Channel 4 has shifted its sports coverage from the 6pm news, at least for now.
Sports director and presenter Steve Burton's report, which usually lasts around three minutes, was moved from the usual 6.20-5.45 pm time slot to Channel 4's evening news (5-6.30 pm).
This decision was made by news director Gerardo Lopez . Channel 4 sports staff were told the change was experimental when notified recently. This was implemented in a press release last Monday.
Dan Shaughnessy: Brock Purdy takes a page from Tom Brady's story and other thoughts
The decision isn't entirely surprising – the 6pm news is mostly weather, breaking news, interesting stories and the most up-to-date weather conditions – but it's a significant break from tradition, especially for older viewers. Seniors signing up for channel sports dates. 4. Bob Lobel 's heyday, if not later.
It could also be interpreted as a misguided marginalization of the sport at a time when the Bruins and Celtics were chasing championships. The 6-6:30 p.m. slot, which carries over to the CBS Evening News, remains attractive to viewers for the first half.
Lopez declined to comment on the memo when contacted Wednesday.
The change is still seen as evidence, according to multiple sources familiar with the situation. One reason is to try to be unpredictable by opening up the rest of the press release to other types of content, such as stories people care about. Channel 4 also aims to place more emphasis on the community level rather than focusing almost exclusively on professional sports.
The sports segments of the 11:00 p.m. news will remain in their usual slot, while Burton and reporters Dan Roche and Mike Uva will be seen at 6:00 p.m.
But if you're looking for sports coverage in the 6 p.m. news, you're going to need to make some changes.
Creative montage
Ahead of NESN's final Q&A on Monday night about the ownership and management of the Red Sox over the winter weekend in Springfield, I asked a network rep if the program would include crude insults aimed at owner John Henry and the administrator delegate Chaim Blum .
Here is his response: "[As] always with television productions, we made the necessary adjustments to ensure sound quality in the unique setting of the MGM amphitheater and compressed the 90-minute run into a broadcast format. 'a' Now.' So most of the questions and answers related to functions and mandates are included in the show."
Shocking – shocking, I tell you! – The "modifications" and the "seal" made almost all of Henry's taunts disappear. If it's a coincidence, it's the largest in American history since John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died hours after July 4, 1826.
Rich Schertenlieb of 98.5 Sports Hub's "Toucher and Rich" expertly offered a comparison and contrast on Tuesday's schedule between the controversial audio of the event circulating on social media and the NESN version. Their podcast feed is worth checking out.
Don't buy it
On Monday, Tom Brady made headlines when he answered a question from co-host Jim Gray on his SiriusXM radio show about the time he spent deciding his football future with repeated profanity. "Jim, if I'd known what he was going to do, I would have done it [expletive] already," Brady said. "I drink it day after day." If you're hearing this and you think Brady is really upset about this issue, I have some FTX stock to sell. It reminds me of a milder radio version of the "fight" between Jim Romo and Jim Everett from years ago. . . Billy Packer , who died last week at the age of 82 and has become synonymous with the men's Final Four, worked as an analyst for 34 years, from 1975 until his retirement in 2008. March Madness wasn't officially born until his sound was not heard . . . Sports Hub may have to wait a while to find out who will replace Adam Jones on the night. Bruins and Celtics games make up the bulk of his current night schedule, and so far the plan is to use rotations at halftime. Meanwhile, Jones will launch a new daytime show WEEI with Megan Attalini and Christian Arcand on Monday.