Media
MLB Media Notes: Padres’ Agler to continue on team’s broadcasts
In San Diego, Kevin Acee reported Padres radio play-by-play voice Jesse Agler has “agreed to a multi-year contract extension.” Agler began working for the Padres in 2014, then joined Ted Leitner in the radio booth full-time in 2016. He succeeded Leitner upon his retirement in 2021. Agler’s deal come...
Media Notes
THE ATHLETIC’s Sabreena Merchant wrote broadcasters Chamique Holdsclaw and Tamika Catchings will join USA Network’s WNBA broadcast team for the 2026 season. Holdsclaw, a former WNBAer, will “appear in studio coverage” alongside commentators Elle Duncan and Renee Montgomery. Catchings, a Basketball H...
Bonds’ presence praised as critics continue to break down Netflix’s MLB debut
A “true star emerged” in former MLBer Barry Bonds, who made his debut as an on-air analyst during Netflix’s pre- and postgame shows for Wednesday’s Yankees-Giants Opening Night game at Oracle Park, according to G. Allen Johnson of the S.F. CHRONICLE. Bonds, in “good humor and engaging throughout the...
Nationals fans confused over access to new Nationals TV channel on Verizon Fios on Opening Day
Some Verizon Fios TV subscribers found themselves “shut out” of the Nationals new broadcast channel on Opening Day, according to Nusbaum & Drellich of THE ATHLETIC. Some subscribers said that they were told by Verizon customer service representatives that “watching the game would require a more ...
FCC chair warns NFL’s paywall push could jeopardize antitrust exemption
FCC Chair Brendan Carr said that if the NFL “puts too many games behind a paywall, it could risk losing its antitrust exemptions,” according to Rohan Goswami of SEMAFOR. Carr said there is “a point at which you sort of tip the scale, and they’ve just put too many games behind a paywall, and then tha...
Jason Benetti embraces new role as NBC baseball’s lead voice
NBC’s Jason Benetti -- who made his debut as the net’s lead MLB announcer on Thursday -- has a resume that is “long and impressive,” but the “Sunday Night Baseball” gig “might just be his biggest gig yet,” according to Tony Paul of the DETROIT NEWS. With ESPN scaling back its MLB footprint, NBC “jum...
Tiger’s return bumps TGL close to 1 million viewers
Tiger Woods’ return brought TGL its second most-watched match ever on Tuesday night, with the Jupiter Links-L.A. Golf Club match averaging 989,000 viewers on ESPN. That’s only behind Woods’ debut with the league in 2025, which just crossed over 1 million viewers.
Curb star Larry David appears in YES Network commercial
It could’ve been a scene from Curb.
How far can the NFL push broadcasters on price?
There’s been a small shift in the discourse around the NFL’s media contracts since my last newsletter, and it suggests the plot is becoming a bit more complicated than originally expected. It started a week ago on CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” when PGA Tour CEO and former NFL top media dealmaker Brian Rolapp...
NFL expected to open up local preseason rights to streamers
NFL teams would be permitted to sell preseason game TV rights and original shows to streamers under a plan heading to owners for approval at next week’s league meeting, sources said. This is seen as a marginal but intriguing new asset for teams in the highly centralized NFL media ecosystem, where th...
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Quote of the Day
Does the NFL still benefit from the antitrust exemption when they’re negotiating for carriage of games not on a sponsored telecast, but on a streaming service?-- FCC Chair Brendan Carr, on his feeling that if the NFL puts too many games behind a paywall, it could risk losing its antitrust exemptions.
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