SportsCenter's Women Anchors Hit An Grand-Slam.

By Josh Albarran - August 13, 2015

ESPN SportsCenter regular daytime anchors Hannah Storm, Chris McKendry and Linda Cohn.

I was watching ESPN the past day for SportsCenter and all the sudden, what couldn't been more better when the viewers spend the next 6 or 9 straight hours of hard-working professional women hosting SportsCenter, that hit an grand slam for women anchoring working at the Walt Disney Company. Regular anchors Hannah Storm, Chris McKendry and Linda Cohn had to anchored their daytime shows with substitute (and yes women) anchors Jaymee Sire, Cari Champion and Nicole Biscole. Their partners Kevin Negandhi, Jay Crawford and David Lloyd were away and that sounded that would helped the espnW division to put that moment to their playbooks.

When SportsCenter hit live at 9am ET (6am PT), it was Hannah and Jaymee kick-off the first two hours, then toss it over to Chris and Cari for the next two and finally to Linda and Nicole for the next two (the show was moved to ESPNews in the 2pm ET hour). When Cohn and Biscole signed off at 3pm ET, the day doesn't stop as Michele Steele anchored SportsCenter for the next three hours and afterwards, it was an ballgame.

But it wasn't the first time the show has its "girl-power" experience on the anchor chair, remember back in October 2010 when Storm and Cohn (back then the daytime shows had two shows with 3 hours each until before cutting to three live shows with 2 hours each in early 2013) anchored three hours of SportsCener with Linda said this before turning it over to McKendry and then-SportsCenter anchor Sage Steele for the next three live hours that "Never in my 18 years here have there been back-to-back sets of women anchors hosting SportsCenter," said Cohn and it was indeed back-to-back. Until yesterday for Hannah, Chris and Linda with addition to Michele on News, let's just say it was back-to-back-to-back-to-back and well done to these women at ESPN doing their best to keep us the sports fan entertaining and well watched.

FOX NFL Kickoff Moves To FOX This Fall

By Josh Albarran - July 22, 2015



The FOX NFL Sunday team of Curt Menefee, Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long, Jimmy Johnson and Michael Strahan, the No. 1 NFL pregame show was FOX Sports' first studio program back in 1994. (Fox Broadcasting Company, Inc.)

In August 2013, America's then-new sports network FOX Sports 1 first hit the airwaves and a month later launched FOX NFL Kickoff as an one-hour lead-in to the FOX NFL Sunday pregame show over on the FOX Broadcast Network. Now as of Tuesday, FOX Sports announced that FOX NFL Kickoff will make its move from FS1 to FOX starting on Sunday, September, 13th at 11am ET. With that FOX's NFL studio coverage will be expanded to two hours compared to four hours each on both ESPN, NFL and CBS Sports Network (NBC which owns the Sunday night package does not had a Sunday morning NFL pregame show over on its cable channel NBCSN although was planned to aired it back in 2012, but never worked out).

Chris Wallace is the anchor of FOX's Sunday morning news program Fox News Sunday and Wallace (a Washington Redskins fan) had the NFL Sunday crew on the show twice during FOX's Super Bowl Sunday coverage.

Meanwhile it does not effect the timing of FOX's other Sunday morning program FOX News Sunday (which premiered in 1996 two years after FOX NFL Sunday debuted as a pre-launched date of its producer Fox News Channel), which airs on the network every Sunday at 9:00am ET (or later in the hour or two on some FOX affiliates). For example in the New York market, FOX News Sunday airs at 10:00am ET and during the NFL season it was followed by a half-hour or an hour of local programming leading up to NFL Sunday or on a Sunday when a New York Giants plays a FOX game a half-hour pregame show would followed until FOX NFL Sunday takes over.

According to an report from the SportsBusiness Journal, FOX affiliates including its owned-and-operated stations were asked to had an extra-hour of NFL programming in the morning hours with addition to FOX NFL Sunday and FOX NFL Kickoff as the clear-cup winner to providing more FOX attitude and lots of football talk for the next two hours on the FOX Network. As for Fox News Sunday, will continue to air on the broadcast network on select times (most would air prior to FOX Sports' NFL coverage) along with re-airs on Fox News Channel at 2:00pm ET and 6:00pm ET.

Roberts Ready For Special Olympics On ABC and ESPN

By Josh Albarran - June 23, 2015

ABC and ESPN's Robin Roberts and editor Josh Albarran at the Special Olympics television taping.

On Tuesday, Robin Roberts stopped by at the James J. Walker Recreation Park near 721M/City-As-School across Houston Street to tape segments for the ESPN special to be broadcast on both ABC and ESPN before the Special Olympics games which will begin on Saturday, July 25th in Los Angeles.

Roberts, current co-anchor of ABC's Good Morning America and former ESPN SportsCenter anchor will participated in the Disney's sports networks coverage of the Special Olympics World Games LA2015 from July 25-August 2nd on ABC, ESPN and ESPN2 (also streaming on the WatchABC and WatchESPN apps). The 721M Soccer Team had held practices on both June 3rd and 23rd to be in front of the television cameras and they are excited as the games are, the latter of which Roberts interviewed the Special Olympics chairman Tim Shriver.

In addition, Roberts told yours truly that she will return to the ESPYs this year held in Los Angeles. Her Arthur Ashe Courage Award speech from the 2013 event as seen on ESPN was emotional when Robin worked very hard to battle breast cancer as well as her TV career at the Walt Disney Company. Speaking of The ESPYs, it will be televised live on Wednesday, July 15th at 8pm ET/7pm CT for the first time on ESPN's sister channel ABC.

Again, the Special Olympics World Games LA2015 will be held in Los Angeles from July 25-August 28th and can be seen live or taped on ABC, ESPN and ESPN2.

For the complete on-air schedule for ABC/ESPN's Special Olympics coverage:
http://espnmediazone.com/us/press-releases/2015/04/espn-announces-initial-coverage-team-and-plans-for-special-olympics-world-games-los-angeles-2015/

UPDATE (07/23/2015): The Countdown to Special Olympics show will air tonight on ESPN at 9pm ET and will re-air on Saturday at 2:30pm ET on ABC.

ESPN Anchor Stuart Scott Dies At Age 49

By Josh Albarran

ESPN's Stuart Scott accepting the Jimmy V award at the ESPYs on July 16, 2014.

On Sunday, the worlds of both sports and television were shocked and saddened when ESPN's SportsCenter anchor Stuart Scott had passed away to cancer after eight years of battling that began when he was diagnosed back in 2007.

Throughout the course of the day, ESPN held tributes and features of Scott's career including words from his colleagues such as Chris Berman, Hannah Storm, Steve Levy, Scott Van Pelt and personalities from the other major broadcast networks including Fox's Curt Mennfee and Michael Strahan, CBS's James Brown and even Scott's former co-partner and now NFL Network studio host Rich Eisen.

Scott accepted the Jimmy V Perseverance award at the ESPY Awards this past July on ESPN; "When you die, that doesn't mean you lose to cancer," said Scott and contiuned "you beat cancer by how you live, why you live in the matter in which you live."

A month before he anchored his last SportsCenter broadcast with Steve Levy on June 22nd and both launched the network's brand-new state-of-the-art Bristol studios called Digital Center 2.

Linda Cohn, Scott's longtime partner on the flagship ESPN show and now anchoring the early afternoon daytime show weekdays on SportsCenter went to Twitter and share some words with her good friend, "I can't believe he is gone," said Cohn. "There was nothing like Stuart Scott, There will never again. A big presence even a bigher heart."

The University of North Carolina honored Scott on Monday in a college basketball game that was televised by ESPN wearing "STU" on their jesery even holding signs honoring the late anchor. Momemt of silence for Stuart Scott also held prior to both the NFL playoff games and NBA regular season games the day before.

Scott died while under contract to the Disney-owned ESPN and leaves with his
two loving girls in his family.

CBS Stations Carry Jets-Bills Not Carry Ferguson Jury Decision

By Josh Albarran

WCBS in New York among some other CBS affiliates regionally aired the New York Jets vs. Buffalo Bills game on November 25, 2014 as they did not carry its news division coverage of a jury decision in Ferguson.

 

 

An FOX Sports ticker appear during FOX Network programming altering their viewers to stand by for an FOX News update as the crisis in Ferguson rolls on.

 As we reported last weekend for coverage plans on the postponed New York Jets-Buffalo Bills game from Sunday to Monday night on CBS in select markets including in New York and Buffalo market (http://tvsportsnews-foxjoshx.blogspot.com/2014/11/jets-bills-to-play-monday-night-in.html), but we also know that it was going to affect a network's breaking coverage a judge decision on the case in Ferguson, MI during a normal day in prime-time programming.

As WCBS (New York) passed on to carry a Jets game, sister station WLNY (Ch. 10/55) which were airing CBS network programming at the time of the football game was aired, which also included an live bulletin from CBS News on the jury's decision with Scott Pelly anchoring.

Meanwhile, another NFL broadcaster FOX Sports produced an special news ticker that aired during the Fox Broadcasting Company's regular-scheduled programming on its East coast (Sleepy Hallow) and Central coast (Gotham) viewers and the Fox Broadcast Network said in the ticker that "A decision has been reached by the grand jury in Ferguson, Missouri. A FOX News update will be carried live shortly," and they did with Shepard Smith anchored an two-minute update at 9:40pm ET/8:40pm CT to provide a timeline from tonight's events.

NBC and ABC also aired bulletins during their respected high-rated live dance-music completion programs (NBC's The Voice and ABC's Dancing with the Stars). In the end, CBS in New York didn't carry live reports from Ferguson's jury decision until President Obama address it later and the Jets lose to Bills with the final score of 38-3.

Jets-Bills To Play Monday Night In Detriot (TV Coverage Plans)

By Josh Albarran

(CBS Broadcasting, Inc.)

The NFL announced on Thursday that the New York Jets vs. Buffalo Bills game that was scheduled to play on Sunday afternoon at Ralph Wilson Stadium in Buffalo (original start time would had been at 1:05pm ET on CBS part of their Week 12 doubleheader) has been relocated to Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan due to an massive snow-flooding over in the upper New York area, rescheduled to Monday night at 7:05pm ET and will be televised locally by CBS in New York City and Buffalo markets. The game will also air nationally on DirecTV as part of their NFL Sunday Ticket package. Network programming will air on CBS's sister station WLNY in New York.

Results that Jets-Bills will complete against another Monday night game (which is regularly nationally on ESPN) of the Baltimore Ravens-New Orleans Saints game, which but game will not kick-off until 8:30pm ET although game coverage will begin at 8:15pm ET. 

This is not the first that an postponed-Sunday NFL game was played on Monday night outside of the ESPN telecast (and on the same location), back in 2010 FOX moved the New York Giants-Minnesota Vikings to Monday (the same practice aired in team markets) in Detroit after an roof collapsed at Minneapolis Metrodome and which saw the end of (then-Viking) Brett Favre's 297 consecutive regular season games as starting quarterback while completing against the Ravens-Houston Texans game over on ESPN.

On the other hand, FOX in the New York market originally scheduled to air the Arizona Cardinals-Seattle Seahawks at 4:00pm ET, but due to the Jets not playing on that day and the Giants will play later tonight over on NBC against the Dallas Cowboys, will now air the early game of the Detroit Lions-New England Patriots game at 1:00pm ET instead.

The NFL Network will replay Jets-Bills on Tues, Nov 25 at 12am ET following Total Access.

Monday Night Football on ABC This Week

By Josh Albarran

The New York Giants and the Detroit Lions will open the 2014 ESPN Monday Night Football season on September 8th which will also be seen locally in New York on ABC.
(WABC-TV)

WABC-TV, the ABC Television Network's owned-and-operated and flagship station will carry the New York Giants vs. Detroit Lions Monday Night Football opener game at 7:00pm ET this Monday, it is the first time the station would air an NFL game since ABC's last National Football League telecast in Super Bowl XL back in 2006 and the first Monday Night Football game on WABC-TV since the network's last MNF telecast in 2005. ESPN announcers Mike Tirico, Jon Gruden and Lisa Salters will have the call from Detroit  This game will also be seen in Detroit on ABC affiliate and former ABC O&O WXYZ.

However it will a be simulcast of its sister network ESPN (both ABC and ESPN are owned by The Walt Disney Company). Its unknown yet WABC-TV will carry three more Monday Night Football games later this season, another Giants game on Monday night is schedule on November 3rd and plus two New York Jets games on both September 22nd and December 1st (all that is if Dancing with the Stars, which returns September 15th on ABC is concern, Monday night games could be seen on either Fox-owned WWOR-TV or The CW affiliate WPIX).

The broadcast on ESPN will be followed by Arizona Cardinals vs. San Diego Chargers from the site of Super Bowl XLIX in Glendale, Arizona at approx 10:15pm ET on ESPN2 if the first game of the Monday Night Football doubleheader on ESPN does not end on time with Chris Berman, Trent Dilfer and Lindsay Czarniak on the call. The simulcast on WABC-TV will followed ABC's World News Tonight with David Muir and Eyewitness News will air locally following Giants-Lions.