SportsNewser

ESPN “SportsNation” co-anchor Michelle Beadle is reportedly leaving the Worldwide Leader in Sports for greener pastures at NBCUniversal.

Jim Miller, who wrote ESPN bio Those Guys Have All The Fun, has some details on the deal:

Bye bye Bristol: The @MichelleDBeadle deal is to be by cohost of access Hollywood (w billy bush), major sports events and new show tba.

— James Andrew Miller (@ESPNBook) May 11, 2012

Look for Beadle to appear during NBC’s Olympics broadcasts this Summer. In addition, don’t be surprised if she turns up with some regularity on “Today.”

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Launch a social media campaign that will build your brand and deliver results in our online Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting June 7. Speakers include Abigail Cusick (Bravo Digital), Gregory Galant (Sawhorse Media), Alex Leo (Thomson Reuters Digital), Jim Tobin (Ignite Social Media), and many more. Read the reviews.

Saturday’s coverage of The Kentucky Derby on NBC proved to be a ratings windfall. 14.8 million people watched I’ll Have Another win the Derby in a last-length upset. The ratings were up slightly from 2011, though down from 2009 and 2010, when more than 16 million people tuned in to watch the race.

NBC’s coverage–hosted by Bob Costas–included entertainment and fashion segments, as well as news segments providing background on some of the jockeys, horses and trainers.That mix of coverage may have helped contribute to the surprpsing number of women that tuned in. 51% of viewers were women, NBC says.

The second race of the Triple Crown, The Preakness Stakes, will be held in two weeks in Baltimore, and will also be televised on NBC.

See how this year’s derby stacks up to previous ones ratings-wise, after the jump.

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NBC has announced its programming for the Kentucky Derby on Saturday. As usual, Bob Costas will be leading the charge for the network, while a number of other NBCU properties get in the game as well.

NBC News will participate through its morning news program “Today.” “Today” correspondent Jenna Wolfe will be representing the program at Churchill Downs on Friday’s program, and over the weekend. Wolfe will interview NBC’s on-horse reporter Donna Brothers (“they will both be on horses for the interview,” NBC assures us) on Saturday, will participate in Derby coverage, and will interview the winning jockey and trainer on Sunday.

Other synergistic opportunities: CNBC’s Darren Rovell will also be reporting from Churchill Downs for that network, and Costas will interview Giants quarterback Eli Manning during the pre-race show. Manning is hosting “Saturday Night Live” that evening.

More, after the jump.

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Jim Lampley has spent his 38-year career calling and commentating on just about every sport imaginable for ABC, CBS, NBC and now HBO. But the four-time Sports Emmy Award winner has also dabbled in political commentary, as we find out in today’s mediabistro.com “So What Do You Do?” feature:

In 2005, you used an incorrect source when blogging about the Iraq war for Huffington Post, and many readers called you out for it. How did that situation affect you?

I didn’t think of it as rebounding. At the end of the day, if people want to disagree with what I say, that’s certainly part of the process and their privilege. I read my political commentaries and, over time, I decided that I was not as well versed and deeply based as a political commentator as I am a sports commentator. I had been persuaded to do it by someone very high up in political media who has specific purpose in mind for me, and at the end of the day I decided I wasn’t interested in that purpose. That was the beginning and end of that.

Lampley has also filled in, in the past, for Ed Schultz on his radio show. Lampley will be calling Saturday’s HBO pay-per-view fight between Floyd Mayweather and Miguel Cotto.

NBC Olympics has announced its anchors and correspondents for the upcoming 2012 games in London.

Not surprisingly, Bob Costas will be anchoring NBC’s primetime coverage. This will be Costas’ 10th Olympics, and ninth as primetime host. The network’s weekend and weekday daytime programming will be led by the team of Al Michaels and Dan Patrick. Michaels of course called the famous “Miracle on Ice” game at the Lake Placid Olympics in 1980. It will be his second Olympics for NBC. The games will be Patrick’s first as anchor, though he served as a correspondent in Vancouver.

The late-night action will be led by Mary Carillo, who is making her 11th Olympics appearance, and third-straight as late night anchor. She will also serve as a correspondent for the games.

Other correspondents will include Ryan Seacrest, former gymnastics coach Bela Karolyi and–making his Olympics broadcasting debut–the bad boy of tennis John McEnroe.

NBC News correspondents and NBC Sports contributors will be named closer to the games.

CBS News sent over the photo to the right promoting a story to air on the “CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley” tonight. What sport is it? Here’s a clue: it combines a physical sport with a mental game.

Yup, it’s “Chess Boxing,” an apparently real thing that involves alternating rounds of chess and boxing. You can win by securing a KO or a checkmate, whichever comes first.

CBS News correspondent Mark Phillips will report the story for program this evening.

The cable news networks are giving a shout-out today to 100-year-old Fenway Park. The home of the Boston Red Sox and, for a time, professional football’s Boston Redskins and Boston Patriots, opened on April 20, 1912. This morning MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” broadcast from the park. Host Joe Scarborough tells TVNewser it was a “great honor” for his team to be broadcasting from “baseball’s most hallowed ground,” adding, “even if the Sox are playing like a minor league team.” The Red Sox are at the bottom of the AL East division, and right now they are hosting their rival New York Yankees. Willie Geist and Worcester’s own Mike Barnicle went inside Fenway’s scoreboard this morning and, presciently, Geist gave the Red Sox a hit. Right now, in the second inning, they actually have 3 hits and one run, trailing the Yankees 3 to 1.

Fans of the Olympics, rejoice! NBCUniversal is planning to stream just about every single Olympics event and medal ceremony live online, fulfilling a longstanding request of sports fans everywhere. In addition, NBC will offer multiple viewing angles and cameras, allowing viewers to choose which concurrent gymnastics event to watch, or which track & field event to tune into.

Today marks 100 days until the start of the 2012 London games, and NBC officially kicked off its Olympics hype-machine on its morning show “Today.” Dozens of athletes appeared on the program, which also saw anchor Savannah Guthrie attempt to learn how to hurdle:

The bigger news for fans, however, is the streaming announcement. In past Olympics, NBC would stream select (read: less popular events) online, saving the more popular ones for primetime.

This year, things will be different… at least for most fans. Read more

• Miami Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen was suspended by the team today for positive comments he made about Cuban leader Fidel Castro. As expected, his comments were carried on the local Miami stations, as well as the national sports networks. CNN also carried the presser live, but had to cut away when Guillen started speaking in Spanish. CNN would eventually come back to Guillen’s comments after getting them interpreted. Among the local stations, only the CBS affiliate had a Spanish interpreter, while on ESPN an ESPN Deportes anchor interpreted Guillen’s comments live.

• Tonight MLB Network launches a new digital channel, MLB Strike Zone. Strike Zone, not unlike the NFL Redzone channel, will offer live look-ins during key moments in games, as well as highlights, on Tuesday and Friday nights during the regular season.

• Tomorrow Magic/Bird opens on Broadway. The Broadway play follows the unlikely friendship of Larry Bird and Magic Johnson. The play also features media personalities as a key plot point. Read more on FishbowlNY here.

Ah, baseball season. The smell of hot dogs, popcorn and Bud Light wafts through the air, while America’s Pastime plays out on the field.

For MLB Network, the start of a new season is as welcome as the prize in a Cracker Jack box. Last year mbTV took a tour of the MLB Network studios for our series “Cubes.” Hosted by MLB Network’s Greg Amsinger, the tour takes viewers behind the scenes at the network, and into Studio 42, which includes a half-scale baseball diamond.

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