NBA TV/TNT analyst Kevin McHale is leaving the studio and making another run as an NBA head coach.

McHale has agreed in principle to become head coach of the Houston Rockets.

“I really enjoyed spending the last two years with Turner Sports, bringing the best NBA coverage possible to the viewers at home,” said McHale. “Even though I’m moving back to the bench I’ll still watch my friends on NBA TV and TNT. Turner’s commitment to the NBA is part of the reason why the league is so special, and I look forward to seeing many of my former colleagues in the future.”

McHale joined the Turner crew in 2009 following his departure from the Minnesota Timberwolves. Read more

Let the “Madden curse” officially begin.

[H/T @chrislittmann]

The Big Ten Network rolled out new branding (BTN), logo and web domain (BTN.com) Tuesday in order to reflect the network’s evolution and direction.

“Fans, viewers, media and our colleagues have already naturally gravitated toward the BTN name in recent years. It makes sense to adopt it,” Big Ten Network president Mark Silverman said. “These changes are a logical step in our evolution, and give us an umbrella under which we can launch other businesses across digital platforms during our next phase of growth and development.”

Along with the new logo, the network has redesigned their graphics, animation and music packages that viewers will see for the first time during the Big Ten Football Media Days and Kickoff Luncheon in July.

25-54 demographic (Live +SD)

• Total day: FNC: 247 | MSNBC: 179 | CNN: 151 | HLN: 144

• Primetime: FNC: 231 | MSNBC: 281 | CNN: 175 | HLN: 189

	5p:	6p:	7p:	8p:	9p:	10p:	11p:	12a:
FNC	Beck:	Baier:	Shep:	O’Reilly:	Hannity:	Greta:	O’Reilly:	Hannity:
	356	301	264	302	189	191	242	181
MSNBC	Matthews:	Cenk:	Matthews:	O’Donnell:	Maddow:	Lockup:	Lockup:	Investigates:
	164	164	157	286	388	170	253	316
CNN	Blitzer:	Blitzer:	KingUSA:	IntheArena:	Morgan:	Cooper:	Cooper:	Morgan:
	164	134	130	107	110	309	234	142
HLN	SpecRpt:	Prime:	Issues:	Grace:	DrDrew:	Behar:	Showbiz:	DrDrew:
	161	168	193	349	170	64	80	73

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A power outage has hit the CNN Washington DC bureau less than an hour before the network turns over two hour of programming — “The Situation Room” — to the bureau. TVNewser hears Wolf Blitzer‘s show will be broadcasting from the plaza in front of the bureau. It’s 96 degrees right now in Washington, but feels like 100, and maybe more for crews trying to scramble a live show in place in the next 30 minutes. (The real CNN heroes). The heat is likely to blame for the outage.

Control rooms are running on generators, but the rest of the bureau is dark. Phone lines too are out. Non-essential staffers are heading home.

> Update: Statement from CNN: “Due to an area wide power outage impacting CNN’s Washington D.C. bureau, “The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer” will air live from the courtyard outside of CNN’s DC bureau.

> More: An Atlanta control room is producing Blitzer while a New York control room will switch “John King USA” at 7pmET. King will anchor from the Russell Rotunda in the Russell Senate Office Building across from the Capitol.

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You may have seen this YouTube video already. It shows the apparent hacking of the Fox News ticker outside the network’s studios on Avenue of the Americas. But, Fox News confirms with TVNewser that it was a hoax and the ticker was not hacked. Watch:

(h/t Gawker)

The Tennis Channel and ESPN agreed to a new four-year multimedia programming alliance for the Australian and French Opens.

As part of the deal, which takes effect with the 2012 French Open, ESPN’s telecast windows of the French Open will now be virtually live, starting at 5 a.m. ET for five hours. Both ESPN and the Tennis Channel will continue to broadcast from both Grand Slam events.

“Sports fans want to see the action live and that’s how we deliver tennis and all our sports,” said John Skipper, ESPN executive vice president, content. “Tennis fans are among the most dedicated – willing to stay up or get up to see live competition – and that’s what we will provide for years to come from Melbourne and Paris. In addition, we look forward to continuing our relationship with Tennis Channel to best serve tennis fans at both events.” Read more

After years of sending out cease and desist letters to anyone who had the temerity to embed YouTube videos of Major League Baseball action, the league has finally (albeit quietly) relented and is now allowing blogs and other websites to embed some videos, though not the most recent game recaps or highlights. So Corey Patterson‘s walk-off homerun from Saturday? Totally embeddable.

Highlights of Justin Upton‘s five-hit game versus the Marlins yesterday? Yeah, you’ll have to wait a day or two for those. But hey, this represents progress, so let’s celebrate some baby steps from Bud Selig and co.

(H/T to David Pinto at Baseball Musings)

The Baltimore Sun‘s David Zurawik talks with Michael Steele about the former RNC chairman’s new job: MSNBC contributor. Here’s what Steele says he won’t be:

“I have every confidence that MSNBC will treat me with the level of respect they have obviously shown by hiring me. I mean, why would you bring me on board just to say, ‘OK, this is now our conservative punching bag for the next year.’?”

“That’s not going to achieve the goals that I know Phil Griffin and the Comcast team have in mind for expanding the reach and the depth of the discussion on the network,” he explained. “It certainly doesn’t achieve my goals, to be a punching bag, because, Lord knows, after two punches, you get the joke. ‘Like I’m done. Enough already.’”

Fox Business Network is on the move in Chicago. Starting tomorrow FBN’s Chicago Bureau will be located above the trading floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. This is the first time a financial news network will have a branded booth within the CME trading area. As you can see in the photo above FBN’s bureau is beside the broadcasting space shared by CNBC, CNN and other networks.

CME Executive Chairman Terry Duffy will join FBN’s Connell McShane to help celebrate the launch tomorrow morning. The Bureau, including correspondent Jeff Flock, were previously co-located with the Fox News Chicago bureau on Wacker Drive.