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ESPN Has Reportedly Met With NFL, NBA About Minority Stake

BSM Staff
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Since he announced last week that ESPN would consider taking on a strategic partner, much of the speculation has been that Bob Iger has his eyes on other media companies or private equity firms. That may be true, but the field may also not be that limited. 

According to CNBC’s Alex Sherman, Iger has had talks with two of ESPN’s biggest rights partners. Sources tell Sherman that Iger and ESPN boss Jimmy Pitaro have had discussions about minority investments from the NFL and the NBA.

Spokespeople for both ESPN and the NFL declined to comment. The NBA issued a statement, but it had very little meat to it.

“We have a longstanding relationship with Disney and look forward to continuing the discussions around the future of our partnership,” it read.

Discussions of the NBA owning a minority stake in ESPN have been part of the league negotiating a new media rights deal with Disney. Talks with the NFL have reportedly also included the potential for Disney to have a stake in NFL Media as well.

While a deal with a league would make sense for ESPN, it does raise a number of ethical questions. Would ESPN’s investigative reports suddenly find a league that owns a share of their employer to be off-limits? How would lawmakers view this sort of partnership in terms of anti-trust considerations? The partnership would be an unprecedented one, which is why there are so many questions to answer. 

Sherman writes that there are a number of different ways any kind of partnership with ESPN and one of the major leagues could look. No deal appears to be imminent. 

Kirsten Powers Exits CNN

BNM Staff
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Kirsten Powers Exits CNN

CNN Senior Political Analyst Kirsten Powers has announced she has left the network.

Powers joined CNN just before the 2016 presidential election after more than a decade at Fox News. After she left Fox News, Powers accused the network of failing to act after she filed a complaint against network star Bill O’Reilly, who eventually departed the network over sexual misconduct allegations.

Additionally, she was previously a columnist for USA Today, The Daily Beast, and The New York Post, among other outlets.

 “After 7 years, CNN and I have parted ways,” Powers wrote in a post to Instagram. “I brought my most authentic self to the table and did my best to serve the viewers and try and make sense of our increasingly out of control political world.”

The news that Powers would exit the company comes at the same time that CNN has added former Biden White House communications director Kate Bedingfield in a similar role.

Pac-12 Commissioner: The Longer We Wait on TV Deal, the Better Our Options

BSM Staff
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Pac-12 Commissioner: The Longer We Wait on TV Deal, the Better Our Options

Is it a good thing that the Pac-12 still hasn’t announced a new TV deal? That is what George Kliavkoff wants the media to believe.

Speaking at the conference’s media day in Las Vegas, the conference commissioner told reporters that it was a conscious decision not to have any information to share about new TV partners.

“We are not announcing the TV deal today on purpose because I want the focus to be on football,” he said according to reporters in the Las Vegas room.

Reports last week indicated that the conference was hoping to announce a TV deal on Friday to open the event. Kliavkoff says that the fact that did not happen could be advantageous for the conference in the end.

“The longer we wait for our media deal the better our options are.”

At this point, so much information has been in the media about what networks are involved in discussions with the conference and which ones are not, that it is hard to tell who is working on a deal and how close it is.

Past reports have indicated that several schools began considering their options last year when USC and UCLA announced they were leaving the Pac-12 and going to the Big Ten. Uncertainty about the conference’s TV future has only added fuel to that speculation. 

Kliavkoff said that he is not worried about any other schools looking for a new conference. In fact, if not for the exit of the two Southern California schools, the fact that a new media rights deal hasn’t been announced wouldn’t even be a story.

“We are on track to announce our deal the same time everyone would have anticipated before realignment,” he said. “The patience will be rewarded.”

Bill Hemmer: Fox News Was Only Network to Cover RFK Jr. Hearing

BNM Staff
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A quite contentious hearing featuring Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was held on Capitol Hill Thursday, and Bill Hemmer is taking a victory lap for Fox News.

During America’s Newsroom Friday, anchor Bill Hemmer — alongside Dana Perino — noted the network was the only cable news outlet to feature extensive coverage of the hearing.

“Just about 24 hours ago you were watching that with Dana and me here. About the only place you could see it, in fact. Yesterday’s combative hearing on the Hill over the government’s role in suppression of information,” Hemmer said.

“Believe it or not, censorship was on full display. RFK Jr. begging his fellow Democrats to allow him to speak. Democrats were relentless in their hits back against him. And against Biden’s potential top challenger for the Democratic nomination for president. At one point, they were asked to go into special session behind closed doors.”

Hemmer later continued by saying “Unfortunately, you could only see it in one place, and that was on America’s Newsroom.”

CNN Adds Kate Bedingfield as Political Commentator

BNM Staff
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CNN Adds Kate Bedingfield as Political Commentator

CNN has added former White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield as an on-air political commentator.

Bedingfield worked in the Biden White House for two years before jumping to CNN. In total, she has more than 20 years of political and corporate communications.

She worked as Deputy Campaign Manager and Communications Director for the Biden-Harris campaign in 2020 and was also President Biden’s Communications Director during his time as Vice President in the Obama White House.

Additionally, she has worked in both sports and entertainment before her political work. She worked for the Motion Picture Association and Monumental Sports & Entertainment.

Bedingfield will be based in Washington D.C. in her new role with CNN.

MLB Network Takes MLB Now & MLB Tonight to Cooperstown for Hall of Fame Weekend

BSM Staff
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MLB Network Takes MLB Now & MLB Tonight to Cooperstown for Hall of Fame Weekend

MLB Network is taking two of its signature shows to Cooperstown this weekend. One Saturday, MLB Now and MLB Tonight will be on site as the class of 2023 is enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

The network is the exclusive TV home of the induction ceremony, which happens on Sunday at 1:30 PM Eastern. Scott Rolen and Fred McGriff are receiving the honor this year.

Coverage begins at noon on Saturday with MLB Now. Brian Kenny will be joined by Jayson Stark and John Morosi to look back at the players’ careers. MLB Tonight begins at 6 pm. Adnan Virk and Harold Reynolds.

Plenty of fellow Hall of Famers are expected to be on hand. Chipper Jones, Albert Pujols, Jeff Bagwell and Ryne Sandberg are all scheduled to appear on Saturday’s broadcast.

On Sunday, Greg Amsinger will lead the broadcast preceding the induction ceremony. He will be joined by Morosi, Reynolds, Stark and Hall of Fame voter Tom Verducci beginning at noon.

Bob Costas will not be on hand for the event, but his voice will be. He has written and voiced a vignette about McGriff and Rolen that will air to start the ceremony.

Brian Kenny and MLB Now will still be in Cooperstown on Monday. The show will recap highlights of the weekend beginning at noon Eastern that day.

Charlie O Mallonee Named Assistant Brand Manager at ESPN 1320 Sacramento

BSM Staff
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Charlie O Mallonee Named Assistant Brand Manager at ESPN 1320 Sacramento

Audacy has announced that Charlie O Mallonee will be elevated to assistant brand manager of ESPN 1320 in Sacramento. As a result, he will be responsible for the station’s branding, content strategy and operations among other responsibilities.

“Charlie O’s experience as a producer and deep understanding of our station’s content has been instrumental in KIFM’s success,” Stacey Kauffman, regional president of Audacy in Sacramento, said in a statement. “With this new role, Charlie O will continue to elevate our content strategy, support our talented team, streamline operations and reinforce our distinctive branding. We are confident that his passion and dedication will help take ESPN 1320 to the next level.”

O Mallonee previously served as a producer at the station from the time he joined the broadcast outlet in March 2019. He entered the role with experience as a reporter and podcast host for Sports Radio Service in San Francisco, an outlet where he was a beat reporter for the Oakland Athletics. Throughout his broadcast career, he has performed play-by-play duties for the San Jose Bees, San Jose Lasers and San Jose State Spartans.

“I am really proud to have been a part of the ESPN 1320/Audacy Sacramento team for the past four years,” Mallonee said. “I want to thank Stacey Kauffman and Aaron Roberts for giving me the opportunity to take on these added responsibilities during this exciting time of growth in the world of audio. Together with ‘D-Lo & KC,’ Jesse Tapia and James Ham, we are proving every day that ESPN 1320 in Sacramento’s sports leader!”

Jeff Austin, the program director and brand manager of ESPN 1320 works out of Portland, OR, where he holds the same position at 1080 The Fan. O Mallonee being on the ground in Sacramento will be a tremendous asset for daily operation of the station.

Tomi Lahren: TikTok Provides Platform for Those Who Shouldn’t Have One

BNM Staff
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Tomi Lahren: TikTok Provides Platform for Those Who Shouldn’t Have One

A recent viral TikTok has caught the ire of OutKick’s Tomi Lahren, and she shared her displeasure with the video and the platform at large.

During her Fox News Commentary Friday, Lahren shared her displeasure with a user who complained that a prospective employer refused to accommodate her “time blindness”. In the video, the woman claims that she “struggles with being on time”.

“I think that a culture where workers are just cut off because they struggle with being on time when there are other solutions that we can look to — I just think anybody who thinks it’s ok to just treat people like that — yeah, that culture needs to be dismantled,” the user said.

@chaotic_philosopher

I’m tired of workers’ rights not being prioritized in this country. And we’re entitled for suggesting it should be different… I don’t think so. #workersrights #employeerights #workers #capitalismsucks #capitalism #thesystemisbroken #fyp

♬ original sound – ♻️????Chaotic Philosopher✝️????????

The video has now garnered more than 4.7 million views on the platform. The majority of comments on the video — of which there are nearing 50,000 — mock the user for her supposed issue.

Lahren joined those chastising the situation, before sharing her feelings on the platform as a whole.

“We’ve allowed this kind of crap to flourish because victimhood and creating victimhood is the new American pastime,” Lahren said. “And now communist TikTok allows these people — who really should live in a hole of embarrassment — to be given the time of day. The greatest generation stormed the beaches of Normandy so this generation of weirdos could get on an app and make up excuses and conditions to justify ineptitude!”

WWLS Tops Sports Radio in Oklahoma City Spring Ratings Book

BSM Staff
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WWLS is celebrating 25 years in the sports format in 2023, and right now, they are celebrating the numbers too. Oklahoma City is a busy sports radio market, and The Sports Animal came out on top for the quarter with Men 25-54.

Overall, the station ranked 3rd in the demo during weekday prime (M-F 6a-7p) with a 7.5 share.

In morning drive, The Morning Animals, featuring Phil Inzinga, Spinozi, Carey Murdock, and Curtis Fitzpatrick, scored a 6.1 share, which was good enough to earn a 4th place finish.

Middays on WWLS is divided between three shows. Sports Morning with Craig Humphreys runs from 9a-12p. The Middle of the Day Show hosted by Mark Rodgers airs from 12p-2p. The block is rounded out by the first hour of Jim Traber’s afternoon show. Altogether, WWLS was 3rd from 10a-3p with a 6.8 share.

Afternoons is also a divided timeslot. Afternoon Sports Beat with Jim Traber runs from 2p-4p. That’s followed by Total Dominance, which brings together Traber, Al Eschbach, Berry Tramel and Dean Blevins from 4p-6p. The daypart finishes with an hour of national programming from CBS Sports Radio. 

Collectively the afternoon timeslot ranked 2nd with a 9.7 share for WWLS this book. Even more impressive, that number was up from an 8.3 during the same period last year.

Oklahoma City sports fans are also served by 107.7 The Franchise, and a simulcast of The Ref out of Norman on 94.7 FM. Numbers were not available this quarter for either station.

Jason Rantz: Geraldo Rivera ‘Rudest, Most Egotistical Person I’ve Ever Met’

BNM Staff
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Jason Rantz: Geraldo Rivera ‘Rudest, Most Egotistical Person I’ve Ever Met’

Geraldo Rivera has been on a media tour after exiting Fox News late last month. 770 KTTH host Jason Rantz isn’t a fan of the statements Rivera is making, or the man himself.

During The Jason Rantz Show, the Seattle-based host shared that he’s “never been a fan” of Rivera’s, and believes he’s not good on TV. He admitted that his view of the 80-year-old was molded by an interaction earlier in his career.

Rantz claimed that as a producer at KLSX in Los Angeles in the mid-2000s, Rivera appeared on Adam Carolla’s program for an apparent audition to join the station and the interaction soured his opinion of the longtime personality.

“I was told by his handler to basically do a tryout. He was the rudest, most egotistical person I have ever met. You know how I sometimes — I mean it but I say it in a joking way, like don’t make eye contact with me? He literally had that as a rule,” shared Rantz. “And I overheard him because he was struggling to do a solo show…I walk in to hand him something. But I overheard as I was walking into the studio — it was a large studio so he didn’t see me. But his handler said ‘Hey, you might want to bring on maybe some of the other people in the studio’, because he was struggling. I’ll never forget that he goes and I’m almost quoting word for word ‘Who gives a — about what they have to say?’

“He did it in the most demeaning possible way. And it’s not even that he’s wrong. It’s the way he did it. It’s ‘No one cares what you think. Turn off your microphone. It’s the way that he chose to do it. That was just so demeaning and condescending. That’s just his personality maybe. But who wants to be around that?”

The 770 KTTH host took umbrage with the statements Rivera made to CNN’s Alisyn Camerota. Rivera said he was “muzzled” by Fox News. Rantz argued that if there is one media outlet that doesn’t muzzle its talent, it’s Fox.

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