NFL Announcer Free Agency Comes To A Close
NFL Announcer Free Agency Comes To A Close
Issue #90
LEAD STORY
NFL Announcer Free Agency Comes To A Close
With Fox Sports announcing its broadcast team for the 2022-23 NFL season, one of the busiest announcer off-seasons has officially come to a close.
Fox Sports said that Kevin Burkhard will be the network’s lead play-by-play announcer, and he will be joined by former NFL tight-end Greg Olsen, who will be the lead NFL game analyst. Erin Andrews and Tom Rinaldi will join them from the sidelines as lead NFL reporters during the games.
These moves were necessitated after the longtime broadcast team of Joe Buck, and Troy Aikman decamped for ESPN’s Monday Night Football. Elsewhere, NBC Sports, Sunday Night Football dropped Al Michaels for Mike Tirico, and the newest broadcast partner Amazon’s Prime Video, picked up Michaels and paired him with ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit for Thursday Night Football.
Herbstreit will still be attached to ESPN as he will still be part of the College Game Day show and an analyst for its marquee college football games.
The only network to not experience the musical chairs shuffle is CBS Sports, which will stick with its top-tier team of Jim Nantz and Tony Romo.
It will take some time for viewers to get used to most of the changes, but these moves will ensure the broadcast networks will have a stable roster calling their main games as they approach the start of the new broadcast media rights deal, which kicks in at the beginning of the 2023 season.
Stability is ensured for all but one network, Fox Sports, which will be waiting on Tom Brady to officially retire for a second and hopefully permanent time. The network announced that Brady will be the No. 1 game analyst alongside Burkhardt when he hangs up his cleats.
This means Olsen will be relegated to the No. 2 broadcast team when that time comes.
Brady will be making $25 million a year analyzing games for Fox Sports. The network has been known for making bold moves over the years and went big with its hiring of Brady, giving the GOAT the richest deal in sports TV history.
In a league where 71% of the players are people of color, it is very interesting to see that the top broadcasting teams are predominantly white. NBC Sports’ Mike Tirico is the only play-by-play announcer that is not white, and Tony Romo on CBS Sports can be considered as the only non-white game analyst.
The broadcast networks need to do a better job auditioning people of color for leading roles and not just relegating them to their studio shows and/or the “B” teams.
(Fox Sports, Front Office Sports, NBC News)
RECAP
CBS News To Launch 60 Minutes Channel On Pluto TV
Pluto TV, the free ad-supported streaming channel from Paramount Global, is adding a channel dedicated to the 60 Minutes news magazine show. The channel, which will launch later in the year, will be the home to years worth of 60 Minutes programming. Nicole Young, a veteran 60 Minutes producer, will oversee this new venture. The launch of 60 Minutes on Pluto TV is the latest attempt by the CBS News division to expand the audience reach for the news program. Previous attempts included launching 60 On 6 on the short-lived Quibi streaming service. The program was later moved to Paramount Plus and was renamed 60 Minutes Plus, and then it was ultimately canceled. (Variety)
CNN’s Chris Licht Says Cool It On The Breaking News Usage
Chris Licht’s reign as CNN’s Chairman and CEO has just crossed the one-month mark, and the news executive is slowly starting to make his presence felt. In a company-wide memo to employees, he announced that CNN will pare down its use of the “Breaking News” banner, which had its importance heavily diluted during the Jeff Zucker era and was used to signify almost any new development. Licht said that a “Breaking News” guideline has been added to the network’s stylebook. In the stylebook, the “Breaking News” banner will be applied when a news story qualifies as a “stop what you are doing and watch’ news” type of story. (Axios and New York Times)
Peter Drury Replaces Arlo White On NBC Sports’ EPL Coverage
NBC Sports is using the offseason of the English Premier League to make some on-air substitutions. Out is Arlo White, who has been the main play-by-play caller for the network for the past nine years, and in is Peter Drury. Drury’s voice is well known to many international soccer fans as he has been calling many of the premiership and Champions league soccer matches on the world-feed broadcasts. Drury will begin his duties at the start of the 2022-2023 season, which begins on August 6. White is likely to return to calling games for the MLS, or Fox Sports or Turner Sports may pick him up to help with their soccer matches. NBC Sports renewed its commitment to the English Premier League for another six years at the cost of $2.7 billion. (World Soccer Talk)
QUICK RECAP
Profile: MSNBC’s Ari Melber on reimagining his news show. (Forbes)
Profile: Dave Roberts is one of the highest-ranking executives at ESPN. (CNBC)
Profile: MSNBC’s Katy Tur's difficult path to media stardom. (Vanity Fair)
Profile: Curtis Granderson’s gig as an analyst on TBS’ Tuesday night games. (Chicago Sun Times)
Frédéric Leclerc-Imhoff, a journalist from French news channel BFM TV, was killed in Ukraine. (Sky News)
NBA player CJ McCollum joins ESPN as a multi-platform NBA analyst. (ESPN Press Room)
Tomi Lahren joins Fox News Media’s Outkick. (Variety)
Priscilla Thompson named Houston correspondent by NBC News. (TVNewser)
Laura Barrón-López joins PBS’ PBS NewsHour. (The Hollywood Reporter)
Soccer referee Mark Clattenburg joins Fox Sports. (Fox Sports PR/Twitter)
ESPN’s Lisa Salters signs a multi-year extension with the network. (ESPN PR/Twitter)
Gabe Cortez joins CNBC as a data visualization journalist. (Talking Biz News)
Los Angeles Football Club head coach Steve Cherundolo joins Fox Sports. (Fox Sports PR/Twitter)
One month in with Chris Licht at the helm of CNN, what is the mood like at the network? (New York Times)
BBC News presenters and senior editors to take “respect at work” training to crack down on bullying and harrassment. (The Times)
Netflix, ESPN, NBCUniversal, and Amazon want the Formula 1 broadcast rights. (Business Insider $$$)
Fox News has been tops for 15 straight months. (Cablefax)
Piers Morgan’s UK show suffers from minimal viewership. (Slate)
Netflix hasn’t cut back on its Los Angeles productions. (Los Angeles Times)
Jerry Folz leaves the Golf Channel. (Awful Announcing)
Law and Crime Network and CourtTV received a viewership boost during the Depp - Heard verdict. (Broadcasting+Cable)
Former NFL head coach Jason Garrett might join NBC Sports’ Sunday Night Football in America. (New York Post)
NBA Finals’ game one on ABC featured an all-Black announcing team for the first time ever. (Front Office Sports/Twitter)
UEFA Champions League Final sees record viewership on CBS and Univision. (Awful Announcing)
ABC News’ Good Morning America tops NBC News’ Today Show for four weeks straight. (Variety)
Newly retired NFL QB Ryan Fitzpatrick might be a studio analyst for Amazon Prime Video’s Thursday Night Football. (New York Post)
Netflix’s crackdown on password sharing isn’t going great. (The Streamable)
CBS News’ Laura O’Donnell took a significant pay-cut. (New York Post)
ESPN reveals its announcing teams for its Premier Lacrosse League coverage. (ESPN Press Room)
Is there collusion amongst streaming networks? (Deadline)
CNN to exclusively cover Juneteenth: A Global Celebration for Freedom on Sunday, June 19 at 8pmET - QR
BBC News acknowledges article on trans women failed to meet editorial standards. (The Guardian)
Netflix to trim its vanity movie projects. (The Hollywood Reporter)
CNBC ends its editorial partnership with Acorns. (Talking Biz News)
ESPN Plus and Northwoods League announce streaming agreement. (ESPN Press Room)
Netflix’s subscriber loss may be good for the other streaming services. (The Streamable)
NESN offers a no bundle streaming option for $30. (CNBC)
Former CNN anchor Brooke Baldwin pens an article asking the media to keep its the focus on Uvalde. (The Atlantic)
Univision signs deal with UEFA for Spanish soccer rights. (Awful Announcing)
NBC News Now has been growing slowly and steadily. (Business Insider $$$)
Stranger Things breaks Netflix viewership records. (Deadline)
NBC Sports’ Maria Taylor led the coverage of the French Open semi-final and final this past weekend. (NBC Sports Group Press Box)
Netflix is now in its second act. (CNBC)
Fox Nation’s Freed to Kill earns a 2022 Silver Telly Award. (TVNewser)
Thanks for reading the Coverage Notes Newsletter.
Subscribe & share. Let us know what you think here - love it or hate it; we'll learn to deal with it and make it better.
A MarkHenry Media LLC publication - Issue #90 - 2022