I’ve been to Newton, MA and back, South Kingstown, RI and back and all over my hometown of North Kingstown, RI and all of this today. It’s time to do the megalinks and get them all done in one sitting.
There’s the Weekend Viewing Picks for your sports and entertainment programming.
National
Sports Business Daily goes over the UFC/Fox agreement that will put four live MMA events on network TV and plenty of ancillary programming on Fox’s cable networks.
USA Today’s Michael Hiestand writes that Fox Sports Media Group El Presidente Por Vida David Hill has done an about face on airing Mixed Martial Arts.
Sergio Non of USA Today writes that UFC will revamp its shows when they move from Spike and Versus to Fox’s networks.
Sergio has those who will take part in the first UFC on Fox card in November.
Eric Deggans of the St. Petersburg Times writes in the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center that the success of the UFC on Fox all depends on whether the sport can have a breakout star.
Dave Meltzer at Yahoo! says UFC President Dana White couldn’t be happier in making this deal with Fox.
Also from Yahoo!, Kevin Iole says it will be the fighters who will benefit the most from the new UFC on Fox contract.
Cam Martin of SportsNewser has Spike announcing that the new season of UFC’s The Ultimate Fighter will be the last on its airwaves, naturally.
Anthony Crupi of Adweek looks into the particulars of the UFC on Fox deal.
Bill Cromwell of Media Life Magazine writes that the Fox contract gives UFC some instant mainstream credibility.
There will be more UFC on Fox stories sprinkled throughout the megalinks. Let’s move on to other stories now.
The Hollywood Reporter’s Tim Goodman wonders if Showtime’s “The Franchise” is bringing down the San Francisco Giants this season.
Georg Szalai of the Reporter reports that Comcast has withdrawn a lawsuit against DirecTV over an ad campaign for NFL Sunday Ticket.
David Goetzl of MediaPost notes that DirecTV plans to expand its fantasy offerings for NFL Sunday Ticket.
Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News looks at Versus/NBC Sports Network’s new exclusive NHL night in the first year of its new 10 year contract with the league.
Andrew McMains of Adweek looks at a new inspiring web video produced for the US Olympic Committee.
All Access says the ESPN Radio affiliate in Minnesota’s Twin Cities has chosen the hosts for its midday show.
Greg Wyshynski of Yahoo’s Puck Daddy explores which teams won and lost in the new NHL TV schedules.
Cam Martin of SportsNewser writes that former voice of the North Carolina Tar Heels, Woody Durham, will be honored for his contributions to college football.
The Big Lead wonders if Jay Bilas is the most respected voice at ESPN.
Timothy Burke of SportsGrid investigates how former 2 Live Crew leader Luther Campbell managed to appear to appear on the Dan Patrick Show and the Colin Cowherd Show at the same time.
And Tim presents the Atlanta Braves’ Shake Cam and how it can make fans a bit too excited.
Sports Media Watch says the U-20 World Cup is scoring for Galavision.
Matt Yoder at Awful Announcing has a look at some interesting sports media typos.
Matt shows us how the Baseball Tonight crew had trouble demonstrating its new touchscreen.
Joe Favorito looks at what’s new with professional lacrosse.
Patrick Stafford of Smart Company in Australia speaks with the owner of Footytips.com about how he sold his site to ESPN.
East and Mid-Atlantic
Chad Finn of the Boston Globe says the limited classic programming on NBA TV during the current league lockout can only take the channel so far.
Sox & Dawgs has the video of NESN’s Don Orsillo and Jerry Remy wearing chicken hats in the booth.
Richard Sandomir of the New York Times writes on how regional sports networks have increasing power and money to be a game changer for some professional teams.
Richard looks at the UFC on Fox deal that puts Mixed Martial Arts into the mainstream.
Dan Levin from the Times has a good story on how some athletes in Communist China are trying to buck their archaic system.
Mark DeCambre of the New York Post notes that the new Meadowlands Stadium now will have a sponsor when the new NFL season begins.
Justin Terranova in the Post looks at how Fordham University was a training ground for several NYC announcers.
Justin has five questions for SNY Jets analyst Anthony Becht.
Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union writes about Fox signing UFC for seven years.
Pete says local sports anchor Andrew Catalon’s call of tonight’s Browns-Lions game will be seen on NFL Network this weekend.
Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette says a local radio station will air a full high school football schedule.
Ken says the NBC Sports Group is increasing its commitment to horse racing this fall.
And Ken writes that a new local sports radio talk show will be debuting soon.
To Ken McMillan of the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record who says the New York Rangers will be featured extensively on the national NHL TV schedules.
Crossing Broad has the audio of Philadelphia’s sports radio station WIP announcement that it’s taking over WYSP’s FM frequency killing off a heritage rock station.
Dan Gross of the Philadelphia Daily News says ‘YSP staffers were melancholy about CBS Radio’s announcement killing off the station.
Jeff Wolfe of the Delaware County Times writes about WIP’s displacement of WYSP just as the rocker’s ratings were increasing.
Mike White in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says two local high school games hit the ESPN family of networks this fall.
Shelly Anderson of the Post-Gazette says the Penguins TV announcing crew will return for another season.
In the Baltimore Sun, David Zurawik explains where Ravens fans can find the team on TV and radio.
Dave Hughes of DCRTV.com writes in Press Box that the Ravens did extremely well in the ratings in both Baltimore and Washington, DC in their NFL preseason opener.
Jim Williams from the Washington Examiner talks with DC NFL Team radio voice Larry Michael.
And Jim writes that the Washington Capitals will have plenty of appearances on NBC/Versus (NBC Sports Network).
Mike Madden in the Washington City Paper says the local sports anchor is becoming a thing of the past.
Keith Loria of the Fairfax (VA) Times says native Lindsay Czarniak is about to make her debut on ESPN.
South
The Charleston (WV) Gazette notes that Root Sports Pittsburgh will carry some West Virginia and Marshall programming.
The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports that Bob Griese will be joining the Miami Dolphins radio broadcast team replacing the late Jim Mandich.
Andy Kent of the Miami Dolphins website has Griese’s thoughts about joining the broadcast team and also sharing thoughts about Mandich.
Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times has some thoughts on the UFC/Fox deal, the Little League World Series on TV and CBS’ production of the PGA Championship.
Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel says Yahoo! Sports does a better job of investigating college sports than the NCAA.
David Barron of the Houston Chronicle notes that Saturday’s US National Gymnastics championships get a network primetime slot.
Mike Finger and Brent Zwerneman of the San Antonio Express-News says the Longhorn Network hasn’t given up on airing high school football games in one form or another.
The Daily Oklahoman’s Mel Bracht looks at UFC getting a big payday from Fox.
Midwest
John Kiesewetter in the Cincinnati Enquirer talks with NBC’s Cris Collinsworth who’s going into his third season as Sunday Night Football analyst.
George M. Thomas of the Akron Beacon Journal now knows why DirecTV was so willing to give him a free subscription to NFL Sunday Ticket after learning that the service will be offered to Sony Playstation 3 owners.
The Grand Rapids (MI) Press’ Michael Zuidema notes that a Big Ten Network analyst feels Nebraska is a perfect fit for the conference.
Bob Wolfley at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is amazed at ESPN’s ever-expanding army of NFL analysts and mountain of NFL programming.
Ed Sherman from Crain’s Chicago Business has his winners and losers in sports business and media.
Scott Dochterman in the Iowa City Gazette says NFL Network has picked up Mediacom for cable subscribers in the Hawkeye State.
West
Scott D. Pierce of the Salt Lake Tribune says it’s not known which network will air the October 15th contest between BYU and Oregon State.
Dick Harmon of the Deseret (UT) News speaks with BYUtv’s Executive Director in a lengthy interview. Part I of which is here. Read Part II here.
Larry Bohannan at the Desert (CA) Sun says there’s evidence of not much live golf shown in a PGA Tour telecast.
John Maffei of the North County Times weighs the pros and cons of airing the Little League World Series.
In the Ventura County Star, Jim Carlisle looks at the contrasting opinions that John and Patrick McEnroe had on the state of American tennis on HBO’s Real Sports this week.
Jim explores the UFC on Fox deal.
Lance Pugmire of the Los Angeles Times says Fox paid a pretty penny to get UFC into the fold.
Meg James of the Times also writes about the UFC on Fox deal.
Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News says when it came down to it, Fox didn’t have much of a choice but to sign UFC.
Tom says one sidebar to the UFC on Fox deal is the fact that Fox Sports Radio will also air MMA events.
Tom writes that former Dodgers radio voice Ross Porter has found his latest gig, calling high school sports online.
Canada
The Toronto Globe and Mail’s Bruce Dowbiggin feels TSN Radio isn’t getting the job done.
The Winnipeg Free Press notes that the Jets will get 22 games aired on CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada.
And the number of links today are hearken back to the first two years of this blog. Lots of links. That’s it.
