FOX Sports Midwest, FOX Home Entertainment and the Cardinals dedicate Sandlot Field for special needs kids

Like FOX Sports Southwest and FOX Sports North, FOX Sports Midwest used its team and community relationships to support FOX Home Entertainment’s 20th anniversary DVD of the classic movie The Sandlot.

The highlight of the St. Louis effort was the dedication of The Sandlot Field, a baseball field for kids with special needs.

Marathon Efforts in Minnesota to Raise Awareness for Pancreatic Cancer Network

Select FOX Sports North employees, (including SVP/GM, Mike Dimond) led by team captain FOX Sports North Girl Angie, racked up the miles at Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth, Minn. in June, all for an important cause—to raise awareness for TEAMHOPE.

Team members signed up to run either the half or full marathon and set their sights on training, all while raising funds for the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network. Runners sported purple jerseys on race  day and together helped raise over $100,000.

 

See how FOX Sports North Spread the Word, A Multi-Platform Approach:

• Custom Promos: Featuring FOX Sports North Girl, Angie

• Publicity Efforts: Included radio and TV interviews
• KFAN Radio, WATCH
• Twins Live, WATCH
• Attended the Grandma's Marathon Press Conference

• Web & Social Media: Promotion and donations encouraged across FOX Sports North and FOX Sports North Girls pages

• In Person: Angie volunteered at the Pancreatic Cancer Network booth at the Grandma’s Marathon Expo the day before the race

A cause near and dear to FOX Sports North Girl Angie, she lost her Uncle Arnie to pancreatic cancer just six short weeks after he was diagnosed.

You can still donate to FOX Sports North's TEAMHOPE:

http://teamhope.kintera.org/grandmasmarathon2013/foxsportsnorth

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FOX's Sun Sports Goes All-In for Second Straight Miami HEAT Championship Celebration

Having a parade down beautiful Biscayne Boulevard never gets old, and for the second time in as many seasons, FOX's Sun Sports was on hand to cover all the festivities from start to finish on Monday, June 24, 2013.

The moment confetti began falling inside the AmericanAirlines Arena to commemorate the Miami HEAT's third NBA World Championship in franchise history, Sun Sports started mobilizing to cover a victory parade and celebration that saw an estimated 400,000 plus fans in attendance.

Click more for the story of everything that went into yesterday's five hours of live celebration coverage.

FOX Sports Detroit Girls in the Fast Lane with NASCAR

Brittney and Lauren of the FOX Sports Detroit girls attended NASCAR at the Michigan International Speedway June 14th and 16th. The girls began with a shoot around town to share Detroit hot spots with the viewing audience on Thursday.  

On Friday morning, Brittney & Lauren participated in a pace car ride, also shot by the Speed channel. The girls then went to the FOX Sports stage, where FOX Sports Detroit’s Fan Express was parked, to interact with fans, give away prizes for trivia as well as a tricycle race. See video of Lauren’s tricycle ride. See video of Brittney’s tricycle ride.

They also went on Trackside with John Roberts, Kyle Petty and Kaitlyn Vincie to talk about the pace car ride, meeting racer Clint Bowyer (pictured above) and mingling with fans. Speed also integrated footage from Thursday’s hot spots shoot, pace car ride and tricycle race. See video of Trackside.

Click here for a photo gallery from Friday’s events.

On Sunday, Brittney and Lauren returned to the track to appear on RaceDay. Click here for the video. The appearance from Friday was also highlighted on Tigers Live Pregame show on Sunday.

Q&A with FOX Sports Digital's Ben Gerst

Fox’s hire Gerst: Teamwork key to interactive success

Fox Sports last week hired Ben Gerst, formerly of The New York Times, as its senior vice president of platform development for Fox Sports Digital. In the newly created position, Gerst will play a prominent role in a redesign and relaunch of FoxSports.com slated to occur in concert with the planned August start of Fox Sports 1 on cable TV.

Gerst is new to the sports industry, having spent the last eight years at the Times as executive director of platform technologies. There, he helped that outlet become a thought leader in developing new forms of digital content presentation, including the creation of its verified commenter program and aggressive embrace of user-generated content to create new, interactive forms of storytelling such as its notable “The Lives They Lived” feature. He spoke last week with staff writer Eric Fisher. 
■ What attracted you to the position, and at this time?

GERST: What attracted me most is that this is a transformative time for Fox Sports with the launch of the new network, the opportunity to come into a new role and help lead the technology organization here, and help Fox become more of a technology company.

“The Lives They Lived” was among Gerst’s projects for The New York Times.

■ When you say you want Fox Sports to be more of a technology company, what does that mean?

GERST: I spent a lot of time at The New York Times, which had this image as a 160-year-old media company, as the Grey Lady, trying to build ourselves as more of a technology company. So we put together an open [application programming interface] program, a developer outreach program, speaker events, hack days, that sort of thing, just to show the developer community and the technology community the kinds of things we were doing at the Times. It was good [developer] recruiting, but it was also good for developer retention. That’s the sort of thing that I’m bringing from the Times that I expect to instill here at Fox Sports.

■ What do you think Fox Sports, and digital sports in general, can learn from news and your news background?

GERST: A lot of the things we’ve done at the Times were based around teams of developers that were working in the newsroom, sitting side by side with editors, producers and reporters who were available to work on stories as they were happening. That’s a lot of what you saw in the interactive stories that came from the Times, that interactivity came from the team [of developers] in the newsroom. That kind of cross-platform approach would be amazing and is something I’ll be talking to people about here.

NASCAR to open talks with ESPN and Turner

By John Ourand & Tripp Mickle - June 17, 2013

NASCAR opens its exclusive negotiating windows with ESPN and Turner next month, jump-starting a process that will cement the sport’s media relationships for the next decade.

The networks will open talks July 1 and have 45 to 60 days to negotiate exclusively for the rights to 23 Sprint Cup races, according to several sources. Both Turner and ESPN have expressed interest in retaining their packages, but it’s not clear how much more each network will be willing to pay.  

Liberty, Time Warner Cable CEOs Met; Discussed Cable Mergers

By MARTIN PEERS and SHALINI RAMACHANDRAN

Updated June 16, 2013, 7:33 p.m. ET

Liberty Media Corp. LMCA +0.92% Chief Executive Greg Maffei recently met withTime Warner Cable Inc. TWC +8.09% Chief Executive Glenn Britt to discuss the benefits of mergers in the cable sector, said a person familiar with the situation, the latest sign that Liberty is interested in sparking consolidation in the industry.

Liberty, which early last month acquired a 27% stake in pay-television operatorCharter Communications Inc., CHTR +5.16% didn't make any proposal for a specific deal. Instead, at the meeting, which occurred several weeks ago, the two discussed the advantages in companies joining forces, the person said. It isn't clear the two saw things the same way, however. 

FOX Sports Ohio and FOX Sports Midwest team with FOX Searchlight to treat Reds and Cards to red-carpet experience

FOX Sports Ohio and FOX Sports Midwest provided unique experiences to front office staff of their team partners and helped build buzz for the FOX Searchlight picture The Way, Way Back with red-carpet style movie screenings in Cincinnati and St. Louis.

ESPN Ends Game for 3-D Channel for Now

By CHRISTOPHER S. STEWART - June 12, 2013

Television viewers like to watch big screens, really big screens—and even little ones. But so far, it seems, there aren't too many who want to watch in three dimensions.

That is a conclusion at least that can be drawn from ESPN's decision disclosed Wednesday to pull the plug on its three-year-old ESPN 3D network, citing "low adoption of 3D in the home."

The channel will stop broadcasting by the end of the year, according to a spokeswoman. 

FOX Sports West and Prime Ticket Honored with a Record 28 Telly Awards

Cumulative Recognition Spans 13 Categories

Fox Sports West and Prime Ticket were recently honored with 28 award wins at the 34^th Annual Telly Awards, which included three Silver Awards, the top award presented by the organization. These acknowledgments mark the highest single-year Telly Award accumulation in network history.

The Telly Awards was founded in 1979 and is the premier award honoring outstanding local, regional, and cable TV commercials and programs, the finest video and film 

productions, and online commercials, video and films.

The complete list of Telly Award wins received by Fox Sports West and Prime Ticket is as follows:

 Silver Award Winners (Three Awards):

TV Sports Programs - “Angels Weekly”

TV Sports Segment - “Clippers Christmas Day” tease

*Visual Effects - LiberoVision

Bronze Award Winners (25 Awards):

Copywriting Excellence - Bruce Beffa

Copywriting Excellence - Patrick McBride

Copywriting Excellence - Shawn Kopelakis

Cultural TV Programming - “Dodger Stadium: 50 Years At Chavez Ravine”

Documentary TV Programming - “Dodger Stadium: 50 Years At Chavez Ravine”

Editing Excellence - James Freeman

Editing Excellence - Tony Stefanelli

Entertainment Programming - “Los Angeles Sports Awards”

Graphics Excellence - Damion Tinsley

Graphics Excellence - Edmund Gutierrez

*Live Events - “2012 L.A. Kings Championship Parade”

*Live Events - “Angels Baseball”

*Live Events - “Clippers vs Memphis Game 7, NBA Playoffs 1^st Round”

*Live Events - “Kings vs Vancouver Game 5, NHL Playoffs 1^st Round”

TV Sports Programs - “Before the Bigs: Chris Paul”

TV Sports Programs - “Dodgers Stadium: 50 Years At Chavez Ravine”

TV Sports Programs - “Dodgers Weekly”

TV Sports Promotional Pieces - “Clippers Basketball: Represent”

TV Sports Promotional Pieces - “How the West Was Won”

TV News Segment - “Angels Among Us: 2012 Angels Season Opener” tease

TV Sports Segment - “CIF Southern Section 100: Janet Evans”

TV Sports Segment - “CIF Southern Section 100: Lisa Fernandez”

TV Sports Segment - “Braeden Benedict on Concussions”

Videography and Cinematography Excellence - Edward Lewis

Videography and Cinematography Excellence - Jeff Shearin

*category not exclusive to sports

To review the award submissions, a prestigious panel of over 500 accomplished industry professionals, each a past winner of a Silver Telly and a member of The Silver Telly Council, judged the competition, upholding the historical standard of excellence that Telly represents. The Silver Council evaluated entries to recognize distinction in creative work – entries do not compete against each other – rather entries are judged against a high standard of merit. Less than 10% of entries are chosen as Winners of the Silver Telly, our highest honor. Approximately 25% of entries are chosen as Winners of the Bronze Telly.

New FOX Sports Midwest Girl revealed

After an online search that elicited 800 entries and more than 735,000 page views at FOXSportsMidwest.com, St. Louis native Teryn Schaefer was named the new FOX Sports Midwest Girl last week during the Cardinals Live pregame show.

Fox Sports 1: Ready to Rumble

Co-Heads Freer & Shanks Set Lineup for New National Sports Net
By: MCN Staff Jun 10 2013 - 12:00am

Armed with an impressive array of live rights and commitments to news and original fare, Fox Sports 1 will launch on Aug. 17 in a record 90 million homes. Converted from motorsports-focused Speed, the new general sports service will compete against category kingpin ESPN, as well as NBC Sports Network and CBS Sports Network.

Fox Sports Media Group co-presidents and co-chief operating officers Randy Freer and Eric Shanks sized up Fox Sports 1’s lineup in a recent interview with Multichannel News online news editor Mike Reynolds. An edited transcript follows.

ESPN's John Skipper Gives a Lesson on Defending Value of Sports Programming

If you can't view here, click on the direct link:  http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000175033

Best seen on a laptop or PC.

Web Display Ads Often Not Visible

By SUZANNE VRANICA - June 11, 2013

The old adage in advertising—that half the money is wasted but no one knows which half—turns out to be as true for the digital world as it ever was for traditional media.

An astounding 54% of online display ads shown in “thousands” of campaigns measured by comScore Inc. between May 2012 and February of this year weren’t seen by anyone, according to a study completed last month. Suzanne Vranica joins Lunch Break with details. Photo: Getty Images.

An astounding 54% of online display ads shown in "thousands" of campaigns measured by comScore Inc.SCOR -0.22% between May of 2012 and February of this year weren't seen by anyone, according to a study completed last month.

Don't confuse "weren't seen" with "ignored." These ads simply weren't seen, the result of technical glitches, user habits and fraud.

The finding implies that billions of marketing dollars are being poured down a digital drain. Last year, $14 billion was spent on online display advertising, estimates eMarketer, 40% of all online ad spending.

Tampa Bay Rays Broadcast Auction Raises Eight Year Record

Another year. Another record.
Two weeks ago, FOX's Sun Sports hosted the 8th annual Tampa Bay Rays Broadcast Auction.

The FOX Sports Florida Girls were on hand encouraging viewers to bid on unique items and baseball experiences, and with all proceeds benefiting the Tampa General Hospital Foundation and Rays Baseball Foundation, a record amount was raised once bids were tallied.

FOX Sports South, SportSouth Receive Six Southeast Regional EMMY Awards

FOX Sports South and SportSouth received six EMMY Awards from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) Southeast Chapter on Saturday night. The awards recognize television excellence in Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Asheville, North Carolina. 

“To be recognized with 13 EMMY nominations across 10 categories and six EMMY wins is a great honor, and it confirms the breadth and depth of our commitment to provide the very best in local sports production and coverage,” said Jeff Genthner, senior vice president and general manager of FOX Sports South and SportSouth.  “We are appreciative of the Southeast Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for recognizing our accomplishments across multiple categories, and we congratulate the many other EMMY winners for their excellence in television production.”

Please see below for a list of FOX Sports South and SportSouth EMMY winners:  

 

Television News and Program Specialty Excellence – Sports Regularly Scheduled

·         SEC Gridiron LIVE – Steven Toth, Christina Atkins, Tye Kerber, Keith Wetzler

Television News and Program Specialty Excellence – Program Series

·         DRIVEN: Tougher. Faster. Stronger. The 2013 Bobcats Draft – Kyle Payne, Dan Greene,

Kevin Allison, Keith Wetzler

·         Under The Lights: Southern Miss Baseball – Kevin Allison, Terry Allen, Jeff Gammage,

Scott Berry

Television News and Program Specialty Excellence – Sports-Interview/Discussion

·         The Panel – Fletcher Cox – Jeff Genthner, Keith Wetzler, Zach Whipple, Kyle Payne

Television News and Program Specialty Excellence – Sporting Event/Game-Live/Unedited

·         MLB – Braves – New York Mets vs. Atlanta – Hammond Reynolds, Rohan Backfisch, Joe Vencius, Garry Lehman

Television Crafts Achievement Excellence – Editor – Short Form

·         2012 Atlanta Braves Opening Day Broadcast Open – Michael Emerick

The FOX Sports regional networks serving the Southeast – FOX Sports South, FOX Sports Tennessee, FOX Sports Carolinas and SportSouth – collectively reach more 13 million cable and satellite households in seven states across the Southeast.  They are the television home of the Atlanta Braves, Atlanta Dream, Atlanta Hawks, Carolina Hurricanes, Charlotte Bobcats, Memphis Grizzlies, Nashville Predators, Cincinnati Reds, Indiana Pacers, New Orleans Hornets, and St. Louis Cardinals, as well as the Atlantic Coast Conference, Conference USA, Southeastern Conference, and Big 12 Conference, and offer expanded coverage of the University of Kentucky, University of South Carolina and University of Tennessee.  Combined, the four networks produce more than 800 live local events and televise more than 1400 live local events each year. For more information, please visit FOXSportsSouth.com, FOXSportsTennessee.com, and FOXSportsCarolinas.com. 

Market shift rocks digital rollup strategy for sports sites

By Eric Fisher, Staff Writer

Published June 10, 2013

Chris Russo, the veteran media executive and founder of the former Big Lead Sports, less than two years ago was leading one of the five largest digital sports properties in terms of monthly unique visitors. Early last year, he engineered a sale of the company to Gannett Inc., formerly a minority shareholder, for an estimated $30 million.

In his view, there’s no way a firm such as Big Lead Sports, a disparate rollup of more than 500 owned and affiliated sites that was previously known as Fantasy Sports Ventures, would be created and become viable in today’s digital sports media landscape. 

Networks cry foul at NFL-Verizon streaming

By Terry Lefton & John Ourand, Staff Writers

Published June 10, 2013

NFL executives received an earful from their TV partners when the league informed them of the plan to sell Verizon the rights to stream all NFL games to their mobile phone users starting in 2014.

Agitated media partners pushed them on how the league was further diluting the most popular programming on TV. It was the same argument the league heard when they launched NFL RedZone and expanded NFL Network’s Thursday night package to a full season. 

Military Community Outreach: Operation Opening Day & Military Veterans Program

FOX Sports Detroit announcer Mario Impemba has donated a four-hour DVD tabbed ‘Operation Opening Day’, containing FOX Sports Detroit’s coverage of the Detroit Tigers 8-3 victory over the New York Yankees on April 5 at Comerica Park, to transplanted Tigers fans currently serving in the United States Armed Forces for the fifth consecutive year.

‘Operation Opening Day’ is a gift from Impemba in cooperation with the Detroit Tigers, the Detroit Tigers Foundation, an affiliate of Ilitch Charities, and Major League Baseball Productions.

“Operation Opening Day in Detroit is our annual holiday that brings our city together, something so many of the men and women in our Armed Forces do not have a chance to experience in person,” said Impemba. “While they are away serving our country, I am honored to bring Opening Day to them and hope this small piece of home lets them know how much we appreciate their service and sacrifice.”

Troops, as well as family and friends of troops, can request this special gift at Tigers.com/operationopeningday. Each year, 1,000 copies are distributed.

MVP: Military Veterans ProgramVeterans from earlier eras will get to enjoy a Detroit Tigers game at Comerica Park as part of the Military Veterans Program (MVP) – Mario Impemba’s salute to those who served. MVP launched on Memorial Day and runs every Monday home game through the 2013 season, including May 27, June 17, August 26 and September 15.                                                                                                        

The program, which invites 20 veterans to each game, includes a ticket to the game, transportation to the ball park via the FOX Sports Detroit Fan Express, a t-shirt, food voucher and autographed pic of Mario Impemba. Veterans who participate in the program are selected from local Veterans organizations.

Impemba was among those who participated in Spring Training to the Troops.

ESPN, NBC on the clock for golf rights

Incumbents’ window to negotiate with USGA opens

The U.S. Golf Association started its exclusive negotiating window with incumbents ESPN and NBC Sports Group over the weekend, a year and a half before its current deal ends.

NBC holds the broadcast rights to USGA’s biggest prize, the U.S. Open. NBC also televises the U.S. Women’s Open and the U.S. Senior Open. ESPN is the cable partner for the first two rounds of the men’s Open. 

NBC Sports Group and Fox Sports involved as MLB tries to work toward MASN solution

By John Ourand, Staff Writer, Published June 3, 2013

Major League Baseball has had talks with NBC Sports Group and Fox Sports in recent weeks to try to craft a solution to its MASN dispute, according to several sources.

MLB hired Steve Greenberg of Allen & Co. to try to broker such a deal, which could see NBC or Fox acquire all or part of the regional sports network that carries Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals games.

Though talks with Fox and NBC have occurred in recent weeks, it’s hard to tell how receptive Orioles owner Peter Angelos is to cutting a deal. Angelos, who also owns the majority of MASN, has final say on a deal and so far has been unwilling to entertain offers. When contacted last week, the Orioles had no comment. 

FOX Sports Makes Advertising Push with Twitter

FS1 Twitter feed to feature advertisers

By John Ourand, Staff Writer

Published June 3, 2013, Page 3

Ford sponsored UEFA Twitter highlights as part of a test earlier this year.

When Fox Sports launches FS1 in August, advertisers will have the opportunity to buy into the network’s Twitter feeds, thanks to a deal Fox Sports signed with the social media company at the end of March.

Fox Sports has been testing the system for several months and expects to start ramping it up in full when FS1 launches on Aug. 17. 

Fox Sports also plans to make a big advertising push with Twitter around its Super Bowl programming, though its executives would not offer specifics about how that push would look. Fox holds the rights to next year’s game, which will be played in New York/New Jersey.