SPORTS & MEDIA
Dylan Byers
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March 8, 2025
How Shipley Hit the Fan
Jeff Bezos had been losing patience with The Washington Post’s liberal predilection long before he mandated a purely pro-markets Opinion section, and even before endorsement-gate. In fact, the tensions that culminated in Opinion editor David Shipley’s resignation had been building for years.
John Ourand
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March 7, 2025
Exiles on Main Street
As ESPN’s relationship with MLB continues to fray, Bristol executives are cozying up to Main Street Sports on a deal that will help the network stay close to the game that it has carried for the past 35 years. But the deal isn’t quite the “end around” that some have suggested.
Dylan Byers
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March 6, 2025
The Kiss of Jeff
The latest news and notes from the Post in-crowd and D.C. haut monde about Bezos’s intentions and opportunities.
Dylan Byers
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February 28, 2025
Oppenheim’s Split Atoms
A candid discussion with Noah Oppenheim, the former NBC News president, about the headaches at his old haunt (and other industry pickles) as the television news business wades through a series of not-great options.
John Ourand
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February 28, 2025
Shanks and the Art of Motorsport Maintenance
Fox Sports C.E.O. Eric Shanks started his career working at the Indy 500. Now, his network is trying to leverage its NASCAR package with the rights to IndyCar. Can he restore the latter to its former glory?
Dylan Byers
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February 27, 2025
Maddow as Hell
MSNBC’s $25 million-a-year anchor isn’t going to take it anymore, calling out the network—and by implication her new boss, Rebecca Kutler—for firing host Joy Reid and a slate of producers. But her colleagues are privately pointing out the irony of her latest crusade.
John Ourand
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February 25, 2025
Inside the Manfred-Pitaro Divorce
The play-by-play on the dissolution of Major League Baseball’s broadcasting partnership with ESPN.
Dylan Byers
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February 21, 2025
No Joy in Manfred’s Mudville
MLB and ESPN announced they will part ways at the end of the 2025 season, after the sports network refused to re-up their current, diluted deal. Now, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred is trying to save face while scrambling to find a new home for America’s pastime.
John Ourand
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February 21, 2025
Dude, Where’s My NASCAR? Part II
This year, NASCAR spread its races across five different media companies—everyone from Amazon Prime to The CW—testing fans’ loyalty, financial fitness, and scheduling awareness. After the grumbling stops, is it time to ask when enough is enough?
Dylan Byers
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February 20, 2025
McMahon on Fire & Politico’s Prince Valiant
News and notes on the latest defenestration at CBS News (and the next one, too), plus a coronation at Politico.
Eriq Gardner
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February 19, 2025
Steve Wynn’s Revenge & Defamation Nation
Trump allies sense a more favorable environment for waging lawfare against media companies, raising the question of whether the Supreme Court might reconsider Times v. Sullivan—and what the media might do to fight back.
John Ourand
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February 18, 2025
The NBA’s All-Star Hangover
Okay, so everyone hated on the gimmicky round-robin tournament—including Draymond Green on live television—but the stink around the game obscured other successes for the league.
Dylan Byers
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February 15, 2025
The Print Army Comes for A.I.
While publishers file sweeping, indignant (possibly useless) lawsuits against A.I. companies using their work to train their learning models, the industry is at a loss as to what to actually do about their A.I. futures—if there is anything that can be done at all.
John Ourand
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February 14, 2025
ESPN & MLB Play Hardball
The worthies in Bristol are starting to feel that they’re wildly overpaying for Sunday Night Baseball, especially given Apple’s and Roku’s far more frugal deals, and they’re threatening to exercise their out clause. Meanwhile, Netflix, Amazon, and others are warming up in the bullpen.
Dylan Byers
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February 13, 2025
CBS News’s Blue Period
Amid the depressing Shari-Trump ‘60 Minutes’ settlement chatter, the newly reformatted and spruced-up ‘CBS Evening News’ seems to be a quickly metastasizing ratings and formatting disaster—and the latest reminder that few things unite a newsroom quite like one of their boss’s public shortcomings.
John Ourand
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February 11, 2025
ESPN and the NFL Enter Deal Heat
Once again, ESPN and the NFL are in renewed negotiations for the former to take on the latter’s media assets. What’s changed since the last time these dance partners played footsie? More linear decline, Flagship, and maybe the Draft going up for bidding, too.
Dylan Byers
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February 8, 2025
Out of Fox to Give
Blue chip advertisers that long shunned Fox News (or at least its more crackpot-friendly time slots) are quietly coming back, leading the network to record-setting revenue. Is it the mainstreaming of Trump’s America, or an even broader cultural shift?