In The Press

CHICAGO, Ill. (February 1, 2012) -Bellator Fighting Championships today announces that it has extended its programming partnership with Score Media Inc. (TSX: SCR) through its upcoming sixth season, starting on March 9, it’s Summer Season as well as its seventh later in the year.

The extension gives Canadian mixed martial arts fans access to another year of Bellator fights across theScore’s multiplatform assets including theScore Television Network, theScore.com and its industry-leading application, ScoreMobile.

"The Score is Bellator’s longest running TV partner worldwide, having broadcast each of our first five seasons," said Bellator Chairman & CEO Bjorn Rebney. "As the place where Canadian fans go for MMA programming, news and information, theScore is the perfect partner to help us connect with our fans in a place where MMA and Bellator have thrived."

"We are extremely pleased to announce the continuation of our partnership with Bellator," says Benjie Levy, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Score Media Inc. "Bellator has developed a reputation for being one of the world’s elite MMA promotions and its programming is a perfect fit for our young audience."

Season 6 kicks off on Friday, March 9th headlined by the Bellator World Featherweight title fight between Joe Warren and Pat Curran. In addition, Bellator is planning multiple Canadian event dates in 2012.

The televised portion of each week’s events kick off at 8 p.m. ET LIVE on MTV2 in the U.S. and on thescore.com in Canada simultaneously, followed by repeat airings on theScore Television Network on Saturdays at 9 p.m. ET, Sundays at 8 p.m. ET and Wednesdays at 4 p.m. ET.

For more information, visit Bellator.com, follow Bellator on Twitter @BellatorMMA, follow Bellator Chairman & CEO Bjorn Rebney @BjornRebney and check out Bellator on Facebook at www.facebook.com/Bellator

http://bestappever.com/awards/2011/winner/sprt

Winners for 2011 in Best Sports App

• 
  

  ScoreMobile

  iOS division winner!

  Download

• 
  

  ScoreMobile for Android

  Android division winner!

  Download

Second Place

• 
  

  iFooty Plus

  iOS App by Jeremy Debate

• 
  

  ESPN ScoreCenter

  Android App by ESPN Inc

Third Place

• 
  

  iFish Alberta

  iOS App by The App Door

• 
  

  Endomondo Sports Tracker

  Android App by Endomondo

Honorable Mentions

• 
  

  Yahoo! Sportacular Pro

  iOS App by Yahoo! Sports

• 
  

  MLB.com At Bat 11

  iOS App by MLB.com

• 
  

  NHL GameCenter 2011-2012 Prem…

  iOS App by National Hockey League

• 
  

  ESPN ScoreCenter

  iOS App by ESPN

By Tony Markovich | Jan 13, 2012 | 1:33 pm |

Raptors: Raptor Blog

Founded: 2002
Twitter: @ScottCarefoot, @JosephCasciaro
Main Contributor(s): Joseph Casciaro, Scott Carefoot
The Score is best known for its overarching NBA blog The Basketball Jones that covers the league in awesomely quirky ways, but another blog tucked in the corner of the site is the Raptor Blog. These guys cover the Toronto team in a similarly light-hearted manner as TBJ, (as light-hearted as you can with such a bad team) but don’t skimp on digging deep in their evaluation of the team’s play. They’re also currently doing a solid list of the 30 ultimate Raptors of all time, recently revealing Jerome Williams at No. 7.

Score Media is announcing its quarterly financial results in two separate operating segments for the first time.

Broadcast and Digital Media results for the quarter ending November 30, 2011 increased in both segments, with the Digital Media report showing $1 million in revenues.

Score Media’s Annual General Meeting is being held today, and a live webcast will be available at www.scoremedia.com.

The company has already announced that, in accordance with the newly adopted International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS"), its revenue for the three months ended November 30, 2011 increased by $1.6 million or 14% to $13.4 million compared to $11.8 million in the three months ended November 30, 2010

Broadcast revenues for the three months ended November 30, 2011 increased by $1.5 million or 14% to $12.4 million compared to $10.9 million in the three months ended November 30, 2010

Digital Media revenues for the three months ended November 30, 2011 increased by $0.1 million or 16% to $1.0 million compared to $0.9 million in the three months ended November 30, 2010

EBITDA for the three months ended November 30, 2011 was $1.9 million compared to $2.7 million in the previous year, a decrease of $0.8 million, primarily as a result of a planned increase in expenditures on personnel and technology to support the significant growth in the audience of the Company’s digital media platforms

Broadcast EBITDA for the three months ended November 30, 2011 increased by $0.4 million to $4.9 million compared to $4.5 million in the three months ended November 30, 2010

Digital Media EBITDA loss for the three months ended November 30, 2011 increased by $0.8 million to $1.1 million compared to a $0.3 million EBITDA loss in the three months ended November 30, 2010

"Q1 was an excellent quarter for Score Media," said John Levy, Chairman & CEO, Score Media Inc. "Our Broadcast business delivered strong growth in revenue and EBITDA, and our Digital Media segment generated record revenues and audience growth. We plan to continue to strategically invest in our Digital Media business to capitalize on the strong position we have established in the mobile sports market, while continuing to grow our Broadcast business."

The Company’s digital media assets recorded record audience growth in Q1/12:

ScoreMobile applications averaged 3.3 million unique users per month in Q1/12, growing by more than 1 million unique users per month, or over 60%, from Q1/11

theScore.com averaged 1.2 million unique users per month in Q1/12, an increase of 140% or 0.7 million unique users per month over Q1/11

During the quarter, the Company announced the establishment of digital media sales offices in New York and Chicago and the appointment of Ethan Ross to the position of Vice President of Digital Sales. He will be responsible for the development and execution of Score Media’s U.S. digital media sales strategy.

In November 2011 the Company announced a complete redesign of the ScoreMobile App for iPhone and iPod touch that introduces new features such as a customizable scoreboard to track any team or player from any league, the ability to follow your favorite teams and fantasy players in real-time, customizable feeds, detailed profiles of over 15,000 players and 800 teams, integration with iOS 5′s Notification Center feature, and one-tap social sharing.

In September 2011, the Company announced that hockey pro turned writer, Justin Bourne, formally joined theScore. Son of Bob Bourne – winner of 4 Stanley Cups with the Islanders in the 80′s – Justin brings a great combination of player insight, irreverence and humour to theScore’s new hockey blog, Backhand Shelf. A frequent contributor to Yahoo!’s Puck Daddy Blog, USA Today and The Hockey News, he is one the select few high-level athletes who has made a successful transition to sports writing.

The Company, in partnership with Gillette, announced in November 2011 that Jackie Redmond has been crowned the winner of Gillette DRAFTED 3: The Search for Canada’s Next Sportscaster. A former radio personality, Jackie is now theScore’s newest sportscaster, contributing to theScore Television Network, ScoreMobile and theScore.com and the newest member of the Gillette spokesperson family.

Quarterly numbers show slip in profits

Sports specialty broadcaster Score Media is adding to its U.S. college sports coverage, inking what it describes as a “long-term” programming agreement with Fox International Sports Channels.

The agreement – which commenced early this month – includes a minimum of 250 hours per year of U.S. collegiate sports coverage from leading college conferences including the Big 12 Conference, Pac-12 Conference and Conference USA.

In addition to college football and basketball, the deal also includes live coverage of “top-flight” collegiate hockey programs including the University of Minnesota, University of Wisconsin and the University of North Dakota.

Benjie Levy, Score Media’s executive vice-president and chief operating officer, said the partnership will enable the company’s sports specialty channel The Score to “enhance” its NCAA basketball and football coverage while at the same adding U.S. college hockey to its programming mix.

While Score Media has previously partnered with Fox on soccer programming, this marks the first time the two companies have come together on a U.S. college sports package. Levy wouldn’t disclose how many hours of live sports coverage is currently aired by The Score, but the schedule currently includes NBA coverage, Serie A soccer from Italy as well as WWE coverage.

“I wouldn’t say it’s a material amount of new content, but we think it’s high-quality content that helps round out our schedule,” said Levy. “Our advertisers are always looking for great solutions to reach young audiences, and that’s who gravitates to the type of programming we air.”

Today’s announcement accompanies the release of first quarter results for Score Media showing that the company’s first quarter profits slipped to $1.9 million from $2.7 million a year earlier – the result of increased expenditures on personnel and technology to support what it characterized as “significant growth” for its digital media platforms.

Revenues for the three-month period ending Nov. 30 were up 14% to a record high $13.4 million, with broadcast revenues for its 24-hour sports specialty channel The Score accounting for $12.4 million of that total.

Digital media revenues for the quarter were also an all-time high $1 million.

The independent media company is claiming “record” audience growth for its digital media assets, with its ScoreMobile applications averaging 3.3 million unique users per month, a 60% increase from the year-earlier period.

Traffic to TheScore.com site averaged 1.2 million unique visitors per month in the quarter, an increase of approximately 700,000 from the year-earlier period.

“We’re very pleased with our first quarter,” said Levy, who noted that Score Media’s digital group has grown in size from 50 to about 100 employees over the past year. “We’re investing heavily in this group and we’re expecting it to deliver significant results.”

The company also opened a digital media sales office in New York and Chicago, and named Ethan Ross to the position of vice-president of digital sales. Ross, a former vice-president of mobile advertising sales with Baltimore, based Millennial Media and VP of digital sales with XOS Sports, will be responsible for Score Media’s U.S. digital media sales strategy.

Jameson Berkow

CNW Group/Score Media Inc.

Score Media Inc.’s mobile application seen on a BlackBerry smartphone from Research In Motion Ltd. (left) and an iPhone from Apple Inc.

Fans of The Score television network will be pleased to hear the Canadian sports station signed a new content partnership on Monday, though investors in parent company Score Media Inc. may be less pleased with its latest earnings report.

The Toronto-based broadcaster reported earnings before taxes and interest (EDITDA) of $1.9-million for the three months ended November 30, 2011, down 30% from the $2.7-million Score Media earned during the same period in 2010. The company attributed the profit dip to a planned spending increase on its digital media platforms, including theScore.com and smartphone applications such as ScoreMobile and SportsTap.

Net profit for the quarter was $212,000, a 75% drop from the $856,000 the company reported for the first quarter of its 2011 fiscal year.

Establishing digital media sales offices in New York and Chicago and hiring Ethan Ross to oversee them are among the expenses incurred by Score Media during the start of its 2012 fiscal year. The company also redesigned its ScoreMobile app for Apple Inc. hand-held devices and hired sportswriter Justin Bourne to write for its new hockey blog, Backhand Shelf between early September and late November.

Revenue before expenses grew to $13.4-million, a 14% increase from the $11.8-million the company generated between September and November of 2010. For the first time, the company broke out broadcast and digital revenues separately, reporting a 14% year-over-year increase in broadcast revenues to $12.4 million and a 16% year-over-year increase in digital revenues to $1-million.

Also on Monday, the company announced an agreement with Fox Sports to provide at least 250 hours of live college football, basketball and hockey games to Score Media’s various platforms every year. While the deal includes access to some of the top college conferences in the United States, such as Pac-12 and Conference USA, particular emphasis is being placed on one sport considered most appealing to The Score’s viewership.

“Given the Canadian sports fans’ love for quality ice hockey, the deal features live coverage of top-flight programs including the University of Minnesota, University of Wisconsin, University of Denver and the University of North Dakota,” the company said in a news release.

“These schools have produced NHL stars including Jonathan Toews, Phil Kessel, Zach Parise and Thomas Vanek, and feature numerous Canadian players on their current rosters.”

The company’s ScoreMobile app averaged 3.3 million unique users per month during the quarter and theScore.com Website attracted 1.2 million unique monthly visitors; a 140% increase from the same period in 2010.

Josh Rubin

John Levy could be forgiven for being a little worried.

After all, when you run the only independent sports network in the country at a time when two major telecommunications firms are snapping up the Toronto Maple Leafs and Toronto Raptors, it makes it an even tougher competitive landscape.

But the chairman and CEO of Score Media insists he’s not losing any sleep over the purchase of a controlling stake in Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment by Rogers and BCE.

“I don’t worry about it. We don’t have the Raptors or the Leafs, but we’ve got the NBA for another couple of years, we’ve got the NCAA, we’ve got the WWE,” said Levy after his company’s annual general meeting Monday. The company announced fiscal first quarter earnings fell to $212,000 from $856,000 a year ago. Revenues rose 14 per cent to $13.4 million.

The federal Competition Bureau announced it would be reviewing the purchase of MLSE shortly after the proposed deal was announced in early December. Rogers and Sportsnet bought most of the 80 per cent stake owned by the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan, with the rest going to MLSE chairman Larry Tanenbaum. Rogers owns Sportsnet, a regional sports network, while BCE owns TSN.

It wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Bureau put some kind of restriction on the new owners of the biggest sports property in the country, says Joseph R. D’Cruz, a professor of strategic management at the U of T’s Rotman School of Management. That could include requiring Rogers and BCE to sell the rights to a few Leaf or Raptor games per season to another network, or making games available to other mobile phone carriers or companies with mobile apps such as Score.

“I get the sense they’ll do something, but that it might be a bit timid,” said D’Cruz. “I think some form of compulsory licensing at a reasonable price would be helpful.”

That compulsory licensing, points out D’Cruz, would put the Bureau in line with a recent ruling from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, which said Bell Mobility must provide exclusive NHL and NFL mobile content to its wireless rival Telus.

“I think this deal may open up some neat opportunities for us. We’ll let the chips fall where they may,” said Levy.

Whether those opportunities include the rights to some Leaf and Raptor games, Levy is already pushing ahead with other sports, including a new deal announced Monday to air more NCAA football, basketball and hockey.

The deal includes 250 hours of games from NCAA Division I conferences such as the Big 12, Pac-12 and Conference USA.

The company is also pushing ahead with its digital division, including its popular Score Mobile app, which has 3.3 million unique users per month in North America. That digital push, said Levy, is the biggest reason why net earnings dropped in the fiscal first quarter. Over the last year, Levy said, Score Media has grown from a staff of roughly 240 people to 300 today. Most of those hirings have come on the digital side, and Levy’s not making any apologies for the heavy spending.

“You’ve got to do it smart, but you’ve got to do it fast, because otherwise some guy sitting in a garage somewhere will eat your lunch,” Levy said.

Among the people hired were a pair of advertising sales representatives based in the U.S. to develop the company’s growing mobile audience south of the border.

For the moment, the digital division is still running well behind the TV side in revenue, but is growing. In the fiscal first quarter, the digital division brought in over $1 million in revenue for the first time. Within three to five years, Levy hopes the digital division will match the TV side in revenues.

Levy, meanwhile, denied Score Media is actively being shopped around, but admitted it could always be sold if the price is right.

“We’ll look at and entertain anything that comes in front of us,” Levy said.

Sandy McMurray

Score Mobile (free)
You want sports news? This is the app for you. Get real time scores, breaking news and updates from all major leagues, college sports, mixed martial arts, and more. Score Mobile gives you quick access to live stats, game videos and blogs. Coverage includes hockey (NHL), football (NFL, NCAAF, CFL), basketball (NBA, WNBA, NCAAB, NCAAWB), baseball (MLB), PGA golf, MMA (UFC, Strikeforce), auto racing (NASCAR Sprint Cup, F1), tennis, cricket (ICC and IPL), and soccer (EPL/Premiership, Champions League, Serie A, La Liga, MLS). Footie fans should also check out ScoreMobile FC, an app that focuses on The Beautiful Game.

By Jimmy Traina

Many sports sites at this time of year post lists of their top stories of the year. Most will feature the usual suspects: The Penn State scandal, Tebowmania, the Cardinals coming out of nowhere to win the World Series, Tony La Russa’s subsequent retirement, etc., etc. For me, one of the biggest sports stories of the year was the continuing emergence of Twitter. If you’re a sports fan who does not use the social media service, you are missing out. News breaks on Twitter before anywhere else. Athletes are interacting with fans more than ever. When something ridiculous (like a blackout at Candlestick Park) happens, you’re guaranteed a few laughs from people on Twitter. And, last but not least, athletes are getting in trouble on Twitter more than ever.
The beauty of Twitter is that you can get from it whatever you want. The ignorant cliche about Twitter being a place where people talk about what they had for lunch is only true if you follow the wrong people. You have the power to follow who you want, thus getting the experience you want. If you only want to follow athletes, you can. If you only want to follow media personalities, you can. If you only want to follow people named Fred, you can. You have the power.
The following is a list of 40 Twitter accounts that I thoroughly enjoy following and am recommending to you. This is not a list of "the 40 best Twitter accounts" or "40 accounts you must follow." This is simply a list of sports people who you may want to consider following. Inevitably, this will lead to many e-mails and tweets saying "How come you didn’t recommend so-and-so," so let me explain my criteria. First and foremost, the people listed below all respond to fellow tweeters. For me, that’s the most important quality I look for from someone I follow. Secondly, they don’t overtweet. Thirdly, they have to fit the Hot Clicks genre. So, if someone isn’t on the list, chances are, 1) They don’t respond to people; 2) They tweet a lot or 3) I’m just not familiar with them. One last note: These are NOT ranked or in any particular order.

ATHLETES

1. Brett Anderson, Oakland A’s: The pitcher is always good for a simple one liner. For example, just yesterday, he tweeted, "Nothing screams big leaguer like your mom setting up a dentist appt over Christmas break…#thanksmom."
2. Tom Crabtree, Green Bay Packers: The tight end calls out spammers and consistently sends tweets to Martha Stewart.
3. Brandon and Amanda McCarthy, Oakland A’s: I recommend following this husband and wife team so you can follow their banter. For example, Amanda recently tweeted, "it’s an awkward moment when you realize that someone on Facebook defriended you.. someone that you were friendly with- yikes." Her husband then responded, "sorry, but dinner was terrible and I needed to send a message." Also, the last line of Brandon’s Twitter bio is classic: "My wife says to say that I’m married."
4. Paul Bissonnette, Phoenix Coyotes: If you read Hot Clicks, there’s really not much else I can say about BizNasty. This will give you an idea, though, of what he provides on Twitter.
5. Logan Morrison, Florida Marlins: If you like people who aren’t afraid to venture into TMI territory, LoMo is for you. He recently opined, "I (honestly) believe its easier to hit a 95 mph fastball than flick a booger…"
6. C.J. Wilson, Anaheim Angels: Whatever your preconceived notion is of what the typical athlete is like, the "str8edgeracer" will change that. And he constantly replies to fans.
7. Darnell Dockett, Arizona Cardinals: A few months ago, Dockett was pulled over by police and live-tweeted the whole ordeal. Enough said.
8. Pat McAfee, Indianapolis Colts: McAfee discusses topics from football to politics with his followers on a daily basis. In addition, he shares behind-the-scenes stories about teammates and does ticket giveaways.
9. Torii Hunter, Anaheim Angels: The outfielder interacts with people and brings the humor as proven here: "On a flight to LA. The guy next to me won’t let me sleep. Don’t want to hear about a grown ass man and his yorki at 7am. This guy doesn’t have a woman in his life. That Yorki can’t give him what a woman can. No not just sex but the complete package. Sex too LOL."
10. Brandon Phillips, Cincinnati Reds: Phillips once attended a Little League game of one of his followers after the kid invited him via Twitter. Can’t top that.
11. Mike Commodore, Detroit Red Wings: Most of Commodore’s tweets are funny, but he often will discus specific topics with his followers. However, his staple is signing off his tweets with, "Stay Single My Friends."
12. Ryan Whitney, Edmonton Oilers: Random observations like this ("Never gets old when people say "good, and you?" after asking them "what’s up?") and this ("Dropped iPhone in bowl of cereal. C’Mon Man!!!") make Whitney a fun follow.
13. Blake Griffin, Los Angeles Clippers: He tweets as good as he dunks. For example, "My version of Black Friday is deleting all the ppl in my phone who sent me a "mass thanksgiving text." And "Wanna win a million dollars? This link won’t help but its a look inside my short lived career during the lockout."
14. Kerry Rhodes, Arizona Cardinals: Rhodes bounces between serious thoughts ("Boy money really is the root of all evil!! Lol I never knew it controlled so many people. I pray 4 them everyday."), sound advice ("Gnite twit fam yall be careful 2nite!! And if ur gonna have some fun wear protection!!! Lol! Jk."), football commentary ("Whoooo young man got his top popped!!! Helmet one way du rag the other!! Man!") and his love of women ("J LO got that donk back!! Lol.")
15. Jeremy Guthrie, Baltimore Orioles: If you want to read tweets about Justin Bieber and boy bands, Guthrie is your guy. In addition, he’s constantly doing giveaways and contests.
16. Tony Scheffler, Detroit Lions: The tight end has gotten plenty of attention this year for his touchdown dances, and he often tweets about them. Recently, he also shared this interesting nugget about Bob Costas, who went off on Sunday Night Football about touchdown celebrations.: "For the record……Got an apology from Bob Costas himself. Apparently a little swashbuckling never hurt anyone."

SERVICE FEEDS

17. NMATV: If you like the Taiwanese animation videos that are featured in Hot Clicks, follow this feed to get the links as soon as they’re posted.
18. SportsIn140.com: This feed lets you know when an athlete joins Twitter.
19. ESPNBook: If behind-the-scenes, inside dirt on the Worldwide Leader interests you, this feed is for you.

BROADCASTERS

20. Dick Vitale: The long-time college hoops analyst tweets about the Kardashians, Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift, in addition to basketball. Your mind will be blown.
21. Joe Buck: The Fox broadcaster just re-joined Twitter this week, but I’m putting him on the list already because of this tweet: "And yes it’s me. Joe. I can actually laugh at that stuff. Randy Moss! Artie! Nepotism! My greatest hits!" This tweet should be recognized, too: "Btw I like Artie Lange. The jokes are 2 years old. Make fun of something new like the virus I had in my vocal cord. Now that’s funny!"
22. Jim Ross: The best WWE announcer ever answers fans questions about the business each and every day.
23: Howard Finkel: The legendary ring announcer tweets about sports, as much as wrestling.
24. Scott Van Pelt: The SportsCenter anchor seems like one of the few ESPN people who aren’t afraid to tweet what they want. More importantly, he tweets about betting. A lot.
25. Rich Eisen: Football information + some snark = perfect combination.

LOVELY LADIES

26. Jaime Edmondson: The Playmate has made good use of her photoshoots. She does NFL picks each week, but instead of just typing the winning team, she tweets a picture of her in that team’s apparel.
27. Kate Upton: She tweets pics!
28. Erin Andrews: It’s Erin Andrews.

BLOGGERS

29. The Big Lead: A steady flow of sports/pop culture opinions and links that often get used in Hot Clicks.
30. Larry Brown Sports: Always tweeting links to offbeat and under-the-radar sports items that are regularly featured in Hot Clicks.
31. World of Isaac: The man behind Guyism.com offers sports links and coverage of attractive women.
32. Greg Wyshynski: I don’t know much about hockey. I do know what it comes to covering the sport and running a hockey blog, nobody does it better than Puck Daddy.
33. J.E. Skeets and Tas Melas: The duo, known as The Basketball Jones, should be followed by any and all NBA fans.
34. Dan Steinberg: The man behind the DC Sports Bog covers every single aspect of Washington sports.
35. Matt Sebek: The creator of Joe Sports Fan riffs all things St. Louis and taunts the city’s mayor on a regular basis.
36. Sarah Spain: Windy City residents should follow Spain for full coverage of Chicago sports.
37. Dan Rubenstein: One of the guys behind The Solid Verbal podcast always has a unique take on college football to share.

MISCELLANEOUS

38. Eric Stangel: The head writer for the Late Show with David Letterman throws out jokes ("Kobe Bryant and his wife split. Advice to the ladies – you do not want to be Kobe’s rebound relationship girl…") about sports and pop culture throughout the day.
39. JD Harmeyer: This list needed to have some Howard Stern show representation. Since Howard and Baba Booey barely tweet, the show’s Media Editor is a good source for links and commentary on pop culture. For example, he recently tweeted, "Personally, I thought "re-making" The 3 Stooges was a bad idea….and this teaser trailer confirms it."
40. MikeFrancesaNY: This one is for my fellow New Yorkers. If you ever listened to Mike Francesa on WFAN, or watched him on the YES Network for even just one second, you absolutely positively must follow this fake account.

BONUS: Jimmy Traina: If I can’t plug myself in this column, what’s the point?
* Techincally, there are 43 people on this list, but who’s counting.
Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/extramustard/hotclicks/12/22/fifty-sports-figures-to-follow-on-twitter/index.html#ixzz1iQvjnShJ