The longtime voice of the Atlanta Hawks is undergoing evaluation after an on-air medical incident. Also: Sinclair has relinquished management of its RSNs; cable distribution continues to call; a “College Gameday” staple is headed to Fox.
Hawks’ Rathbun undergoing evaluation after on-air medical incident
Atlanta Hawks play-by-play voice Bob Rathbun had a medical emergency on-air Monday night during a live pregame show prior to a Thunder-Hawks game and is undergoing further evaluation at Emory Midtown Hospital in Atlanta. Per Bally Sports, Rathbun briefly fell unconscious and underwent treatment at the arena for dehydration. He is said to be stable and responsive.
Rathbun has been the voice of the Hawks since 1996, one of many roles in a career that has also included being the voice of the Detroit Tigers. (Bally Sports/Twitter 12.5)
Sinclair relinquishes control of RSNs to CEO of board
Months after being forced by creditors to set up an independent board of directors, Sinclair Broadcast Group has relinquished management of its Bally Sports RSNs to the new CEO of said board, former ESPN and NBC Sports executive David Preschlack. The move, reported by Sports Business Journal, was announced Monday. Per SBJ, Sinclair tried to prevent the move from happening and is “not happy” with the new arrangement. (SBJ 12.5)
SBJ: Sports cable nets in fewer homes than January
Per data reported by Sports Business Journal Monday, none of the cable channels carrying sporting events are in even 75 million TV homes. USA Network, ESPN and ESPN2 are each in just over 74 million homes, followed by FS1, TBS and TNT at north of 73 million. Those six networks and TruTV have each seen their distribution decline by 6-8% since the start of the year.
NFL Network (53M), Big Ten Network (50M), MLB Network (42M), Tennis Channel (42M) and NBA TV (38M) have seen even steeper declines, their distributions falling anywhere from nine to 16%. (SBJ 12.5)
ESPN’s Fallica leaving for Fox Sports
Longtime ESPN producer Chris Fallica (aka “The Bear”) is leaving the network for Fox Sports, a move originally reported by Awful Announcing over the weekend. A regular part of the “College Gameday” cast, Fallica was given a warm sendoff on the show this past Saturday morning. He had been with ESPN since 1995 and with “Gameday” since the following year. (Awful Announcing 12.1)
