• Fox Sports 1 has revealed the “starting lineup” for its signature sports news and highlights program “Fox Sport Live.” In addition to Dan O’Toole, Jay Onrait and Andy Roddick, who were previously announced, the new additions are former NFL star Donovan McNabb, ESPN’s Charissa Thompson, NBA legend Gary Payton and former NFLer Ephraim Salaam.

• NFL Network has poached ESPN reporter Jenn Brown to serve as the host of “NFL Total Access.” Brown had been a sideline reporter and the host of college football show “RoadTrip” for ESPN.

• Speaking of NFL Network, parent company NFL Media has landed New York Times football reporter Judy Battista. In her new role, she will write columns for NFL.com and appear on all NFL Network programs.

While Keith Olbermann‘s new late night program on ESPN2 is decidedly not a political program, it sounds as though some of his segments from “Countdown” on MSNBC and Current TV will be making the jump with him.

Olbermann revealed that he is bringing back his “Worst Persons” segment for the program while on a panel at the Television Critics Association Summer press tour in Beverly Hills.

B&C’s Andrea Morabito has details:

On Wednesday, Olbermann said he was reviving the segment again because “people seemed to like that one.” He said also the show would feature commentary, highlights, interviews, and analysis while differentiating itself from ESPN’s flagship SportsCenter.

“You’re not going to be able to bring a new component to it. Every sports program is going to be made up of a lot of the same elements and we intend to use them,” he said. “The secret to it obviously is the recipe and the mix.”

Olbermann also reiterated that he does not have any content clause in his contract prohibiting him from talking about politics, but that he is focused on doing a sports show.

Nate Silver’s migration from the New York Times to ESPN represents more than a new URL – it augurs a sea change in the news business itself, experts say.

Silver’s acclaimed political blog, fivethirtyeight, will expand to sports, weather and entertainment, among other areas, as part of its analytics-driven venue at espn.com, he told reporters yesterday in a conference call.

Though the focus at this point is the blog, expect to see Silver on ESPN and ABC News, especially at election season. Regardless, the blog itself has the muscle to alter the paradigm in news reportage, says Jane Hall, an associate professor in American University’s School of Communication.

“The new buzzwords in the future of journalism are ‘data driven’ and ‘visualization of data,’” Hall says. “Silver brought tremendous credibility and proved himself with his political blog. To branch out to other areas could be very exciting.

“You can do a lot of analysis of data that is credible, if you do it right. A new paradigm could be a very good thing, but I still believe in shoe-leather reporting. You still need to talk to people, face to face, to see what’s on their minds.”

Alex S. Jones, director of Harvard’s Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy – and a loyal Timesman – says Silver’s methodology will become a trend because “he’s not the only genius in the world. There will be a lot of people trying to out-Nate Nate.”

Using metrics for weather is a great thing, Jones says, but applying it to sports would be “depressing. If you knew, at the beginning of the season, that the Yankees would lose, it takes away the mystery, the uncertainty.”

Moreover, if Silver, a former baseball numbers wonk, is as accurate with sports prognosticating as he is with politics, “he’ll make it impossible for bookies to make a living,” Jones warns. “People will be less likely to make stupid bets.”

Bryant Gumbel, host of HBO’s “Real Sports,” isn’t convinced that Silver, whom he labels as “a smart guy with a lot of talent,” will be an actual handicapper.

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ESPN has made a pair of big, splashy hires in the least two weeks, securing Keith Olbermann for a new nightly talk show on ESPN2, and the expected addition of Nate Silver and his FiveThirtyEight blog in the coming days.

Their additions have boosted morale at the Bristol CT-based sports giant, according to a staffer there, with people getting excited for the buzzworthy additions. That said, there is discontent brewing inside the company among some employees, and the additions of Olbermann and Silver are in some respects exacerbating the problem.

First, ESPN’s signature journalism program “Outside The Lines,” was unceremoniously demoted to an earlier timeslot on ESPN2 last week. Sports Illustrated‘s Richard Deitsch has more on that decision. “OTL” was an iconic program for ESPN, securing Emmy nominations and producing high-quality sports journalism like no other program on the channel. Now, it will be on ESPN’s little sibling, in a timeslot not familiar to many viewers.

Second: ESPN laid off hundreds of employees in May, in its biggest reorganization in years. A disproportionate number of the laid off staffers were long-time employees of the company, who now find themselves out of work in central Connecticut. At the time the justification for the restructuring was that the company had gotten bloated, and needed to reorganize around more forward-looking units. ESPN’s still-in-construction multimillion dollar “SportsCenter” studio was also cited as a reason to trim costs.

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When Keith Olbermann‘s new ESPN2 program “Olbermann” debuts August 26, there will be no question as to what it is, and what topics will be discussed.

“The key three or four words about this are, ‘it’s a sports show,’” Olbermann said on a conference call this afternoon. “The idea that I would want to do anything that was not specifically sports related–even in a political context–I don’t know where this came from. If I wanted to do politics I would still be doing politics. This is something else.”

That does not mean that politics or current events won’t be covered on the show, but rather the message is: this is not “Countdown,” the show Olbermann hosted on MSNBC for 8 years.

“If the House is considering a bill to make PED use a capital offense, we will cover it. If Barack Obama runs onto the field during the All Star Game, we will talk about it. If George W. Bush wanted to talk baseball I would be happy to have him, but we are not going to talk politics,” Olbermann said.

ESPN surprised the media world by announcing that Olbermann would be returning to the company 16 years after he left “SportsCenter” to host a late night show on ESPN2. He did not leave ESPN on good terms in 1997, and although he has contributed to the company since then (most notably a stint with ESPN Radio), it would have been crazy to think a few years ago that he would ever be on-air for the channel as a host in the future.

Neither Olbermann nor ESPN president John Skipper ignored that elephant in the room, with Olbermann saying “I don’t want that to be in the obituary. I don’t want that to be the end of the story.”

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Former MSNBC and Current TV host Keith Olbermann is returning to the place that made him a household name, ESPN. A source at the channel confirms that Olbermann will host a new late-night talk show on ESPN2, covering sports and pop culture, with the official announcement expected later today.

Update: It is official, details here, and more to come later.

In the NY Times, ESPN: Those Guys Have All The Fun author James Andrew Miller has more:

On his new show, Olbermann will be free to discuss matters other than sports, including pop culture and current events, but not politics, the two-year pact specifies…

While some ESPN insiders reportedly voiced the opinion that Olbermann was part of the network’s past, not its future, his star quality is almost unmatched in the sports television arena; he seems to draw a crowd.

Olbermann is expected to host his show from the ABC “Nightline” studio overlooking Times Square.

This is the second new soports job that Olbermann has secured in recent months. He will host TBS’ studio coverage of the MLB Playoffs later this year. At the time he said he was open to pursuing other opportunities as well.

Olbermann was one of the originalco-anchors of “SportsCenter,” where, alongside Dan Patrick, he made the program a household name. Last year, PRNewser attended a panel with Olbermann and Patrick, which may have foreshadowed the current move.

As we noted yesterday, Fox News host Brian Kilmeade played in the celebrity softball game on Sunday, leading up to Fox’s airing of the MLB All Star Game tonight.

The softball game itself aired on ESPN last night alongside the Home Run Derby, with former Mets great Mike Piazza and the “national league” topping Kilmeade and the “american league” 8-5.

Of course, it was all for charity, and people came for the atmosphere. Kilmeade recounts his Sunday on “Fox & Friends” this morning, including an encounter with a pint-sized fan who may have seen the now-infamous basketball incident.

Watch here.

Tomorrow evening the MLB All Star Game will be played on Fox, and sister channel Fox News has been making sure to take advantage of the exclusive access.

Shepard Smith is anchoring “Studio B” and “Fox Report” from Citi Field in Queens today and tomorrow. He interviewed Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Andrew McCutchen today about being an All Star. “Fox & Friends” co-host Brian Kilmeade played in the All Star celebrity softball game yesterday (video after the jump), and is also hosting from Citi Field, while meteorologist Maria Molina ran in MLB’s charity 5K on Saturday.

In addition, as we noted earlier, there is a batting cage set up not far from the “Fox & Friends” studio outside the News Corp. building, where passersby can take a few swings.
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Regis and the cast of “Crowd Goes W!ld”

Former “Live!” co-host Regis Philbin is bringing back the “host chat” segment that led off his former daytime program “Live!” The segment will be the focal point of “Crowd Goes W!ld,” a new sports talk show launching on Fox Sports 1 Monday, August 19.

As with “Live! With Regis and Kathie Lee” and “Live! with Regis and Kelly,” Philbin will open up the program with, well, whatever is on his mind.

“Regis will be talking about what he did last night, Regis will be talking about what is going on in the world of sports, what is in the news cycle, and that will create, immediately, furor and debate and no doubt opinions,” the EP of the program Michael Davies says. “It is almost like ‘host chat’ built out.”

It will be built out, because alongside Philbin will be a panel of co-hosts, including Wall Street Journal columnist Jason Gay, comedian Michael Kosta, former Pro Bowl defensive end Trevor Pryce and Sky Sports host Georgie Thompson. YouTube star Katie Nolan will serve as the show’s social media correspondent, in charge of fan interaction through social media.

Still, at the heart of the new show is Regis:

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“CBS This Morning” is on a roll. And no, we aren’t just talking about the show’s ratings, which have boasted bigger growth than both ABC and NBC.

You see, while ‘CTM” is still the underdog when it comes to Nielsen ratings, it has established itself as a TV news powerhourse on the softball field. After clobbering a mixed-show ABC News squad last week, this week “CTM” took on NBC’s “Today.”

“CTM” handily defeated NBC’s morning show 10-4. We received the photo above of the team celebrating after their big victory.