THE LATEST ARTICLES
NEWSLETTERS
jason kelce
John Ourand October 24, 2024
As ESPN wrestles with attracting younger audiences away from YouTube and TikTok, and fortifying its forthcoming streamer, Jimmy Pitaro is talking to Jason Kelce about helming his own late night show—a decidedly last-decade solution to a very modern dilemma.
rob manfred
John Ourand October 21, 2024
A candid chat with the commish about Major League Baseball’s evolving local media predicament, its strategy of pooling games, and the challenges inherent in iterating a national pastime.
nfl giants cowboys
John Ourand October 18, 2024
The NFL’s decision to allow ABC to simulcast six extra ‘Monday Night Football’ games from sisterco ESPN has enraged executives from rival networks, prompted some pretty vicious phone calls and accusations of favoritism, and led to animus and chit-filing. It’s also the latest example of a familiar trope in the industry: The Shield can do whatever it wants.
jim nantz tony romo
John Ourand October 14, 2024
Sports media agent Matt Kramer extemporizes about the agency’s shifting strategy and the overall evolution of the industry, in which the on-air talent market increasingly resembles the sports media rights economy writ large, with huge salaries for premium pundits and insiders (Stephen A., McAfee, Woj) and belt-tightening everywhere else.


Ken Rosenthal
John Ourand October 11, 2024
The silly and petty saga of a column, a pissed-off Major League Baseball team, and a strange power-sharing agreement between the Times and Fox—none of which will matter one iota if the Dodgers and Yanks make it to the World Series.
mlb rangers blue jays fight
John Ourand October 8, 2024
ESPN, understandably miffed by the league’s much cheaper deals with other platforms, wants it both ways—to decrease the cost of its current rights package and also get its mitts on local broadcasts to power its forthcoming streaming service. Can both sides coexist happily?
mlb miami marlins
John Ourand October 4, 2024
The latest news, notes, and twists in the Diamond Sports telenovela.
Gary Bettman
John Ourand September 30, 2024
Gary Bettman, now in his fourth decade running the NHL, has seen it all—labor headaches, expansion, media existentialism, and more. Here, he talks candidly about the league’s distribution strategy, the decaying R.S.N. picture, new markets, and technological changes. Thankfully, he doesn’t make any puck jokes.


charles barkley
John Ourand September 27, 2024
Sources tell me that Jeff Zucker is close to financing a new venture involving Charles Barkley’s production company—a move that would unite two third-act stars from different fields and add the latest piece to RedBird IMI’s evolving thesis.
Nebraska v Penn State big ten football
John Ourand September 24, 2024
As the Big Ten expanded, Fox tried to extend its successful noontime programming strategy to another traditionally uncompetitive dead zone: Friday nights. So far, it’s working.
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