, the highest ever for a regular-season game in that market on NBCSN, which was also the most-watched cable channel in Chicago during the game.

On to the NBA. The league announced that NBA League Pass is marking its 20th season with new features that include access to an archive of national games from ABC, ESPN, TNT, and NBA TV throughout the regular season, as well as live feeds of both home and away team broadcasts for all games. NBA League Pass is available for the early bird price of $189, with other packages available as well.

NBA Digital is shoring up its original programming with the introduction of The Starters, a “collective of fan-focused voices with a unique and unconventional take on the game.” The Starters will produce original content across all screens including a daily TV show, podcast and blog, as well as for a variety of social media platforms. J.E. Skeets and Tas Melas co-host  and will debut for the start of the season with a daily podcast (Monday through Friday; hosted on NBA.com and also available on iTunes) and a one-hour NBA TV show, an extension of the podcast, airing weekdays regularly at 6p. A special edition of The Starters will premiere Wednesday, Oct. 30, at 5p on NBA TV, ahead of the network’s opening night doubleheader.

Former NBA Coach of the Year and NBA Champion Avery Johnson is heading to ESPN as an NBA studio analyst. Johnson will take part in ESPN NBA studio shows, including NBA Coast 2 Coast and NBA Tonight, while also making regular appearances on SportsCenter and additional ESPN news and information programming. Johnson will make his in-studio debut on Monday, October 21.

BTN revealed plans to showcase more than half of all Big Ten Conference basketball matchups this season, including nine straight weeks of doubleheaders on Super Wednesdays. In all, BTN will televise 67 men’s conference basketball contests, including four Big Ten Tournament games and an additional number of non-conference games. The network will also feature games on Tuesdays and Thursdays, presented by Quicken Loans, and frequent doubleheaders on Saturdays and Sundays. This year, the network’s lead analysts, Jim Jackson and Shon Morris, will be joined by Stephen Bardo, who previously served as an analyst for ESPN. Seth Davis, a studio host for CBS Sports and a contributing writer for Sports Illustrated, also joins the team, which includes returning analysts Mike Kelley and Greg Kelser.

Barclays Center is teaming with FOX Sports 1 for the upcoming Brooklyn Hoops college basketball season, with coverage starting Sunday, Dec. 1 at 8:30p with Kentucky/Providence. The action continues Saturday, Dec. 21 at 8:30p with Michigan/Stanford headlining the 2nd annual Brooklyn Hoops Holiday Invitational presented by adidas. Other games will include St. Johns/Columbia on Dec. 28, Kansas State/Tulane at 5p and VCU/Boston College at 7:30p.

GRB Entertainment nabbed exclusive international distribution rights FOX Soccer original production, My Beautiful Game. The series celebrates soccer’s greatest moments through the eyes of the sport’s personalities, as well as its notable celebrities and fans.

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE

Sponsorship & Promotion

Miller Lite inked an extension to sponsor Brad Keselowski and Penske Racing through the 2017 season. Keselowski drives the No. 2 Ford Fusion for Penske Racing and has been sponsored by Miller Lite since 2011.

Representatives for UFC fighter Johny Hendricks announced that the MMA star extended his endorsement deal with Reebok. The brand now joins the likes of Bass Pro Shops, Alienware, San Nutrition and Virtustream on the sponsorship roster. Hendricks will face Georges St. Pierre for the welterweight championship on Nov. 16th

Digital & Technology

The PGA TOUR and the USA Today Sports Media Group expanded their multi-year marketing relationship to include significant digital partnership initiatives across both PGATOUR Digital and USA Today Sports digital platforms. As part of the agreement, the pair will collaborate on different digital content initiatives in 2014 and beyond, including stats/scoring, news/editorial, and PGA TOUR vide. On the print side of the partnership, USA TODAY Sports will continue to receive exclusive category rights to use their association and TOUR logos for sales and marketing purposes.

With the MLB Postseason underway, Comcast Business announced that the Oakland Athletics are using Comcast Business Ethernet services to deliver high-speed Internet at Oakland’s O.co Coliseum. The fiber-based Ethernet connection from Comcast allows the team to support daily operations for front office staff as well as spikes in demand caused by local and national media covering each game. The team now boasts a 100 Mbps Ethernet Dedicated Internet connection at O.Co Coliseum, providing bandwidth for employees and media. This is more than 10 times the bandwidth of their previous 9 Mbps connection at the same price.

Roster Moves

FOX Sports named Chris Hannan, formerly Senior Vice President, FOX Sports Media Group, to the newly created position of Executive Vice President, Communications and Integration, where he will have oversight of the FOX Sports public relations and corporate communications teams, and be responsible for the development of key strategic communications initiatives and cross-platform efforts on behalf of FOX Sports’ portfolio of businesses. Hannan most recently oversaw marketing for FOX Sports Regional Networks, where he provided support for advertising sales, on-air promotions, and consumer marketing across the company’s group of owned-and-operated regional sports networks. 

The Main Event

Dodgers/Braves on TBS at 8:30p.

 A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE

ON THIS DAY in 1989: Art Shell became the first African-American head coach in the modern NFL when he took over the Los Angeles Raiders.

In The Know: What number did Troy Aikman wear for the Cowboys? (Email [email protected] with your answer and be sure to include your name, company, city and time zone. Unofficial rules: Only the second four correct answers from each time zone will be mentioned; and once you’ve been mentioned in any of the Cynopsis editions, you can’t be mentioned again that calendar week.)

Answer to Our Last Sports Trivia Question: Who was the last MLB player to hit four home runs in a game? Answer: Josh Hamilton in 2012. Kudos: Michael Dittelman-SportsOnEarth.com/NY; Michael Ritz-BucStar Consulting/NY; Matthew Luisi-NBCU Digital Ad Sales/NY; Rick Rosenfelt-ESPN New York/NY; G. David Brown-FOX Sports/Charlotte; Tom Wetzel-MMSI/Warwick; Synda Kollman-Charter Marketing Group/Boca Raton; Kelty Carpenter-Fox Sports/Ft. Lauderdale; John Kukla-KDFW/Dallas; Lucie Prann-The Richards Group/Dallas; Bill Leamons-Sinclair Broadcast Group KEYE TV/Austin; Judie Henninger-Valentine Productions Inc/Santa Monica; Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA; David Westberg-SAG-AFTRA Los Angeles local/LA; Paul Gygli-NBCUniversal Television Distribution/Universal City.

Later — Chris
Chris Pursell for Cynopsis | Sports
10.03.13

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