With Kevin Mayer leaving Disney for TikTok, ESPN’s Jimmy Pitaro has added direct reports and seems in a stronger position
Rita Ferro and Justin Connolly previously reported to Mayer; they'll now report to Pitaro and Peter Rice.
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ESPN shift sees The Undefeated EIC Kevin Merida now reporting directly to Jimmy Pitaro, with that site’s coverage expanding
Four years after its launch, The Undefeated is set for a further expansion, and EIC and senior vice president Kevin Merida will now report directly to ESPN president Jimmy Pitaro.
Dan Le Batard will reportedly now “check with higher-ups” before discussing political issues
"If Le Batard feels the need to address a political issue in the future, he will check with higher-ups."
After meeting with ESPN president Jimmy Pitaro, Dan Le Batard is set to return to Highly Questionable and his radio show
Le Batard is set to return to a regular radio schedule next week.
Dan Le Batard will apparently avoid suspension, while ESPN insists their no politics rule remains in force
Dan Le Batard was on the air on Friday, a day after his pointed criticism of both President Trump and ESPN's "cowardly" no politics stance.
Disney acquired Fox’s stake in DraftKings despite Bob Iger’s comments about not facilitating gambling
Disney CEO Bob Iger said in February "I don’t see The Walt Disney Company, certainly in the near term, getting involved in the business of gambling, in effect, by facilitating gambling in any way." Well, they're doing so at the moment thanks to their stake in DraftKings.
Jimmy Pitaro says ESPN will continue VR/AR/isocam experiments, especially online: “We do not believe that AR or VR is a fad.”
"We’ve been leaders in the virtual reality and augmented reality space for a long time now. We’ve already developed content for the Oculus [VR headset] and are willing to make our content available in those spaces."
ACC Network has a launch date of Aug. 22, 2019, and will air Georgia Tech-Clemson as its first football game a week later
ESPN's putting a big football game on ACC Network to kick things off, and get providers to pick the network up.
ABC to broadcast all three days of the 2019 NFL Draft in addition to ESPN, will use College GameDay crew
Last year, Fox aired a simulcast of the NFL Network’s coverage of the first two days of the...
Bob Iger says he and Jimmy Pitaro thought ESPN coverage “swung a little bit too far away from the field” to societal and...
"Jimmy felt that the pendulum may have swung a little bit too far away from the field. And I happen to believe he was right."
Jemele Hill will leave ESPN Sept. 1 in an “amicable departure/buyout,” according to Jim Miller
Hill talked about wanting to do work behind the camera in news as well as sports back in July, but was still under contract for two years.
President Trump rips ESPN’s ‘terrible’ decision to not televise national anthem during Monday Night Football
"It was just announced by ESPN that rather than defending our anthem, our beautiful beautiful beautiful national anthem, and defending our flag, they've decided they they just won't broadcast when they play the national anthem. We don't like that."
ESPN president Jimmy Pitaro emphasizes “strengthening relationship with NFL,” “long-term partnership,” a big shift for the company
Pitaro said there is "definitely positive momentum" in the ESPN-NFL partnership, and he wants to remain partners beyond the Monday Night Football deal's 2021 expiration.
John Skipper’s abrupt exit opened the door for ESPN to strike a UFC deal
Skipper reportedly "wasn’t a fan of the sport and didn’t believe it fit into ESPN’s schedule."
Scott Van Pelt says “prevailing optimism” in Bristol owes to new ESPN president Jimmy Pitaro
"I think that there is a prevailing optimism, particularly as people meet Jimmy [Pitaro], and get a sense of what his vision is for this place."
