The Comcast Network relaunches with 'Breakfast on Broad'
The Comcast Network is preparing to launch something new for local television starting on April 6: a sports talk morning show, called Breakfast on Broad. The show is set to have a conversational tone and will include morning news staples like traffic and weather.
Breakfast on Broad aims to avoid the straight-news feel of SportsNet Central, the current Comcast SportsNet local morning news show, which will continue to air. The intent of the new program is to favor opinion and discussion, sometimes centering on the softer side of local sports, including what athletes are doing off the field, and what they are saying on Twitter.
Brian Monihan, general manager of Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia, sees the two shows as complements to each other. SportsNet Central is what happened in last night's game, he said, while Breakfast on Broad is about "why and what others think about it."
The focus on the off-the-field interests of athletes — Baicker threw out references to an Eagle who hangs out at music venue Union Transfer (such as linebacker Connor Barwin) or a Flyer who likes to go to Old City bars — reflects a change in sports media as a whole.
"People can see players off the field more so than ever [through their social media feeds]," said Brooks, a 12-year NFL veteran who retired from the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2006. "You now can't go to a restaurant and not have someone tweet that you were there or take a selfie with you. That's not something I needed to go through, and I'm kind of glad I didn't."
The media has followed suit on the way they cover athletes.
"TMZ Sports has broken a number of stories that have really been, I wouldn't say earth shattering, but have made the traditional sports media sit up and take notice," said Karen Weaver, associate clinical professor and interim program director of sports management at Drexel University. "The celebritization of our culture is merging sports and entertainment."
While there are a few original shows on the Comcast Network currently, including one about the Philadelphia Union, Breakfast on Broad is the first major step to return original programming to the Comcast Network.
"At first you have to succeed," Monihan said about whether this be followed by more original programming on the station. "We feel like we have everything pointed in the right direction. We have a lot more assets than we had before. With Comcast SportsNet, we have access to NBC10, we have more resources and opportunities to do programming that would make sense."