Turner president David Levy is on his way out; Bob Costas has new details about his NBC exit; next season’s Miami-Florida game could take place in ‘week zero’.
Levy expected to leave Turner under AT&T restructuring
Turner Broadcasting president David Levy is expected to leave his position as part of a restructuring of WarnerMedia (formerly Time Warner) under new owner AT&T, according to multiple reports. Levy had been in his current position since 2013, after previously serving as Turner Sports president from 2003-13.
AT&T, which this week withstood a U.S. justice department effort to overturn last year’s court decision approving its purchase of Time Warner, plans to consolidate Turner and HBO under the same management. The properties had previously been wholly separate, even though they have been under the same corporate umbrella since 1996.
The imminent restructuring has already led to the resignation of HBO president Richard Plepler. [Variety 2.28]
Costas’s NBC exit had baseball contingency plan
Former NBC Sports broadcaster Bob Costas told The New Yorker that his buyout agreement with NBC included a provision that he would return to the network if it acquired Major League Baseball rights. Costas mentioned the arrangement as evidence that his departure from NBC was not a firing. Costas: “If that’s the way a person gets fired … what are they going to do next? Pelt me with cotton balls?”
With Fox Sports renewing its deal to carry the World Series through 2028, the Costas-NBC agreement is moot.
Costas was the subject of an ESPN E:60 story earlier this month in which he said NBC pulled him from Super Bowl 52 due to his commentary about concussions in the NFL. He also alleged that NBC once killed an on-air essay he was planning to give about concussions in the NFL because NBC was negotiating for Thursday Night Football rights. [New Yorker 2.28]
Florida-Miami could move up to ‘week zero’
The universities of Florida and Miami have submitted a waiver to the NCAA requesting their college football game this season be moved from August 31 to August 24, or “week zero,” it was announced Thursday. ESPN, which owns rights to the game, approached the schools about changing the date. Per the schools, the network plans to make August 24 a “special kick off day” commemorating the start of the sport’s 150th season. [Orlando Sentinel 2.28 via Awful Announcing 2.28]
