I’ll give you a few links before I go to bed.
First, Neil Best from Newsday who says he’ll stop blogging and write his column, then post four or five entries in the interim. Funny guy. Anyway, in writing tidbits about Chip Carey of TBS, Neil noted that the TBS crew was not biased against the Yankees despite fans’ feelings to the contrary. And someone gave Neil (ahem, moi) a link to the Cleveland Plain Dealer article (linked by this site earlier in the day) noting that Indians fans felt the TBS crew of Carey, Tony Gwynn and Bob Brenly favored the Yankees.
And while the Yankees are no longer in the MLB Postseason, they did give TBS some record ratings. Sports Media Watch notes the LDS was up 12% on TBS from last year when they were on ESPN and Fox. The blog also points out that without New York, Chicago and Philadelphia, the ratings for the League Championship Series with only one Top Ten media market will probably be lower than expected for Fox and TBS.
John Dempsey of Variety says the LDS set record ratings for TBS. John Consoli of Mediaweek says the ratings for TBS rose 18% for the LDS. Rachel Cohen of the Associated Press says big market teams drove the ratings for the LDS, while the LCS will be filled with small market teams.
Meanwhile, the AP reports that last week’s Monday Night Football game between the Patriots and Bengals on ESPN was the most watched program on cable, but programs ranked 2-9 where the League Division Series games on TBS.
King Kaufman in Salon.com says TBS’ low-key approach to the LDS was good, but there’s always room for improvement.
But in Canada, viewers were not so lucky. William Houston of the Toronto Globe and Mail reports that subscribers to Rogers Sportsnet West could not see Monday’s Yankees-Indians game because of a hockey conflict.
With Fox coming into the MLB Postseason picture, it means the end of the road for some of TBS’ personnel including Jose Mota. Deadspin mourns this loss.
Jim Carlisle of the Ventura County Star writes in his blog that Rod Thulin of Versus made a big error in his call of the Stanford upset of USC last Saturday. Unfortunately, the video Carlisle links to has been removed by YouTube.
Bob Fernandez of the Philadelphia Inquirer writes about the ongoing dispute between the Big Ten Network and Comcast.
The Wichita (KS) Eagle says it’s still not known what time the Kansas-Colorado game will kick off on October 20. This is part of the schedule in the Big 12 which is being held up by ESPN as reported by Brian Davis of the Dallas Morning News and a story which I linked to earlier today. But in the Big Ten, Penn State vs. Indiana will be aired either on ESPN or ESPN2 that day.
Fox Soccer Channel has signed a two year agreement with the Major Indoor Soccer League.
And with that, I bid you adieu for the evening. Back on Wednesday with more links.
