Dina Bonnevie

Saturday, July 25, 2015

CBS Arena Football commentators

Play-by-play

Ari Wolfe

Color commentator(s)

Anthony Herron

Sideline reporter(s)

Sherdrick Bonner

Fox College Football personalities

B

Brian Baldinger
James Bates
Joe Beninati
Craig Bolerjack
Bob Brainerd
Bill Brophy
Tim Brando
Kris Budden
Paul Burmeister

C

Doug Chapman

D

Charles Davis
Joe Davis
Wes Durham

F

Mark Followill

H

Joey Harrington

Hans Heiserer

J

Brian Jones

K

Joel Klatt
Justin Kutcher

L

Dave Lapham
Matt Leinart
Tom Lemming

M

Steve Martin
Mike Mayock
Lesley McCaslin
Molly McGrath
Liam McHugh
Chad McKee
Mike Morgan

N

Ryan Nece
Houston Nutt

P

Petros Papadakis
Glenn Parker
Bill Patrick
J.C. Pearson

Q

Brady Quinn
Aaron Taylor
Dave Wannstedt

S

Steffi Sorensen
Lindsay Soto

T

Jenny Taft
Kathryn Tappen
Charissa Thompson
Ron Thulin
Ross Tucker

V

Greg Voeller

W

Rod Woodson
Coy Wire
Ron Zook

CBS Olympics commentators

Hosts

Prime-time - Greg Gumbel, Tracy Wolfson
Daytime - Jim Nantz
Late-night - Mary Carillo
Cable - Ernie Johnson, Jr., Matt Winer, Chris Fowler, Hannah Storm, Mike Tirico, Rich Eisen, Adam Zucker, Jim Rome

Winter Olympics

Opening Ceremony

Play-by-play announcer - James Brown
Color commentator -
Reporter -

Alpine skiing

Play-by-play announcer - Kevin Harlan
Color commentator -
Reporter -

Biathlon

Play-by-play announcer - James Brown
Color commentator -
Reporter -

Bobsleigh/Luge/Skeleton

Play-by-play announcer - Bill Macatee
Color commentator -
Reporter -

Cross-country skiing

Play-by-play announcer - Al Trautwig
Color commentator -
Reporter -

Curling

Play-by-play announcer - Andrew Catalon, Casey Stern
Color commentator -
Reporter -

Figure skating

Play-by-play announcer - Tim Brant
Color commentator - Scott Hamilton
Reporter -

Freestyle skiing

Play-by-play announcer - Dave Neal
Color commentator -
Reporter -

Ice Hockey

Play-by-play announcer - Sam Rosen, Howie Rose
Color commentator - Joe Micheletti, Butch Goring
Reporter -

Nordic combined

Play-by-play announcer - Bob Papa (ski jumping), Al Trautwig (cross-country)
Color commentator -
Reporter -

Short track

Play-by-play announcer - Ian Eagle, Tim Brant
Color commentator -
Reporter -

Ski jumping

Play-by-play announcer - Bob Papa
Color commentator -
Reporter -

Snowboarding

Play-by-play announcer - Brian Anderson
Color commentator -
Reporter -

Speed skating

Play-by-play announcer - Ted Robinson
Color commentator -
Reporter -

Closing Ceremony

Play-by-play announcer - James Brown
Color commentator -
Reporter -

Sportsdesk reporters

Allie LaForce

Olympic correspondents

Jenny Dell
Boomer Esiason
Lauren Gardner
Kyle Peterson

Summer Olympics

Opening Ceremony

Play-by-play announcer - Greg Gumbel
Color commentator -
Reporter -

Archery

Play-by-play announcer -
Color commentator -
Reporter -

Badminton

Play-by-play announcer -
Color commentator -
Reporter -

Baseball

Play-by-play announcer - Greg Gumbel, Ernie Johnson, Jr., Brian Anderson
Color commentator - Orel Hershiser, Nomar Garciaparra, Buck Martinez, Jim Kaat
Reporter - Matt Winer, Kyle Peterson

Basketball

See also: NBA on TNT and NBA TV

Play-by-play announcer - Marv Albert, Mike Breen, Kevin Harlan, Ian Eagle, Verne Lundquist, Brian Anderson, Spero Dedes, Joel Meyers, Kevin Calabro, Andrew Catalon, Dave Neal
Color commentator - Bill Raftery, Len Elmore, Chris Webber, Reggie Miller, Grant Hill, Jim Spanarkel, Ann Meyers Drysdale, Lisa Leslie
Reporter - David Aldridge, Rachel Nichols, Lewis Johnson

Beach volleyball

Play-by-play announcer - Dave Neal
Color commentator -
Reporter -

Boxing

See also: HBO World Championship Boxing and Showtime Championship Boxing

Play-by-play announcer - Jim Lampley, Mauro Ranallo
Color commentator - Max Kellerman, Al Bernstein
Reporter - Jim Gray

Canoeing

Play-by-play announcer -
Color commentator -
Reporter -

Cycling

Play-by-play announcer - Allen Bestwick
Color commentator -
Reporter -

Diving

Play-by-play announcer - Ted Robinson
Color commentator -
Reporter -

Equestrian

Play-by-play announcer - Dave Neal
Color commentator -
Reporter -

Fencing

Play-by-play announcer - Andrew Catalon
Color commentator -
Reporter -

Gymnastics

Play-by-play announcer - Al Trautwig (artistic and trampoline), Tracy Wolfson (rhythmic)
Color commentator -
Reporter -

Handball

Play-by-play announcer - Andrew Catalon
Color commentator -
Reporter -

Field hockey

Play-by-play announcer - Ian Eagle
Color commentator -
Reporter -

Modern pentathlon

Play-by-play announcer - Greg Gumbel
Color commentator -
Reporter -

Rowing

Play-by-play announcer - Allen Bestwick
Color commentator -
Reporter -

Shooting

Play-by-play announcer - Dave Neal
Color commentator -
Reporter -

Soccer

Play-by-play announcer - Adrian Healey, John Strong
Color commentator - Taylor Twellman, Alexi Lalas
Reporter - Monica Gonzalez, Julie Stewart-Binks

Softball

Play-by-play announcer - Ernie Johnson, Jr.
Color commentator -
Reporter - Jaime Maggio

Swimming

Play-by-play announcer - Bill Macatee
Color commentator -
Reporter -

Synchronized swimming

Play-by-play announcer -
Color commentator -
Reporter -

Table tennis

Play-by-play announcer -
Color commentator -
Reporter -

Tennis

Play-by-play announcer - Ian Eagle, Chris Fowler, Sam Gore, Bill Macatee, Chris McKendry, Tom Rinaldi, Ted Robinson, Hannah Storm, Mike Tirico
Color commentator - Darren Cahill, Jim Courier, Cliff Drysdale, Chris Evert, Mary Joe Fernandez, Brad Gilbert, Patrick McEnroe, Pam Shriver
Reporter - Tracy Wolfson

Track and field

Play-by-play announcer - Ian Eagle
Color commentator -
Reporter -

Triathlon

Play-by-play announcer - Brad Johansen
Color commentator -
Reporter -

Volleyball

Play-by-play announcer - Dave Neal
Color commentator -
Reporter - Allie LaForce

Water polo

Play-by-play announcer -
Color commentator -
Reporter -

Weightlifting

Play-by-play announcer -
Color commentator -
Reporter -

Wrestling

Play-by-play announcer - Tom McCarthy
Color commentator -
Reporter -

Closing Ceremony

Play-by-play announcer - Greg Gumbel
Color commentator -
Reporter -

Sportsdesk reporters

Lindsay Czarniak
Allie LaForce
Tracy Wolfson

Olympic correspondents

Mary Carillo
Boomer Esiason

Saturday, July 11, 2015

Before the USA Network came to be (1969–1980)

Manhattan Cable and HBO (1969–1977)

Manhattan Cable (subsequently referred to as the MSG Network) debuted in the spring of 1969 and did all home events from the Madison Square Garden: New York Knicks basketball, New York Rangers hockey, college basketball, horse shows, Golden Gloves boxing, tennis, the Westminster Dog Show, ice capades, professional wrestling, etc. The first reference to the channel as “MSG Network” was sometime around 1971–72, although the name did not become official until 1977.

The first televised events were NHL and NBA playoffs in the spring of 1969; in those playoffs Marty Glickman did play-by-play for the Knicks broadcasts while Win Elliott did play-by-play for the Rangers.

Meanwhile, HBO began simulcasting some MSG games in 1972 beginning with the Rangers/Vancouver Canucks game on November 8, 1972 (the first ever program televised on HBO, to a few subscribers in Wilkes-Barre, PA). 1974–75 marked the only year in which HBO used MSG announcers for their feed. Because HBO is a premium cable service, this created a burden on announcers to fill in dead airtime on HBO while commercials aired on MSG Network. HBO did not broadcast Knicks or Rangers games after the 1976–77 season.

UA-Columbia (1977–1980)

When the MSG/HBO marriage ended in 1977, Madison Square Garden proceeded to seek a new partner to launch a national network to show off its events. So for several years, beginning with the 1977–78 season, all MSG home events (such as those involving the Knicks, Rangers, etc.) were then televised on a fledgling network that would eventually become known as the USA Network. This channel, which debuted on September 22, 1977, was basically a continuation of the existing MSG Network. The key difference however, was that it was now nationally syndicated via satellite rather than terrestrially. It was also the first cable channel to be supported by advertising revenues. By this time (as previously alluded to), the channel was officially called the “Madison Square Garden Network” or MSG Network.

In 1979–80, the National Hockey League replaced their syndicated coverage package The NHL Network with a package on USA. At the time, the USA Network was called UA-Columbia. As the immediate forerunner for the USA Network, UA-Columbia, served as the cable syndicated arm of not only MSG Network in New York, but also PRISM channel in Philadelphia, and whatever pay/cable outlets were around in 1979.

The formation of the USA Network

On April 9, 1980, the Madison Square Garden Network changed its name to the USA Network. This occurred when the ownership structure was reorganized under a joint operating agreement by the UA-Columbia Cablevision cable system (now known as Cablevision Systems Corporation) and MCA (then the parent of Universal Studios, now owned by NBC Universal). Things took a step further one year later when, Time Inc. (which eventually merged with Warner Communications to form Time Warner) and Paramount Pictures Corp. (then a division of Gulf+Western, now owned by Viacom) took minority ownership stakes in USA. G+W also owned the New York Rangers and the MSG regional sports television network (both later owned by Cablevision, but spun off in 2010).

1975–79 (The NHL Network, CBS and USA Network)

After being dropped by NBC after the 1974–75 season, the NHL had no national, network television contract in the United States. So in response to this, the league decided to put together a network of independent stations (covering approximately, 55% of the country). In cities, these games were usually, but not always, seen on the same stations that televised the local NHL team. In New York for example, while WOR-TV carried the Rangers and Islanders, it was WPIX that aired the syndicated NHL package during the 1976–77 season.

During the 1975–76 season, this package consisted of four exhibition games between NHL clubs and the Soviet national hockey team, then playoff games including the Stanley Cup Finals.

Beginning with the 1976–77 season, games typically aired on Monday nights (beginning at 8:00 p.m. ET) or Saturday afternoons. The package was offered to local stations free of charge. Profits would be derived from the advertising, which was about evenly split between the network and the local station. The Monday night games were often billed as The NHL Game of the Week. The league hoped that the habit millions of viewers had of watching sports on Monday nights during the National Football League season would carry over to hockey in winter. Since ABC, which at that time carried Monday Night Football would also carry Monday-night Major League Baseball games during the 1976 season, the league tried to market this package to ABC affiliates in the hopes they'd pick it up and establish a year-round sports franchise on Monday nights. However, not very many stations picked up the package, and only a couple were ABC affiliates.

During the 1975–76 season, the NHL Network showed selected games from the NHL Super Series as well as some playoff games. During the 1976–77 season, the NHL Network showed 12 regular season games on Monday nights plus the All-Star Game. By 1978–79 (the final season of the NHL Network's existence), there would be 18 Monday night games and 12 Saturday afternoon games covered.

1979's Challenge Cup replaced the All-Star Game. It was a best of three series between the NHL All-Stars against the Soviet Union national squad. In the United States, Game 2, which was on a Saturday afternoon, was shown on CBS as part of The CBS Sports Spectacular. The network, the show, and their sponsors had a problem with the rink board advertising that the NHL sold at Madison Square Garden, and refused to allow them to be shown on TV. As a result, CBS viewers were unable to see the far boards above the yellow kickplate, and could only see players skates when the play moved to that side of the ice. Games 1 and 3 were shown on the NHL Network, where the advertising was no problem.

In 1979, ABC was contracted to televise Game 7 of Stanley Cup Finals. Since the Finals ended in five games, the contract was void. Had there been a seventh game, then Bob Wilson (play-by-play), Jim McKay (intermission/postgame host, under the Wide World of Sports umbrella), Bobby Clarke (color commentator) and Frank Gifford (rinkside reporter and postgame locker-room interviews) would've called it.

In 1979–80, the National Hockey League replaced their syndicated coverage package The NHL Network with a package on USA. At the time, the USA Network was called UA-Columbia. As the immediate forerunner for the USA Network, UA-Columbia, served as the cable syndicated arm of the Madison Square Garden Network in New York, PRISM channel in Philadelphia, and whatever pay/cable outlets were around in 1979. USA's coverage begin as a Monday night series with Dan Kelly doing play-by-play alongside a variety of commentators including Pete Stemkowski, Lou Nanne and Brian McFarlane. Meanwhile, Scott Wahle was the intermission host on most games.

The Baseball Network: 1994–1995

After the fall-out from CBS' financial problems from their four-year-long television contract with Major League Baseball, MLB decided to go into the business of producing the telecasts themselves. After a four-year hiatus, ABC and NBC returned to Major League Baseball under the umbrella of a revenue sharing venture called "The Baseball Network."

Under a six-year plan, Major League Baseball was intended to receive 85% of the first $140 million in advertising revenue (or 87.5% of advertising revenues and corporate sponsorship from the games until sales top a specified level), 50% of the next $30 million, and 80% of any additional money. Prior to this, Major League Baseball was projected to take a projected 55% cut in rights fees and receive a typical rights fee from the networks. When compared to the previous TV deal with CBS, The Baseball Network was supposed to bring in 50% less of the broadcasting revenue. The advertisers were reportedly excited about the arrangement with The Baseball Network because the new package included several changes intended to boost ratings, especially among younger viewers.

Arranging broadcasts through The Baseball Network seemed, on the surface, to benefit NBC and ABC since it gave them a monopoly on broadcasting Major League Baseball. It also stood to benefit the networks because they reduced the risk associated with purchasing the broadcast rights outright. NBC and ABC attempted to create a loss-free environment for each other.

After NBC's coverage of the 1994 All-Star Game was complete, NBC was scheduled to televise six regular season games on Fridays or Saturdays in prime time. The networks had exclusive rights for the 12 regular season dates, in that no regional or national cable service or over-the-air broadcaster may telecast an MLB game on those dates. Baseball Night in America usually aired up to 14 games based on the viewers' region (affiliates chose games of local interest to carry) as opposed to a traditional coast-to-coast format. ABC would then pick up where NBC left off by televising six more regular season games. The regular season games fell under the Baseball Night in America umbrella which premiered on July 16, 1994.

In even numbered years, NBC would have the rights to the All-Star Game and both League Championship Series while ABC would have the World Series and newly created Division Series. In odd numbered years the postseason and All-Star Game television rights were supposed to alternate.

The long term plans for The Baseball Network crumbled when the players went on strike on August 12, 1994 (thus forcing the cancellation of the World Series). In July 1995, ABC and NBC, who wound up having to share the duties of televising the 1995 World Series as a way to recoup (with ABC broadcasting Games 1, 4, and 5 and NBC broadcasting Games 2, 3, and 6), announced that they were opting out of their agreement with Major League Baseball. Both networks figured that as the delayed 1995 baseball season opened without a labor agreement, there was no guarantee against another strike. Others would argue that a primary reason for its failure was its abandoning of localized markets in favor of more lucrative and stable advertising contracts afforded by turning to a national model of broadcasting. Both networks soon publicly vowed to cut all ties with Major League Baseball for the remainder of the 20th century.

In the end, the venture would lose $95 million in advertising and nearly $500 million in national and local spending.

Also in 1994, ESPN renewed its baseball contract for six years (through the 1999 season). The new deal was worth $42.5 million per year and $255 million overall. The deal was ultimately voided after the 1995 season and ESPN was pretty much forced to restructure their contract.

ESPN Wrestling personalities

B

Rich Brennan

C

Michael Cole

L

Jerry Lawler
John "Bradshaw" Layfield

M

Josh Matthews

P

Tom Philips

R

Jim Ross

S

Byron Saxton

Y

Renee Young