TNT is going with Brian Anderson over Kevin Harlan on its NBA All-Star Game coverage. Plus: the NHL is getting an animated Disney Channel simulcast; details on LIV Golf TV coverage; and more.
Anderson gets NBA All-Star Game assignment
TNT NBA broadcaster Brian Anderson will call Sunday’s primary NBA All-Star Game broadcast for TNT, marking his first time handling the assignment. Kevin Harlan, who called the game last year, will voice the All-Star Saturday Night festivities.
It is unclear whether the All-Star Game assignment indicates that Turner has elevated Anderson past Harlan on its depth chart. Not counting three years ago, when Marv Albert opted out of calling games in the NBA’s “bubble” restart over health concerns, Turner’s All-Star Game voice has always gone on to call its conference final later that season.
NHL gets animated simulcast on Disney Channel, DisneyXD
The Disney Channel and DisneyXD will carry a special animated simulast of the March 14 Capitals-Rangers NHL regular season game, it was announced Tuesday. While traditional coverage will air on ESPN and ESPN+, the Disney networks will air a version of the broadcast in which players and teams are animated in real-time to resemble characters from the Disney cartoon “Big City Greens.”
DisneyXD has simulcast the Pro Bowl in recent years, but the Disney Channel has not previously carried a live sporting event. ESPN previously aired an NBA simulcast with Marvel-themed animation, but that only aired on the regular ESPN channels.
LIV to air in all CW markets, including on some Nexstar O&Os
The CW announced this week that its coverage of the LIV Golf tour will air in every market in which it has an affiliate (five markets have no CW station), though in some markets said coverage will air on a separate Nexstar owned-and-operated station. The list of such markets includes Chicago (WGN, Independent), Philadelphia (WPHL, MyNetworkTV), the Bay Area (KRON, MyNetworkTV), Tampa-St. Petersburg (presumably WTTA, MyNetworkTV), and Hartford-New Haven (presumably WCTX, MyNetworkTV).
LIV Golf coverage is set to air on The CW and those Nexstar O&0s each Saturday and Sunday from 1-6 PM ET, longer broadcast windows than is typical for televised golf (PGA Tour coverage typically runs from 3-6 PM).
Plus: Sacks, Favre, Saturday
Longtime ESPN producer Barry Sacks, who worked for the company from 1983 through 2016, passed away over the weekend. He was 63. After Sacks left ESPN, he served as a communications professor at Quinnipiac University. … Former NFL quarterback Brett Favre is suing ESPN analyst Pat McAfee and Fox Sports pundit Shannon Sharpe for defamation over what he claims are false allegations. Favre is being sued by the Mississippi Department of Human Resources for allegedly misusing state welfare funds. … Former ESPN NFL analyst Jeff Saturday has officially departed his role as interim coach of the Indianapolis Colts, paving the way for his likely return to ESPN.
