Lydia Murphy-Stephans to head Pac-12 Networks

Lydia Murphy-Stephans, a former Olympic speed skater and a veteran executive at ABC Sports and the MSG Network, was named executive vice president and general manager of the new Pac-12 Networks, which are to launch next August.

Murphy-Stephans is to report to Gary Stevenson, head of the new Pac-12 Enterprises that is also running the sponsorship, digital properties and legal divisions of the company that will be headquartered in an yet-to-be-chosen location in the Bay Area.

Murphy-Stephans is to oversee the development, launch and management of the Pac-12 Networks, with an emphasis on programming and production. She and her team are tasked with producing live events in virtually every sport from Pac-12 campuses, as well as creating studio shows and other original programming.

She brings more that 25 years of experience in network television to the job, including leadership positions in programming and production at ABC Sports.

Murphy-Stephans said she hoped to hire 10 to 15 people in the next 60 days, and Stevenson said that by the time the network launches, he hopes to have hired 100 to 150 people.

Although Los Angeles is home to many television production facilities -- with Fox Sports West and the West Coast edition of ESPN's "SportsCenter" headquartered within a block of Staples Center, where the Pac-12 holds its conference basketball tournament -- Stevenson said it made more sense for the new network to be based in Northern California, near the conference offices in Walnut Creek and near Silicon Valley.

"While we're talking about our linear television networks, we will also be creating content for our company, and our content will be repurposed in a lot of different ways. We have had a heck of a lot of conversations with new media companies in the Silicon Valley, and the proximity to these companies, which offer ways to distribute content in the future, was a plus, as was, at the end of the day, proximity to the conference office," he said.

Stevenson said the new network plans to produce 850 live events next year. He and Murphy-Stephans plan to tour all of the Pac-12 campuses in the next six weeks to make sure each is equipped to handle the production of live events for the new network.

-- Diane Pucin

Photo: Pac 12 helmet. Credit: Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times.

Gus Johnson, Charles Davis top Fox Sports college football team

Gus Johnson, most recently known for his enthusiastic play-by-play calls for CBS during the NCAA men's basketball tournament, will team with veteran Charles Davis and former University of Minnesota football coach Tim Brewster as the No. 1 team for college football games for the Fox Sports Media Group.

The FX channel will have a 14-game regular-season schedule featuring games from the Pac-12, Big 12 and Conference USA and will showcase the Johnson-Davis-Brewster team. Also Johnson, Davis and Brewster will call one of Fox's two conference football championship games (Pac-12 or Big Ten) and the 2012 AT&T Cotton Bowl.

Over various channels, Fox Sports Net will televise more than 60 Pac-12, Big 12 and Conference USA games this season.

The Pac-12 FSN team will be Craig Bolerjack with play-by-play and analyst Joel Klatt, formerly a Colorado quarterback, with former USC fullback and Fox Sports Radio host Petros Papadakis as sideline reporter.

Shaquille O'Neal to join Charles Barkley on TNT show

Shaquille O'Neal will join TNT's popular NBA studio show, which is hosted by Ernie Johnson and made fun and interesting by analysts Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith.

Turner Sports made the announcement Thursday morning.

O'Neal, a 15-time NBA All-Star and once a sometimes contentious teammate of Kobe Bryant on the Lakers, said Thursday that he was not put off by the idea that comparisons of his rocky relationship with Bryant might be made with his role with Barkley, who is outspoken and who relishes his role as opinion-maker at TNT.

Chris Evert joins ESPN tennis broadcast team

Chris Evert will do studio analysis and match calling for ESPN beginning June 20 at Wimbledon and later this summer when ESPN covers the U.S. Open. Evert won three Wimbledon titles and another six U.S. Open championships.

There was space in the ESPN tennis booth after Mary Carillo left the network last year. Carillo is working the French Open for NBC this weekend.

“Chris Evert is an iconic figure, and with more than 100 hours on our plate at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open, fans will benefit from Chris’ insights, experience and passion for the game,”  said Norby Williamson, ESPN executive vice president.

Evert said, “I am really excited about working again in tennis as an analyst. I've been away from TV for 10 years because my priority was raising my three boys, and now that they are older, it is the right time to join the exceptional tennis team at ESPN."

In the past, Evert has worked for CBS and NBC.

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Reggie Bush to appear on reality TV show

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-- Diane Pucin

Photo: Chris Evert. Credit: Mike Kroll / Associated Press

 

Pac-12 secures television rights for 12 years

As reported Wednesday in the Los Angeles Times,  the soon-to-be Pacific 12 (the conference officially grows by two schools with the addition of Colorado and Utah July 1), signed a 12-year, $3-billion television deal with Fox and ESPN, the largest in college conference history, to begin in 2012-2013.

Fox will have the rights to 22 regular-season Pac-12 football games annually; six Pac-12 football championship games (in the even years of the contract in prime time); 22 men's regular-season basketball games; and three men's basketball tournaments (in the even years beginning in 2014). A minimum of eight regular-season football games will be broadcast on over-the-air Fox Sports, at least four of those in prime time. The other 14 games will be on FX, which is available in 99 million homes.

ESPN will get at least 80 Pac-12 events each year, including 22 football games, and will have the football championship game in the odd-numbered years. There will also be a new Saturday 7:30 p.m. PT weekly football game.

NHL signs on with NBC/Versus for 10 more years

NHL games will remain on Versus and NBC for an additional 10 years, the league and the networks announced Tuesday.

NBC and Versus will televise 100 regular-season games nationally, and there will be a new Thanksgiving Friday game on NBC. The agreement, according to sources who are familiar with the new contract but are not authorized to speak publicly, is worth $2 billion over the 10-year contract.

Under the deal, NBC will televise a national game of the week and the Winter Classic, and Versus will also have a game of the week and keep coverage of the All-Star game.

Versus and NBC will carry all the Stanley Cup playoffs games nationally. Also, the conference semifinals will be carried exclusively on the two networks.

Dick Ebersol, chairman of the NBC Sports Group, also said that Versus will be renamed sometime in the next 60 days in a way that will make it clear that the network is now affiliated with NBC.

According to the NHL, television ratings have risen 84% over the last four years.

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-- Diane Pucin

Daytona 500 television ratings trend upward, in Los Angeles too

According to early numbers, an average of 15.6 million watched Sunday's Daytona 500 NASCAR race on Fox. The race was won by 20-year-old newcomer Trevor Bayne. The Nielsen Media Research numbers suggest ratings were up in nine of the nation's 10 largest markets, including Los Angeles.

If the final numbers hold, this would be the most-watched NASCAR race since 2008.

Ratings increased by 46% in Los Angeles, according to the early numbers. Among the top 10 markets, Los Angeles was second only to Chicago, which saw a 61% increase.

-- Diane Pucin

 

 

Just call Dodgers announcer Charley Steiner 'doctor'

Dodgers radio play-by-play announcer Charley Steiner will get an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree Dec. 18 from his alma mater, Bradley University, where he will also be the keynote speaker at the mid-year commencement ceremonies.

Steiner, who graduated from Bradley in 1971, has been the Dodger play-by-play voice on radio for six years.

"We are honored to have such an accomplished alumnus like Charley Steiner address our graduates," Bradley President Joanne Glasser said.  "We strive to bring speakers of national stature to inspire our students with their passion, wisdom and life experiences. I am confident that Charley will offer memorable reflections to our graduates and their families as they celebrate this important milestone in their lives."

Steiner isn't the only popular local sports voice to have graduated from Bradley. Los Angeles Clippers' television play-by-play caller Ralph Lawler also graduated from the Illinois school.

-- Diane Pucin

ESPN's 'Sunday Night Baseball' television, radio lineups set

As expected ESPN announced Wednesday that Dan Shulman will call the play-by-play in its "Sunday Night Baseball" booth, with analysts Orel Hershiser and Bobby Valentine.

ESPN had previously announced that it was not renewing the contracts of Jon Miller and Joe Morgan, who had done the games for the network for 21 years. Miller was offered a role in the ESPN radio booth but he chose to end his ESPN association.

The new radio crew will be Jon Sciambi on play-by-play and Chris Singleton doing analysis.

Shulman has previously served as the voice of ESPN's "Monday Night Baseball" (2008-10) and "Wednesday Night Baseball" (2002-07), as well as ESPN Radio's MLB postseason (1998-present) and regular-season (2002-07) coverage. Valentine, a former major-league manager, will also be new to the "Sunday Night Baseball" booth next season. He will continue as a "Baseball Tonight" analyst as well. Hershiser, a former Major League Baseball pitcher and Cy Young winner, joined "Sunday Night Baseball" last season. 

Shulman, a native Canadian, said he became a baseball fan the day the Toronto Blue Jays played their first game. "I sat in the snow," Shulman said. "That was the day. I grew up a hockey fan, of course, but now I love baseball. I'm completely immersed in baseball."

Norby Williamson, ESPN executive vice president of production, said Miller, a Hall of Fame broadcaster, "will be missed here."

He also said that the decision to change up the TV crew after 21 years was just natural evolution.

"I think as properties change, the demands of consumers change and it's incumbent on oneself to innovate the product," Williamson said. "If you do it the same way now as five or 10 years ago, you're not doing justice and offering consumers and viewers the evolution of the product."

-- Diane Pucin

 

 

Versus sets ratings record with Oregon-Cal football game

Saturday's tense 15-13 win by top-ranked Oregon over California set a television viewing record for the sports network Versus. Versus averaged more than 1.9 million viewers and broke the old record of 1.6 million set in 2008 with another Pac-10 matchup involving Oregon against its in-state rival Oregon State.

The Oregon-Cal game peaked from 7:30 to 7:45 p.m. PST, at the end of the game, with more than 3 million viewers.

During the game, Versus was the top-rated network in the Portland, Ore., and San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose markets.

-- Diane Pucin

 

Universal Sports offers refund for gymnastics live feed glitch

Gymnastics fans who paid for the Universal Sports live web feed of the world gymnastics championships this week and who missed the gold medal-winning performance on the vault Saturday of American Alicia Sacramone can ask for a refund.

Viewers paid either $14.99 or $9.99 (a USA Gymnastics discount) for the live feed of the men's and women's team finals, the men's and women's all-around finals and the event finals (which conclude Sunday).

According to a Universal Sports spokesman there was a "technical problem" with the live feed Saturday from Rotterdam, Netherlands, so viewers who had paid saw only a blank screen instead of the vault. What made it worse for some subscribers was that they did see the medal presentation. Universal Sports television will have a broadcast of Saturday's event finals, including Sacramone's gold, beginning at 5 p.m. PT.

Anyone who feels they are due a refund should e-mail http://www.universalsports.com/contact-us.html.

-- Diane Pucin