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

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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