Let’s give you a few things to watch for in Week 3 in The League Where They Play for Play.
Why are Time Warner Cable and Bright House subscribers a happy lot today? — That’s a silly question, chickie. If you really need to know, just ask one. Seriously, NFL Network and Time Warner came to a surprise agreement on Friday in time for Sunday’s games. So NFL Network and RedZone get access to 12 million customers across the country and in 11 team markets: Buffalo, Cincinnati, Charlotte, Cleveland, Dallas, Green Bay, Indianapolis, Kansas City, New York, San Diego and Tampa-St. Petersburg. This also affects Los Angeles, a secondary market to San Diego, the Capital Region of New York, Milwaukee and several other areas. Time Warner had been the last holdout of the major cable and satellite providers and it appeared that an agreement was nowhere in sight, but instead of going another year without NFL Network, the two sides finally came together. So Time Warner and Bright House customers will be able to see NFL Network on digital basic and NFL RedZone on a sports tier.
Who has the doubleheader this week? — CBS once again. The main game at 4:25 p.m. ET will be Denver at Houston (Jim Nantz/Phil Simms).
What’s Fox showing on Sunday afternoon when it’s not airing the NFL? — Depending on the game in your area, it will show Liverpool vs. Manchester United on tape delay either at 2:30 p.m. ET or 4:30 p.m. The game will be shown live on Fox Soccer at 8:25 if you wish to get up that early.
Any blackouts? — I’m glad you asked. Just one, in San Diego where local fans will not see the Falcons and Chargers on Fox. Miami avoided a blackout after getting an extension to sell tickets for the Jets-Dolphins game. Raider Nation is happy after the blackout was lifted so fans can see Sunday’s game against Pittsburgh.
What are your games of the day? — For CBS, I’ll go with the two late games, Denver at Houston (Jim Nantz/Phil Simms) and Pittsburgh at Oakland (Ian Eagle/Dan Fouts).
On Fox, I’ll choose San Francisco at Minnesota (Kenny Albert/Daryl Johnston/Tony Siragusa) as the 49ers go for 3-0 and the 4:05 game between two 2-0 teams, Philadelphia at Arizona (Thom Brennaman/Brian Billick/Laura Okmin).
And yes, there’s the primetime matchup on Sunday night, New England at Baltimore on NBC (Al Michaels/Cris Collinsworth/Michele Tafoya). That should be quite interesting.
Any trends I should know about after the first two weeks of action? — There are three of interesting notes from the first two weeks. One, the 4:25 national window has garnered lower ratings than Sunday Night Football. Usually, Fox’s late game outrates NBC, but that hasn’t been the case so far this season. And CBS’ ratings for the New York Jets-Pittsburgh Steelers game received the lowest ratings for the late game on any network since 2009.
CBS’ ratings are down from last year in both Week 1 and Week 2.
NBC’s Sunday Night Football is also down after two weeks.
Anything else? — No. Just watch the games and enjoy your Sunday.
