Tom Rutledge vs. Rob Marcus: Who Is Best Prepared to Run Time Warner Cable?

Updated Dec. 19, 2013 8:09 p.m. ET

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304773104579268150284074022?mod=wsj_streaming_latest-headlines

Tom Rutledge worked his way through college climbing telephone poles and connecting homes to cable-TV service. By contrast, when Rob Marcus was in law school he interned at a New York law firm working on Time Inc.'s 1989 merger with Warner Communications Inc., the combination that created Time Warner TWX +0.44% Cable Inc. 

Top 10 Predictions for Sports Media in 2014

http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2013/12/16/Media/Sports-Media.aspx

Aflurry of rights deals has defined sports media over the past several years, with only two more big ones left to negotiate until the next decade. I expect both of those deals — the NBA and the Big Ten — to be negotiated in 2014. Those deals lead off what I expect to be a busy year for sports TV, which should include some new NFL deals, too. 

NFL Downplays Reports Of Imminent Renewal With DirecTV

http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Daily/Morning-Buzz/2013/12/13/DirecTV.aspx

The NFL is pushing back on reports that the league is close to renewing its DirecTV deal for NFL Sunday Ticket. The NFL says the two longtime partners still are negotiating, but have not agreed to the framework of any deal. "We do not have an agreement. Any speculation or reports to the contrary are not accurate," said NFL Media Group VP/Communications Alex Riethmiller (John Ourand, Staff Writer).

The reports had cited sources as saying that the NFL and DirecTV are in "advanced discussions to renew" the Sunday Ticket package in a multiyear deal. The satellite company has held the league's exclusive out-of-market package, estimated to be worth $1B annually, for the past 20 years. The current contract, worth a total of $4B, expires at the end of '14 (VARIETY.com, 12/12).

Houston Rockets Take Lead on Cable Deals

By 

KATY STECH 

Dec. 12, 2013 4:38 p.m. ET

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304477704579254580216241304

The Houston Rockets basketball team is trying to persuade two major cable providers to begin broadcasting the struggling Comcast CMCSA +0.02% SportsNet Houston television channel, which now shows basketball games and Houston Astros games to less than half of the region's households.

At a court hearing Thursday, lawyers involved with the network told U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Marvin Isgur about the potential deals with the cable providers—whom they didn't identify—in an update of their progress to grow the network's footprint and revenue. 

This Holiday Season, FOX Sports North Employees Help Feed Over 23,000 Children

Giving back is always a priority for the staff at FOX Sports North. But, the desire to give back and help others is especially apparent this  holiday season. 

A team consisting of on-air talent, the FOX Sports North Girls, management and staff recently spent the afternoon with Minnesota based not-for-profit organization, Feed My Starving Children. In just two hours, the team helped pack 23,328 meals—enough to feed 63 kids for an entire year.

Additionally, the regional sports network used their multiple platforms to educate and encourage viewers to find ways to give back this holiday season. 

• Wild Live footage: WATCH 

*Learn more about Feed My Starving Children: www.fmsc.org

50 Most Influential: No. 1 — Randy Freer and Eric Shanks

Published December 9, 2013

WILLIAM HAUSER / FOX SPORTS 1

WILLIAM HAUSER / FOX SPORTS 1

1

RANDY
FREER

President & COO

Fox Networks Group

ERIC
SHANKS

President & COO

Fox Sports

 CHANGE FROM 2012: +5

The Fox duo seems an unlikely pair to take the top spot. But under the direction of Freer and Shanks, Fox Sports dictated, shaped and in some cases inflated the sports media marketplace in recent years, gobbling up rights in a buildup to the August launches of Fox Sports 1 and Fox Sports 2. The nuts and bolts of the three-month-plus life of Fox Sports 1 don’t matter much to us. We’re looking more at a long-term, deeply funded programmer with multiple networks and platforms that will continue to be an aggressive bidder on sports rights — and will help maintain the inflated, lucrative media market that is driving the sports business today.

http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2013/12/09/Most-Influential/Intro.aspx

50 Most Influential People in Sports:

1. Randy Freer / Eric Shanks, Fox Sports

2. Roger Goodell, NFL
3. John Skipper, ESPN
4. David Stern / Adam Silver, NBA
5. Bud Selig, Major League Baseball
6. Dick Costolo, Twitter
7. Robert Kraft, The Kraft Group
8. David Levy, Turner Broadcasting System
9. Mark Lazarus, NBC Sports Group
10. Sean McManus, CBS Sports
11. Gary Bettman, NHL
12. Brian France, NASCAR
13. Phil Anschutz, AEG
14. Tim Finchem, PGA Tour
15. Jerry Jones, Dallas Cowboys
16. Mark Walter, Los Angeles Dodgers / Guggenheim Partners
17. Mark MacDougall, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld / Mike Dolan, IMG / George Pyne, IMG Sports & Entertainment
18. Mark Parker, Nike Inc. / Trevor Edwards, Nike Brand
19. Casey Wasserman, Wasserman Media Group
20. Sepp Blatter, FIFA
21. Tim Brosnan and Rob Manfred, Major League Baseball22. Don Garber, Major League Soccer
23. Mike Slive, Southeastern Conference
24. Jim Delany, Big Ten Conference
25. Melinda Witmer, Time Warner Cable
26. Kevin Plank, Under Armour
27. John Henry, Fenway Sports Group
28. Indra Nooyi, PepsiCo
29. Larry Probst / Scott Blackmun, U.S. Olympic Committee
30. Michael Levine / Howard Nuchow, CAA Sports
31. Tim Leiweke, Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment
32. Paul Chibe / Blaise D'Sylva, Anheuser-Busch
33. Mark Emmert, NCAA
34. Jeff Pash, NFL
35. Jerry Reinsdorf, Chicago White Sox / Bulls
36. Ed O’Bannon, O’Bannon v. NCAA
37. Thomas Bach, International Olympic Committee
38. Don Fehr, NHL Players’ Association
39. Herbert Hainer, Adidas
40. Bob Bowman, MLB Advanced Media
41. Chris Tsakalakis, StubHub
42. Andy England / Tom Long, MillerCoors
43. Sean Bratches, ESPN
44. Jed York, San Francisco 49ers
45. Rick Dudley, Octagon
46. Alex Rodriguez, New York Yankees / Fred Horowitz
47. DeMaurice Smith, NFL Players Association
48. Stephen Espinoza, Showtime
49. Asim Pasha, Sporting Innovations, Sporting KC
50. Vladimir Putin, Russian president

FCC Unlikely to Bless a Comcast-TWC Deal: Regulator

Dec. 5, 2013 7:01 p.m. ET

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303722104579240611503491756?mod=wsj_streaming_latest-headlines

Any effort by Comcast Corp. CMCSA +0.41% to acquire Time Warner Cable Inc.TWC +0.25% would face significant hurdles in Washington, according to a Federal Communications Commission official, casting doubt on a cable-industry consolidation scenario that has grabbed Wall Street's attention. 

Fox will sell for L.A. Coliseum

By Don Muret, Staff Writer

Published December 2, 2013

http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2013/12/02/Colleges/USC.aspx

The University of Southern California and Fox Sports Media Group have agreed to a three-year deal allowing Fox to sell sponsorships at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and Los Angeles Sports Arena.

Cox Explores Bidding for Time Warner Cable

By 

DANA MATTIOLI, 

AMOL SHARMA and 

MARTIN PEERS - Nov. 26

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304465604579222300576167872

Cox Communications is considering jumping into the bidding for Time Warner Cable Inc.,TWC +3.95% according to people familiar with the situation, the latest twist in a fast-evolving takeover battle for the second-largest U.S. cable operator.  

In NBA, slow road to streaming

http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2013/11/25/Media/NBA-streaming.aspx

By John Lombardo & John OurandStaff Writers

A month into the NBA season, just two teams have developed local streaming services, even though the biggest regional sports network groups reached agreements with the league to stream games locally at the start of the season.

What gives?

The answer from media and team executives is that local live streaming is still coming this season, but fans need to be patient.  

Charter Lining up Financing to Make Bid for Time Warner Cable

Charter Communications Has Held Talks With Banks, Sovereign-Wealth Funds

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304337404579212470182369600?mod=pls_whats_news_us_business_f

Charter Communications Inc. CHTR 0.00% is nearing an agreement with banks to borrow money for a bid for Time Warner Cable Inc., according to people familiar with the situation—a sign that the scrappy cable operator's effort to engineer a combination of the two companies may be moving into high gear. 

Google's Play: Sports Leagues Shouldn't Fear YouTube

Google's head of sport for North America didn't use his keynote at Tues' PromaxDBA Sports Media Marketing Summit in NYC to position the Internet giant as a creator of original content or purchaser of sports rights. 

Instead, Frank Golding appealed to sports leagues to put content on Google-owned YouTube to drive engagement back to their brands. 

NFL ratings should be down. But they're not.

http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2013/11/18/Media/Sports-Media.aspx

If ever there were a year when the NFL’s TV ratings should be down, it should be this one.

The league is suffering through what seems like an off-field scandal each week, its traditionally highest-rated teams are having off years and the continued popularity of NFL RedZone should be diluting TV ratings.

But just like the past several years, NFL ratings are up across the board. The shield is proving to be stronger than Teflon.  

Hulu Wants to Be Offered With Pay-TV Bundles

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304644104579193833342811814?mod=wsj_streaming_latest-headlines

Online video outlet Hulu LLC is in early discussions with several pay-TV providers about potential partnerships, said people familiar with the situation, the latest sign that the media company-owned service is trying to become integrated with pay television.

Among ideas being discussed is for pay-TV operators to sell Hulu's subscription service, Hulu Plus, as part of pay-TV operators' TV bundles, the people said.

Hulu also hopes that as part of a deal, consumers would be able to access the service through their cable set-top boxes, the people said. 

Pay-TV Industry Loses More Subscribers

By Shalini Ramachandran - Nov 12, 2013
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303460004579194271486828520?mod=wsj_streaming_latest-headlines

The pay TV industry continued to lose subscribers in the third quarter, analysts estimated on Tuesday, providing further evidence that some consumers are dropping their pay TV subscriptions, or cutting the cord.

The industry as a whole lost 113,000 subscribers in the quarter compared with 101,000 in the year ago-period, according to a report by Wall Street research firm MoffettNathanson LLC, issued on Tuesday after Dish Network Corp. DISH +6.00% released its quarterly report. Dish was the last of the publicly traded pay TV providers to report for the quarter. MoffettNathanson's estimate includes a calculation for performance of privately-held distributors. The firm estimates that total pay-TV subscribers shrank 0.2% over the 12 months ended Sept. 30. 

Former FOX Sports North Girl - Current FOX Sports Live Host, Recognized as one of the Twin Cities Finest

Minneapolis St Paul Magazine’s November issue featured some of the “finest examples of young philanthropy (under the age of 40) in the Twin Cities.”

Former FOX Sports North Girl, turned FOX Sports Live Host - Jenny Taft was one of the 20 featured:

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZu1txD3GjY