Austin360 blogs > TV Blog > Archives > 2006 > August > 15
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
A sneaky new local sports channel
You’ve probably heard of a “soft launch,” but how about a covert launch?
When nobody was looking — or even suspecting — Time Warner’s News 8 Austin launched a 24-hour local sports headline service on Digital Channel 408.
Yep, on Aug. 8, News 8’s Non-Stop Sports, aka NSS, was born. Flip to 408 on your digital service and there it is, spewing out sports info day and night.
Brian Benschoter, general manager of News 8, describes NSS as “still a work in progress,” but he says we should think of the new channel as “a locally focused ‘SportsCenter.’ ” This month the focus will be on football previews for area high schools, the University of Texas, Texas State and Texas A&M.
“But as we move into September, it will evolve into more sports-news-of-the-day, with a perpetual score ticker,” Benschoter says.
Like News 8, NSS is a “wheel” format, updated throughout the day, but unlike News 8, which has updates on the hour and half-hour, the sports wheel will vary in length. On a slow sports day, it could be as short as 15 minutes; on a big sports day, such as Texas-Oklahoma University game day, it could expand to an hour.
Benschoter says the sneaky launch was to give the channel time to work out technical glitches.
“Now we feel comfortable enough with the new technology to go public and ask for viewer feedback and suggestions,” he says. “I’m amazed by how many people have already found it. It has been the talk of the Texas State Bobcat fan site already.”
Take a look at News 8’s NSS and then post your comments online.
Emmitt can run, but can he dance?
First it was poor Jerry Rice, stumbling through the tango and other impossible-to-execute ballroom dances. Now it’s going to be former Cowboy Emmitt Smith.
ABC has announced the celebrity participants in the new season of “Dancing with the Stars,” and Emmitt is among the wannabe hoofers.
Also on the roster — and destined to make Emmitt look pretty good by comparison — are bow-tied boy-child Tucker Carlson, the conservative pundit of of MSNBC, and noted over-the-top talk-show host Jerry Springer. Maybe Springer will just throw a chair.
The new season of the show, which begins Sept. 12, also will feature Vivica A. Fox, Harry Hamlin (his wife, puffy-lipped Lisa Rinna, danced last season), Joe Lawrence, Mario Lopez, Sara Evans, Willa Ford, Monique Coleman and Shanna Moakler.
Thankfully these dubious dancers will be paired with genuine professionals, who somehow will transform a few of them into a semblance of grace and passion.
Len Goodman, Bruno Tonioli and Carrie Ann Inaba return as judges. A combination of judges’ scores and viewers’ votes will determine who wins the big mirror ball trophy.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Categories: Sports on TV
