The last few Fridays, I haven’t been able to provide you with the megalinks. I have to do some today otherwise you’ll stop visiting me.
We begin as always with the Weekend Viewing Picks and there are quite a few for this snowy weekend in Southern New England.
Now to your links.
National
Michael Hiestand of USA Today talks with Fox Sports’ Terry Bradshaw about Tim Tebow and the upcoming NFC Championship.
Jason Fry, part of the ESPN Poynter Review Project hears sideline reporter Holly Rowe’s side of the story regarding about her now-infamous incident where she shoved a Sugar Bowl staffer away to get an interview with Michigan coach Brady Hoke.
Marisa Guthrie of the Hollywood Reporter looks at HBO’s new unscripted series on boxing trainer Freddie Roach.
The Tampa Bay Times’ Eric Deggans has a review of the Freddie Roach series in the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center.
John Eggerton at Broadcasting & Cable says Massachusetts Senator John Kerry has written a letter to the FCC asking the agency to get involved in the Sunbeam-DirecTV dispute which could affect how viewers in Boston see the Super Bowl.
John says Comcast is seeking a reversal of a Federal decision that ruled in favor of Tennis Channel in their dispute.
Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News says DirecTV has signed a rights deal to distribute Big Sky football and basketball games.
Anthony Crupi of Adweek says History Channel has purchased a longer ad to promote its series, “Swamp People” during Super Bowl XLVI.
Brian Steinberg from Advertising Age tells us who’s buying what in Super Bowl XLVI.
AdAge looks at the 12 ads that changed Super Bowl marketing forever. Three guesses on number one and the first two don’t count.
Brian says marketers are going longer with their Super Bowl ads this year in an attempt to stand out.
Finally, Brian writes that even though we’re not thinking about next year’s Super Bowl XLVII, CBS already is and has been working on getting an early start on ad sales for that Big Game.
Inside Radio says all of Cumulus’ Bay Area radio stations will simulcast Sunday’s NFC Championship Game.
From across the pond, Amy Lawrence of The Guardian in the UK says Fox airing an English Premier League game live over the air is a big deal.
Kevin Iole of Yahoo looks into NBC Sports Network’s first foray into boxing.
Dan Levy at the Bleacher Report wonders which network can muster enough former NFL talent to drum up a flag football game.
Mac Nwulu of ESPN’s Front Row PR blog has an inside look at the preparation of Sunday NFL Countdown.
Matt Yoder at Awful Announcing chronicles this week’s Twitter feud between Sports Illusrated’s Richard Deitsch and CNBC’s Darren Rovell.
Speaking of feuds, The Big Lead looks at an internal ESPN squabble between college basketball analyst Jay Bilas and insider Andy Katz.
Sports Media Watch notes that ESPN is making a major scheduling change for the WNBA this year.
SMW has a look at some local NBA and NHL ratings.
Tennis Channel laments not being picked up by Cablevision.
Ken Kerschbaumer of Sports Video Group takes a look at CBS’ and Fox’s preparation for the NFL Conference Championship Games.
Sports TV Jobs has an interesting graphic of sample camera positions at various stadia and arenas.
East and Mid-Atlantic
Chad Finn from the Boston Globe talks with a former Baltimore Raven who now works in Boston as a weekend sports talk show host.
Bill Doyle at the Worcester Telegram & Gazette interviews legendary Patriots radio voice Gil Santos.
Newsday’s Neil Best says local TV is gearing up for the NFC Championship.
Neil talks with former New York Giants running back and NBC analyst Tiki Barber who makes his return to TV this weekend.
George Vescey at the New York Times looks forward to seeing Sunday’s English Premier League game live on Fox.
The New York Post’s Phil Mushnick is not a fan of the NFL replay review process.
Justin Terranova of the Post has five questions for CBS Sports’ and WFAN’s Boomer Esiason.
The Albany Times Union’s Pete Dougherty has some NFL TV analysts break down the four quarterbacks still playing for a shot in the Super Bowl.
Ken McMillan from the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record has Fox’s Troy Aikman talking about the NFC Championship.
Ken has more from Troy in his blog.
Dave Hughes from DCRTV.com notes in Press Box that last week’s Texans-Ravens game set a local ratings record.
David Zurawik of the Baltimore Sun attempts to get answers from CBS on having Subway endorser Ndamukong Suh on last week’s NFL Today postgame show.
And David has former Ravens QB and current ESPN analyst Trent Dilfer opining on Ed Reed’s comments on current QB Joe Flacco.
Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post says the Nationals are hoping to get more money from MASN as the sides negotiate a new contract.
Jim Williams from the Washington Examiner talks with the radio voice of the Wizards about his busy schedule.
South
Keith Jarrett at the Asheville (NC) Citizen-Times says the Big South may have to move its Conference Championship Game venue which could effect ESPN’s scheduling.
Jon Solomon of the Birmingham (AL) News says SEC partners CBS and ESPN want better scheduling for next football season.
Jerry Tipton of the Lexington (KY) Herald-Leader writes that the SEC’s basketball coaches aren’t happy over the scheduling-for-TV moves this season.
David Barron of the Houston Chronicle says the Texans’ flagship radio station hopes to build on the team’s momentum when their new contract kicks in next season.
David has some news and notes that didn’t make his column.
Nancy Sarnoff of the Chronicle says NBC Sports Group is looking for a new facility to house the Comcast SportsNet Houston regional sports network which launches later this year.
Mel Bracht from the Daily Oklahoman notes that the Texas Rangers will have multiple appearances on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball.
Midwest
Michael Zuidema of the Grand Rapids (MI) Press says HBO continues its string of acclaimed sports documentaries.
Bob Wolfley from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says don’t expect NFL Conference Championship Sunday to change its format for the foreseeable future.
Ed Sherman in Crain’s Chicago Business has his winners and losers in sports business and media.
Patrick Reusse of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune feels Fox Sports North just cheerleads for Minnesota teams and won’t criticize them.
Paul Christian from the Rochester (MN) Post-Bulletin looks at Fox Sports North’s Hockey Day in Minnesota schedule.
Dan Caesar at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch has CBS Sports President Sean McManus wanting to keep the status quo for NFL Conference Championship Sunday.
West
John Maffei of the North County Times looks at MLB Network’s first-ever game show which premieres next week.
Jim Carlisle from the Ventura County Star says CBS was hoping to get Tim Tebow for its NFL Today pregame show on Sunday, but he declined.
At the Los Angeles Daily News, Tom Hoffarth profiles Fox Sports West host Patrick O’Neal and has his list of best and worst local sports anchors.
Tom has a bit more on O’Neal.
Canada
Bob Weeks in the Toronto Globe and Mail notes that CBC has gotten out of the curling business, a sport it has televised since 1962.
Bruce Dowbiggin of the Globe and Mail says the Raptors may be suffering on the court, but not on TV.
The Canadian Sports Media Blog looks at the International Olympic Committee throwing out CTV/CBC’s joint bid to air the 2014/2016 Games.
And that is it. Glad to be able to provide the Megalinkage for you.
