DESPITE HUGE PROFITS, ESPN CUTTING STAFF

When Disney reported strong second-quarter profits earlier this month, it singled out cable sports network ESPN as a major contributor to the results with revenue rising 9 percent to $3.4 billion. But on Tuesday ESPN issued a surprise announement that it was laying off nearly 400 employees “to enhance our continued growth while smartly managing […]

ESPN MUST PAY DISH $4.86 MILLION, BUT IT’S A HOLLOW LEGAL WIN

A federal jury on Thursday ordered ESPN to pay satellite service DISH network $4.86 million for breaching a 2005 licensing agreement involving its Spanish-language channel, ESPN Deportes. But it was a hollow victory. DISH had sought $153 million in damages, claiming that ESPN had breached the “most favored nation” clause in their contract, which requires […]

DISNEY PROFITS DIP — BUT NOT AS BADLY AS EXPECTED

The Walt Disney Co. on Tuesday reported a 6-percent dip in profits to $1.38 billion for its first quarter, down from $1.46 billion during the year-ago period. Analysts had predicted a somewhat steeper decline. Disney blamed it principally on lower revenue from home-video titles and on $321 million in charges related to a lawsuit brought […]

EVERYTHING CAME UP ROSES FOR ESPN ON NEW YEAR’S DAY

ESPN’s coverage of the 2013 Rose Bowl Game averaged 17.02 million viewers on New Year’s Day, according to ratings released Wednesday by Nielsen Research. The telecast, which saw Stanford defeat Wisconsin 20-14, was down 3 percent from the 17.59 million who watched last year’s Rose Bowl contest, a percentage within Neilsen’s margin of error. During […]

FOX NEWS THE MOST-WATCHED CHANNEL IN OCTOBER

For the first time since 2005 when its audience was lifted by Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath, Fox News Channel became the No. 1 basic cable network in primetime among total viewers in October, averaging 3.36 million viewers. Its highest-rated show continued to be The O’Reilly Factor, which averaged 3.92 million viewers, followed by Hannity […]

MLB MAY SCORE $1 BILLION IN DEAL WITH NETWORK

With its current deals with ESPN, Fox and Turner set to expire at the end of the season next year, Major League Baseball is being wooed by CBS and NBC, each of which is offering what today’s (Tuesday) New York Post described as “a mountain of cash” to take over exclusive rights to the telecasts. […]

DISNEY REPORTS SOLID QUARTER — DESPITE JOHN CARTER

That $300-million John Carter bomb that brought down Rich Ross, the head of Walt Disney Studios, turned out not to be the disaster that many analysts had reckoned it would be. According to the Disney Co.’s quarterly report, the company wound up with a 21-percent increase in profit during the quarter to $1.14 billion, from […]

WILL FOX CHALLENGE ESPN?

A report by Bloomberg News on Wednesday that Fox Sports is considering launching a new cable sports network that would rival ESPN has been dismissed by people familiar with the matter, the Los Angeles Times reported today (Thursday). The newspaper observed that should such a network actually transpire, it could touch off fierce bidding between […]

FIRED ESPN EDITOR APOLOGIZES FOR “CHINK IN THE ARMOR” HEADLINE

The ESPN editor who was fired for using “chink in the armor” in a headline about New York Knicks sensation Jeremy Lin insisted on Monday that he was not looking for a pun based on Lin’s race when he wrote it. Anthony Federico told the New York Daily News “This had nothing to do with […]

ESPN FIRES WRITER FOR HEADLINE PUN ABOUT JEREMY LIN

So many puns and racial asides have accompanied reports about New York Knicks star Jeremy Lin’s sensational start that it all became the centerpiece of a Saturday Night Live sketch this weekend. Using a “Sports Center” type of background, the faux panelists discussed the firing of an ESPN writer for writing the headline “A Chink […]

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