Sports media juggernaut ESPN held its upfront presentation in New York City this morning. Yankees closer Mariano Rivera and Soccer star Landon Donovan joined executives in the Best Buy Theater to pitch advertisers on spending big bucks with the Disney-owned company.

ESPN president John Skipper opened up the show by talking about “the elephant in the room” as the elephant mascot for the University of Alabama walked behind him.

“Several broadcast companies have decided–in the early 2010s–that there might be something to this whole national sports network thing,” Skipper quipped, referencing the NBC Sports Network, CBS Sports Network and the upcoming Fox Sports 1. After the event, Skipper told a group of reporters that while he embraces the competition, he thinks ESPN is still in driver’s seat.

“They are going to be in the business, we don’t expect this to be over and done, but what we do expect is to compete vigorously,” Skipper said. “What Fox does have is more live rights. Fox has more to start with, but again, in any comparison between our collection of assets and their collection of assets, we have a significantly broader, and better, portfolio.”

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Tributes continue to come in following the death Tuesday of Pat Summerall, the former NFL football player turned broadcaster who spent 40 years in the booth. Summerall called games on CBS from 1962 to 1994 and on FOX from 1994 to 2002. In 1981, Summerall was paired with former coach John Madden. The team would last for 22 seasons on the two networks.

Summerall, 82, died of a heart attack at a Dallas hospital yesterday. He’d gone in for hip surgery. Some tributes on Twitter:

“He was a terrific broadcaster, a great guy, they didn’t come any better on TV,” Larry King.

“The late Pat Summerall was a great broadcaster who once happened to be a good football player. Early on, was a NYC radio morning host. RIP,” Keith Olbermann.

“Pat was not only good, he was easy to listen to. That’s a rarity in today’s show biz TV sports world,” Len Berman.

“For those of us who make a living in front of a microphone, Pat Summerall was one of the guys who defined the job,” Steve Inskeep, NPR

“RIP Pat Summerall. I will remember you as an entrepreneur first and foremost,” Mark Cuban

• After more than 40 years at Television Centre, BBC News moved into its new home at London’s Broadcasting House this week. The BBC newschannel and news bulletins for BBC One join BBC World News which moved into the new facility in January.
• Bloomberg Media Group and El Financiero will launch a new multi-platform Spanish-language business news service for Mexico and Central America. Broadcasting from El Financiero’s HD studio in Mexico City, the network will launch later this year.
• Denis Horgan, who’s been with MSNBC on and off for 10 years, will be the EP of the new Chris Hayes 8pmET program. Horgan originally joined MSNBC in 2003 as Senior Producer of “Countdown with Keith Olbermann.”

The lawsuit between Current TV and former Current TV host Keith Olbermann may be over. THR’s Matthew Belloni reports that the two sides agreed on a settlement during a mediation session Tuesday.

Terms of the deal will not be disclosed. Olbermann and Current, who sued each other in April 2012 over his dismissal from the liberal-leaning network, are expected to file court documents soon dismissing the case.

A source in the agent community tells TVNewser that the settlement will give Olbermann the opportunity to return to TV in short order, provided there is a network with a job to offer.

Olbermann was fired from Current TV in March of last year, filing a lawsuit promptly thereafter. He left MSNBC in January of 2011, apparently unhappy with management there. He has taken meetings with other networks, notably networks owned by Viacom, AMC and ESPN.

The Keith Olbermann-Current TV dustup continues to move forward. Olbermann gave testimony earlier this month about his deal with Current, and why he believed the channel was in breach of contract. Deadline has the (heavily redacted) filings, but there are still some things we can glean.

Olbermann argues that Current disparaged him to his staff and the press, and revealed confidential contract information. He also claims that his likeness was used in an ad for AT&T without his approval, and that he was not given control of the politics specials. He also blames Current for not letting “Countdown” stream online (though carriage agreements with cable operators prevented it) and for not seeking permission when naming guest-hosts for the program.

Meanwhile, at SXSW, a digital conference in Austin, Texas, Current founder Al Gore was interviewed by AllThingsD’s Walt Mossberg about the Current TV/Al Jazeera deal. Things got testy:
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• Could the “PBS NewsHour” be coming to the weekend? The New York Times reports that it is being strongly considered. If it moves forward, potential anchors include former CBS News correspondent Jeff Greenfield or “NewsHour correspondent Hari Sreenivasan.

• “NBC Nightly News” anchor Brian Williams is interviewed on actor Alec Baldwin‘s radio show “Here’s The Thing.” It is a candid conversation, with Williams telling Baldwin “I have profound disappointments in my country,” like the lack of a manned space program.

• Howard Kurtz writes for CNN.com, arguing that ESPN should bring Keith Olbermann back to the channel. “Remember: Watching Keith Olbermann is a great spectator sport.”

“Bethenny,” an upcoming talk show starring former “Real Housewives of New York” star Bethenny Frankel, is adding a veteran TV news producer and a former EP of “Anderson Live,” Telepictures has announced.

MSNBC senior EP of dayside programming Meghan Schaefer Spielberg is joining “Bethenny” as an EP, as is Terence Noonan, who served in that same capacity for “Anderson Cooper‘s daytime talk show “Anderson Live,” which will not be returning in the Fall.

Schaefer Spielberg has been with MSNBC for 17 years, and was there when the network launched back in 1996. During that time she served as EP for “Ashleigh Banfield On Location” and “Countdown with Keith Olbermann,” among other programs. Noonan was a producer for “The Rosie O’Donnell Show” and “The Dr. Oz Show,” among others.

As “Katie,” “Anderson Live” and now “Bethenny” clearly show, there is life after TV news, particularly during the day and in syndication.

More:
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Could former MSNBC and Current TV host Keith Olbermann be making a return to sports TV… at the place where he got his start, no less?

The exceedingly well-sourced James Andrew Miller, the co-author of the terrific book Those Guys Have All The Fun–which chronicles the rise of ESPN–reports in the NY Times that Olbermann wants to return to the iconic sports cable channel in some form. We noted over the weekend that Olbermann appeared in an ESPN “30 for 30″ short film.

Even more amazingly, he got Olbermann, Olbermann’s former “SportsCenter” partner Dan Patrick and ESPN president John Skipper on the record on the matter.

“I had the privilege to spend some time with John Skipper,” [Olbermann] said. “His vision and charm were readily apparent, and judging by his leadership, his family name was prophetic…”

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Former MSNBC and Current TV host Keith Olbermann got his big break in TV at ESPN, where, alongside Dan Patrick, he turned “SportsCenter” into “The Big Show.” Olbermann left ESPN in 1997, not on the best of terms.

Now, however, Olbermann is returning to ESPN… sort of. In a short film that is part of ESPN’s “30 for 30″ series, Olbermann appears to talk about the legendary T-206 Honus Wagner baseball card. Olbermann is an avid baseball card collector.

WATCH:

Following the bombshell day on Tuesday, more rumors, news and opinions continue to trickle in regarding CNN.

FishbowlDC reports that the network will be pruning more political contributors from its lineup, naming Roland Martin and Donna Brazile as likely candidates:

Should the calls come down, Brazile likely wouldn’t be too shell-shocked. She’s already got a sweet gig with ABC. Martin, on the other hand, has his “Washington Watch” program on TV One and is a senior analyst for the Tom Joyner radio show.

Deadline reports that CNN has acquired a new weekend series from Ridley Scott called “Crimes of the Century.” The series will examine major news events using cinematic style:
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