ESPN Raids Fox Sports for Troy Aikman and Joe Buck

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorOne of cable’s biggest news outlets has started to fill more of its schedule with something other than traditional news coverage.MSNBC has defined itself for the past few years by using the bulk of its daytime schedule to air breaking reports from NBC News personnel on the news of the moment, then amping up analysis and progressive opinion-making in the early afternoon and evening. Now, as media companies intensify their efforts to attract audiences via streaming video, the business behind the TV home of Joe Scarborough and Nicolle Wallace is in flux.Three different people familiar with the relationship between NBC News and MSNBC  — each outlet is supervised by a different top manager — say that some NBC News correspondents have been directed to bring breaking-news coverage first to NBC News Now, the company’s ad-supported streaming news service, or other digital NBC News properties before any appearance on MSNBC is considered.

Kristin Cavallari is turning over a new chapter!

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorSome people who tune in ESPN2 for an April 6 NBA match-up between the Brooklyn Nets and the New York Knicks may think they’ve gone back in time.The game will open in black and white and use graphics that evoke ABC’s 1960s coverage, then shift to a look that mirrors CBS’ NBA telecasts of the 1970s and 1980s. Look for a presentation that emulates NBC’s 1990s telecasts as well, complete with that network’s signature music.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorFox News Channel named Caitlyn Jenner, a reality star, former Olympian and one time California gubernatorial candidate as a contributor.“Caitlyn’s story is an inspiration to us all.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorThe United States Football League won’t just kick off its inaugural season on April 16. It will also use the date to launch a new behind-the-scenes docuseries aimed at getting fans more interested in its spring football efforts.“United By Football,” a 13-episode documentary series produced by the league, NFL Films and Fox Sports, will try to give fans a feel for what happens as cadre of hopeful athletes compete in the USFL, a new league controlled by Fox that will have its games broadcast on both the Fox and NBC broadcast networks.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorEveryone’s talking about this week’s furor at the Oscars — even the hosts at Fox News Channel’s “The Five.”On Monday afternoon, regulars Greg Gutfeld, Dana Perino, Jesse Watters and Jeanine Pirro held forth with guest Piers Morgan — the British journalist and TV host who has demonstrated a proclivity for getting into celebrity feuds — sitting in a chair typically reserved for someone with more liberal political views. In the show’s opening segment, however, politics went out the window.

EXCLUSIVE: Cody Blue, filmmaker and son of Twisted Sister front man Dee Snider, is launching a podcast series exploring the world of shamanic plant medicines and psychedelics.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorVeteran sportscaster Mike Tirico will join NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” next fall, pairing up with analyst Cris Collinsworth in the latest shake up among the announcers who call the plays of TV’s most-watched sport.Tirico fills a spot left vacant by the departure of Al Michaels, who is expected to join Amazon to call “Thursday Night Football.”“When Mike joined NBC Sports in 2016, it was our plan for him to become our primetime Olympics host and the play-by-play voice of Sunday Night Football,” said Pete Bevacqua, chairman of NBC Sports, in a statement. “We are excited to have Mike join Cris Collinsworth full-time in the booth this season.”NBC confirms speculation about the future of its “Sunday Night Football” booth with an NFL meeting slated to take place later this week.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorAfter nine years of generating headlines for CNN, Jeff Zucker is giving new thought to testing his acumen for the world of sports.The former WarnerMedia and NBCUniversal executive, who abruptly left his job as head of CNN in February after acknowledging he failed to disclose a romantic relationship with Allison Gollust, CNN’s former chief marketing officer, is said to be mulling some offers from the sports sector, according to two people familiar with the matter. None of these conversations are believed to be in their final stages, according to one of these people, and Zucker is said to be having discussions around a wide array of potential opportunities.Sports wouldn’t be a new area for Zucker.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorSatellite-distributor DirecTV, which weeks ago unveiled plans to drop conservative outlet OAN, still wants to offer viewers right-leaning content.The company said it had already begun to offer Fox Nation, the subscription-video service that acts as a companion service to Fox News Channel. Fox Nation is being made available as a “premium add-on” for DirecTV subscribers, the company said.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorA new NBCUniversal advertising executive is taking on the task of tackling advertisers to link themselves to such sports properties as “Sunday Night Football” and the soon-to-launch USFL.Peter Lazarus will take the lead on selling ads behind the bulk of NBCUniversal’s sports programming, part of a gradual overhaul of the company’s work behind connecting Madison Avenue with some of TV’s biggest and most-watched properties.Lazarus has been named executive vice president of sports ad-sales, taking up responsibilities previously held by Dan Lovinger, a longtime NBCU ad-sales exec who has been assigned to focus more intently on the company’s efforts behind Olympics advertising. Lovinger was elevated to president in January and will lead Olympics ad-sales efforts as NBCU works harder to fulfill a commitment it has made along the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, pledging to offer long-term deals to partners for TV, digital, and live event advertising, as well as brand activations and associations with Team USA.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorCAA has signed Peter Alexander, the co-chief White House correspondent for NBC News, and will represent him in his dealings with media and other potential employers.Alexander is also co-anchor of the weekend broadcast of “Today,” which he joined in October of 2018. He and Kristen Welker, who is also NBC News’ co-chief White House correspondent, have led “Today” on weekends since January of 2020, anchoring the program from Washington, D.C.Alexander has been with NBC News since 2004 and has covered events around the world as well as in the nation’s capital.

 returned for the second week of season 7 competition on Wednesday, and after four fun performances, fans had to bid farewell to another costumed contestant.This week, the same singers from last week's season premiere — including Firefly, Cyclops, Thingamabob and The Ram — all hit the stage for a second time. After some impressive performances, the audience voted and the two lowest vote-earners had to face off in a vocal duel.One of the night's biggest surprises came when the lowest vote-earners were The Ram — whom most people likely expected — and Firefly.

SPOILER ALERT – Do not continue reading if you don’t want to know who was unmasked on The Masked Singer tonight!

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at LargeSPOILER ALERT: Do not read ahead if you have not watched Season 7, Episode 2, of “The Masked Singer,” “Masks at Dawn — Round 1,” which aired March 15 on Fox.Well, this is awkward timing. Joe Buck was the latest celebrity to be revealed on Fox’s “The Masked Singer” — on the same day that Buck also announced that he was splitting from Fox Sports and moving to ESPN.

On the first day of the new league year, one of the NFL's top broadcasting teams is moving from Fox to ESPN.ESPN announced on Wednesday a move that has been in the works for nearly a month — Joe Buck and Troy Aikman will be broadcasting “Monday Night Football.”Buck and Aikman have been doing games together since 2002, when they became Fox's top crew. They will tie Pat Summerall and John Madden's record for the longest NFL booth pairing this year at 21 seasons.“When you have the opportunity to bring in the iconic, longest-running NFL broadcasting duo, you take it, especially at a time when we are on the cusp of a new era in our expanding relationship with the NFL,” said ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro in a statement.“The NFL continues to ascend, and we now have more games than ever before, providing additional opportunities for Joe, Troy and our deep roster of commentators.”Pitaro finally has an all-star booth for the longtime primetime franchise.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorAnchors like Don Lemon, Joy Reid and Sean Hannity have long looked at Nielsen ratings as one of the primary measures of their performance on air. Soon, they may have another.Magna, the large media-buying firm owned by Interpublic Group, has enlisted NewsGuard, a company that examines the veracity of news content and the ways in which it is produced, to grade news programing on TV for the parent company’s media clients, which include Johnson & Johnson, Grubhub and Merck, among others.

ESPN confirmed Wednesday that it has signed longtime Fox broadcasters Joe Buck and Troy Aikman to multi-year deals, securing their roles as the new voices of the network’s Monday Night Football. The deal takes effect with the upcoming season, which will mark the pair’s 21st season in the booth together — the first 20 years at Fox.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorBenjamin Hall, the Fox News Channel correspondent who was injured while covering Russia’s invasion of Ukraine for the Fox Corp.-owned network, has managed to get out of the country, according to a memo from Suzanne Scott, Fox News Media’s CEO, issued Wednesday.“Ben is alert and in good spirits. He is being treated with the best possible care in the world and we are in close contact with his wife and family,” Scott said in the note to staffers.Fox News has deployed a handful of correspondents around the country, including Trey Yingst and Steve Harrigan.Hall had been reporting in Horenka, outside of Kyiv, Ukraine, with cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski and journalist Oleksandra “Sasha” Kuvshynova when their vehicle came under fire.