Time to give you some links on this Thursday. On WEEI, it was WBZ-TV’s Bob Lobel and Steve Burton filling in for Dennis & Callahan once again. Tomorrow is the day when D&C’s contracts expire.
On this opening night of the NFL season, Susan Bickelhaupt of the Boston Globe talks with CBS’ Dan Dierdorf and ESPN’s Ron Jaworski about the Patriots. Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times-Union writes about Jaworski joining Monday Night Football. Don Benevento of the Cherry Hill (NJ) Courier Post also has a story on Jaworski. In the Philadelphia Daily News, Mark Kram says Jaworski is ready for some Monday Night Football. Tom FitzGerald of the San Francisco Chronicle says NFL Network games will be hard to see in the Bay Area. Mike Burrows of the Denver Post looks at the building of a football nation, some of the events listed include TV watersheds. Also from the Denver Post, Anthony Cotton says football is king in the US, thanks partly to TV.
Chris Zelkovich of the Toronto Star talks about the opening of the NFL season and some of the changes in TV partners in Canada. And William Houston of the Toronto Globe and Mail talks with NBC’s John Madden about being ready for the season. Bill Harris of the Winnepeg Sun talks with NBC’s Al Michaels.
John Ryan of the San Jose Mercury News says the Raiders game against Detroit is close to being blacked out locally in the Bay Area.
Bob Wolfey of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel writes about ESPN’s Keyshawn Johnson, NBC’s John Madden and Bethanie Mattek’s wardrobe.
Andy Fixmer of the Bloomberg News service writes that due to higher rights fees for MLB, NFL and NASCAR and lower subscription fees from the cable companies means ESPN’s growth has slowed, and lowering Disney’s stock price.
The Worcester Telegram and Gazette’s Bill Doyle talks with NESN’s Don Orsillo who for some reason changed his policy about mentioning no-hitters on the air.
Dave Dye of the Detroit News says controversy over the Big Ten Network stands to get uglier. From very amateurish looking West Liberty (IA) Index, Susan Sedlacek writes that Liberty Communications has BTN while Mediacom customers still cannot watch it. Mike Prisuta of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review says BTN is worth watching.
Richard Deitsch of Sports Illustrated has his media power rankings for August.
While ESPN announced last week it would reduce the scripted fare it had offered, news comes from the Television Critics Association Convention that the network is still considering doing a movie about the late Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi.
Bob Molinaro of the Virginian-Pilot says even with a local TV station dumping its traditional sports report on its newscasts, other stations feel local sports still needs to be covered.
A lot more links than I expected for a Thursday, but the opening of the NFL season has helped. I’ll be back later.
