Fang's Bites

College Football Viewing Picks For Week 6, 10/06/2012, All Times Eastern

Schedule courtesy of Matt’s College Sports

Pregame & Studio Shows
College GameDay live from Columbia, SC — ESPNU, 9 a.m./ESPN, 10 a.m.
BTN Football Pregame — Big Ten Network, 11 a.m.
Inside College Football — CBS Sports Network, 11 a.m.
ACC Blitz — ACC Network, noon
College Football Countdown — ABC, 3 p.m.
College Football Today — CBS, 3 p.m.
College Football Scoreboard — ESPN/ESPN2, 3 p.m.
BTN Football Gamebreak — Big Ten Network, 3:30 p.m.
College Football Scoreboard — ESPN/ESPN2, 6:30 p.m.
Fox College Saturday — Fox, 6:30 p.m.
BTN Football Postgame — Big Ten Network, 7 p.m.
SEC Tonight — CBS Sports Network, 7 p.m.
College Football Scoreboard — ESPN2, 7 p.m.
College Football Scoreboard — ESPN, 10 p.m.
Inside College Football — CBS Sports Network, 11:30 p.m.
College Football Final — ESPN2, 1:30 a.m. (Sunday)

11:30 a.m.
Navy at Air Force — CBS (Spero Dedes/Steve Beuerlein/Otis Livingston)

noon
South Florida at Temple — Big East Network (Eamon McEnaney/David Diaz-Infante/Paul Carcaterra)

Michigan State at Indiana — Big Ten Network (Kevin Kugler/Chris Martin/Jon Jansen)

Boston College at Army — CBS Sports Network (Ben Holden/Randy Cross/Cadet Tommy Busterud)

Northwestern at Penn State — ESPN/ESPN 3D (Dave Pasch/Brian Griese/Jenn Brown)
Arkansas at Auburn — ESPN2 (Beth Mowins/Joey Galloway/Tom Luginbill)
UConn at Rutgers — ESPNU (Tom Hart/John Congemi)
Buffalo at Ohio — ESPN Plus/ESPN3 (Michael Reghi/Doug Graber)

Kansas at Kansas State — FX (Justin Kutcher/Eric Crouch/Darius Walker)
Boise State at Southern Mississippi — Fox Sports Net (national)/Fox College Sports Central/WLVI/KICU (Joel Myers/Brian Baldinger/Jim Knox)
Albany at Bryant — Fox College Sports Atlantic/Cox Sports RI/Time Warner Cable Albany (Paul Dottino/Steve Levy)

Mississippi State at Kentucky — SEC Network, 12:21 p.m. kickoff (Dave Neal/Andre Ware/Cara Capuano)

12:30 p.m.
Virginia Tech at North Carolina — ACC Network

1 p.m.
Towson at James Madison — NBC Sports Network (Randy Moss/Anthony Herron/Carolyn Manno)

3 p.m.
Arizona at Stanford — Fox/Fox Deportes (Craig Bolerjack/Joel Klatt/Petros Papadakis)
Virginia at Duke — Fox Sports Net (regional) (Paul Kennedy/Keith Jones/Jenn Hildreth)

3:30 p.m.
Illinois at Wisconsin — ABC/ESPN2 (Bob Wischusen/Danny Kanell/Maria Taylor)
Oklahoma at Texas Tech — ABC/ESPN2 (Sean McDonough/Chris Spielman/Quint Kessenich)

LSU at Florida — CBS (Verne Lundquist/Gary Danielson/Tracy Wolfson)
Tulsa at Marshall — CBS Sports Network (Brad Johansen/Doug Chapman/Tammy Blackburn)

Maine at Delaware — Comcast SportsNet (California/Chicago/Mid-Atlantic Plus/New England/Northwest/Philadelphia)

Georgia Tech at Clemson — ESPN (Mike Patrick/Ed Cunningham/Jeannine Edwards)
Wake Forest at Maryland — ESPNU (Anish Shroff/Dan Hawkins)

Iowa State at TCU — Fox Sports Net (national)/Fox College Sports Pacific/WDCA/KICU (Mike Morgan/JC Morgan/Laura McKeeman)

Montana at Northern Colorado — Root Sports (Northwest/Rocky Mountain/Audience Network (DirecTV)

4 p.m.
Michigan at Purdue — Big Ten Network (Eric Collins/Derek Rackley/J Leman)

6 p.m.
Washington State at Oregon State — Pac-12 Network (Kevin Calabro/Adam Archuleta/Yogi Roth)

7 p.m.
North Texas at Houston — CSS/Comcast SportsNet (Bay Area Plus/Chicago/Houston/Mid-Atlantic)

Georgia at South Carolina — ESPN (Brent Musburger/Kirk Herbstreit/Heather Cox)
Texas A&M at Mississippi — ESPNU (Clay Matvick/Matt Stinchcomb/Angela Mallen)
UNLV at Louisiana Tech — ESPN Plus/ESPN3 (Trey Bender/Jay Taylor)

West Virginia at Texas — Fox (Gus Johnson/Charles Davis/Julie Alexandria)
Vanderbilt at Missouri — Fox Sports Net (regional) (Bob Rathbun/Tim Couch/Elizabeth Moreau)
Rice at Memphis — Fox College Sports Central (Steve Physioc/Ben Leber/Lesley McCaslin)

Montana State at Cal Davis — Root Sports (Northwest/Pittsburgh/Rocky Mountain)/Audience Network (DirecTV)

7:30 p.m.
Miami (FL) vs. Notre Dame in Chicago, IL — NBC (Tom Hammond/Mike Mayock/Alex Flanagan)

8 p.m.
Nebraska at Ohio State — ABC (Brad Nessler/Todd Blackledge/Holly Rowe)

Hawaii at San Diego State — CBS Sports Network (James Bates/Todd Christensen/Lauren Gardner)

Florida State at North Carolina State — ESPN2 (Mark Jones/Brock Huard/Shelley Smith)

10 p.m.
UCLA at Cal — Pac-12 Network (Ted Robinson/Glenn Parker/Ryan Nece)

10:30 p.m.
Washington at Oregon — ESPN (Joe Tessitore/Matt Millen/Lewis Johnson)
Southern at Alcorn State — ESPNU (Joe Davis/Jay Walker) (same day coverage)

Doing Some Monday Linkage

I’m going to make a concerted effort to do linkage regularly again. It’s the reason why I started Fang’s Bites back in 2007 and I was able to do the links daily, even on weekends. But lately, my schedule has been so busy that the site has become a press release dump and I want that to stop.

So I hope to do the links every day for you this week unless I have to be off-site, but I’m going to do my best to bring you the linkage.

So without further delay, here’s the linkage.

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand talks about the drama that was the Ryder Cup at Medinah.

In Sports Business Journal, John Ourand notes that NBC Sports Network’s ratings have really fallen after getting big ratings for the 2012 London Olympics.

John reports that Fox Sports is about to renew its deal with NASCAR.

Over to the ESPN Front Row PR blog where ESPN PR maven Bill Hofheimer tells us that tonight’s Monday Night Football game between Chicago and Dallas will be Mike Tirico’s 100th contest. Congrats, Mike!

Jared Diamond of the Wall Street Journal delves into which MLB announcer is the most biased and the results will probably confirm your suspicions.

Bloomberg’s John Helyar, Scott Church and Scott Soshnick report on MLB’s secret TV deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Ed Sherman at The Sherman Report says the European post-Ryder Cup press conference was an embarrassment to golf.

Ed explains how the Ryder Cup become a coveted property for NBC Sports after it was originally a sleepy event.

And Ed talks with NBC’s Roger Maltbie about his first job in television.

Mike Barnes of the Hollywood Reporter remembers former ABC and CBS motorsports voice Chris Economaki who died last week at the age of 91.

R. Thomas Umstead of Multichannel News says the Pro Bowlers Tour is back on ESPN.

As part of a special section, Advertising Age’s Brian Steinberg notes that NBC’s Seth Winter is one of the publications Media Mavens.

Karen Hogan of Sports Video Group writes about the launch of Comcast SportsNet Houston which kicks off on participating cable and satellite systems (not DirecTV though) today.

Mike McCarthy at Sports Biz USA talks about how track athletes are attempting to unionize to combat the International Olympic Committee’s Rule 40 which prevents them from being in non-Olympic sponsor ads during the Games.

At the New York Post, Phil Mushnick wants NBC’s announcers to kick Tiger Woods to the curb.

Newsday’s Neil Best says Fox’s Michael Strahan and co-host of “Live with Kelly and Michael” says he got good practice for his latest gig by talking with reporters when he was a New York Football Giant.

Pete Dougherty from the Albany Times Union talks with NFL Network’s Rich Eisen.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner talks with MLB Network Radio co-host Jim Duquette about the Nationals.

David Barron from the Houston Chronicle tells us about today’s launch of the latest Comcast SportsNet regional sports network.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal and Sentinel says the Green Bay Packers got screwed by the replacement and the real NFL referees.

Chicagoland Radio and Media says WGN in Chicago, not WGN America, will air tonight’s Bears-Cowboys Monday Night Football game plus a locally produced pregame show.

Paul M. Banks of Chicago Sports Media Watch says former Comcast SportsNet reporter Sarah Kustok received an honor last week.

Dusty Saunders at the Denver Post notes that CBS’ Jim Nantz and Phil Simms will have called three consecutive Broncos games after next Sunday.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News has the SoCal sports calendar for this week.

Tom has five things he learned from the weekend.

Bruce Dowbiggin from the Toronto Globe and Mail says drunk tweets from an NHL player made the lockout hit home.

Raju Mudhar of the Toronto Star previews this week’s Blogs with Balls 5 event which takes place in Canada for the first time.

At SB Nation’s Puck The Media, Steve Lepore notes that four sports networks will combine for 50 college hockey regular season games, none of them named “ESPN”.

Steve DelVecchio at Larry Brown Sports says comedian Norm MacDonald actually predicted the European Ryder Cup comeback on Twitter the night before Sunday’s matches.

EPL Talk says Fox Soccer needs its own English Premier League highlight show similar to what BBC has in its venerable “Match of the Day.”

Sports Media Watch says ESPN will shuffle an IndyCar race in primetime to ABC next year.

Matt Yoder at Awful Announcing has ten minutes of bloopers from New York Yankees radio voice John Sterling.

Matt notes that NBC inserted salsa music for Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz after scoring a touchdown for the second time in as many seasons.

And that’s going to wrap up the links for today.

NFL Viewing Picks For Week 4, 09/30/2012

All Times Eastern

NFL Viewing Maps (the 506.com)

Byes: Indianapolis, Pittsburgh

Pregame & Studio Shows
First on the Field — NFL Network, 7 a.m.
NFL Matchup — ESPN2, 8:30 a.m.
NFL GameDay Morning — NFL Network, 9 a.m.
Fantasy Football Today — CBS Sports Network, 11 a.m.
Fantasy Football Now — ESPN2, 11 a.m.
The NFL Today — CBS, noon
Fox NFL Sunday — Fox, noon
NFL Red Zone Channel — DirecTV Channel 703, 12:55 p.m.
NFL RedZone — Check your local listings, 12:55 p.m.
The NFL Today Postgame Show — CBS, 4 p.m.
NFL GameDay Scoreboard — NFL Network, 4 p.m.
Football Night in America — NBC, 7 p.m.
NFL GameDay Highlights — NFL Network, 7:30 p.m.
NFL GameDay Final — NFL Network, midnight

1 p.m.

CBS
New England at Buffalo — Greg Gumbel/Dan Dierdorf
San Diego at Kansas City — Kevin Harlan/Solomon Wilcots
Tennessee at Houston — Ian Eagle/Dan Fouts

FOX
Carolina at Atlanta — Dick Stockton/John Lynch/Jennifer Hale
Minnesota at Detroit — Thom Brennaman/Brian Billick/Laura Okmin
San Francisco at New York Jets — Kenny Albert/Daryl Johnston/Tony Siragusa
Seattle at St. Louis — Ron Pitts/Mike Martz/Kristina Pink

4:05 p.m.

CBS
Cincinnati at Jacksonville — Marv Albert/Rich Gannon
Miami at Arizona — Bill Macatee/Steve Tasker
Oakland at Denver — Jim Nantz/Phil Simms

4:25 p.m.

FOX
New Orleans at Green Bay — Joe Buck/Troy Aikman/Pam Oliver
Washington at Tampa Bay — Chris Myers/Tim Ryan/Krista Voda

8:30 p.m.

NBC
New York Giants at Philadelphia — Al Michaels/Cris Collinsworth/Michele Tafoya

DirecTV NFL Sunday Ticket Channel Assignments
SiriusXM Satellite Radio Channel Assignments

College Football Viewing Picks For Week 5, 09/29/2012, All Times Eastern

Schedule Courtesy of Matt’s College Sports

Pregame & Studio Shows
College GameDay live from East Lansing, MI — ESPNU, 9 a.m./ESPN, 10 a.m.
BTN Football Pregame — Big Ten Network, 11 a.m.
ACC Blitz — ACC Network, noon
College Football Countdown — ABC, 3 p.m.
BTN Football Gamebreak 2012 — Big Ten Network, 3 p.m.
College Football Today — CBS, 3 p.m.
College Football Scoreboard — ESPN2, 3 p.m.
College Football Scoreboard — ESPN2, 6;30 p.m.
SEC Tonight — CBS Sports Network, 7 p.m.
Inside College Football — CBS Sports Network, 11:30 p.m.
The Final Drive — Big Ten Network, midnight
College Football Final — ESPN2, 1:30 a.m. (Saturday)

noon
Buffalo at UConn — Big East Network (Eamon McAnaney/David Diaz-Infante/Paul Carcaterra)

Indiana at Northwestern — Big Ten Network (Kevin Kugler/Chris Martin/Jon Janesen)

Stony Brook at Army — CBS Sports Network (Ben Holden/Randy Cross/Cadet Linc Bradham)

Penn State at Illinois — ESPN/ESPN3D (Dave Pasch/Brian Griese/Jenn Brown)
Minnesota at Iowa — ESPN2 (Beth Mowins/Joey Galloway/Lewis Johnson)
NC State at Miami (Florida) — ESPNU (Tom Hart/John Congemi)
Ball State at Kent State — ESPN Plus/CSS (Michael Reghi/Doug Graber)

Baylor at West Virginia — FX (Justin Kutcher/Eric Crouch/Darius Walker)
Missouri at Central Florida — Fox Sports Net (national)/Fox College Sports Central/WLVI/KICU (Ron Thulin/Shaun King/Desmond Purnell)
Middle Tennessee State at Georgia Tech — Fox Sports Net (regional) (Mike Hogewood/Riley Skinner/Elizabeth Moreau)
Central Connecticut Stat at Sacred Heart — Fox College Sports Atlantic (Paul Dottino/Steve Levy)
Eastern Kentucky at Tennessee-Martin — Fox College Sports Pacific (Kevin Ingram/Bob Belvin)

Penn at Dartmouth — NBC Sports Network (Randy Moss/Ross Tucker/Carolyn Manno)

Arkansas at Texas A&M — SEC Network, 12:21 p.m. kickoff (Dave Neal/Andre Ware/Cara Capuano)

12:30 p.m.
Duke at Wake Forest — ACC Network

2 p.m.
Nevada at Texas State — Longhorn Network (Dave Armstrong/Kelly Stouffer)

3:15 p.m.
Marshall at Purdue — Big Ten Network (Eric Collins/Derek Rackley/J Leman)

3:30 p.m.
Ohio State at Michigan State — ABC (Brent Musburger/Kirk Herbstreit/Heather Cox)

Tennessee at Georgia — CBS (Verne Lundquist/Gary Danielson/Tracy Wolfson)
San Jose State at Navy — CBS Sports Network (Grant Boone/Todd Christensen/Sheehan Stanwick Burch)

Clemson at Boston College — ESPN2 (Bob Wischusen/Danny Kanell/Maria Taylor)
Virginia Tech vs. Cincinnati at Landover, MD — ESPNU (Anish Shroff/Dan Hawkins)
URI at Bowling Green — ESPN3 (Greg Franke/Tom Cole)

Houston vs. Rice (at Reliant Stadium) — Fox Sports Net (national)/Fox College Sports Atlantic/WMCN/WDCA/KICU (Mike Morgan/JC Pearson/Laura McKeeman)
Idaho at North Carolina — Fox Sports Net (regional) (Paul Kennedy/Keith Jones/Jenn Hildreth)
West Chester at California (PA) — Fox College Sports Pacific (Stan Savern/John Sanders)

Atlanta Football Classic
Florida A&M vs. Southern — NBC Sports Network (James Verrett/Anthony Herron/Rashan Ali)

Montana State at Southern Utah — Root Sports (Northwest/Rocky Mountain)/Audience Network (DirecTV)

4 p.m.
Arizona State at Cal — FX (Craig Bolerjack/Joel Klatt/Petros Papadakis)

6 p.m.
Florida State at South Florida — ESPN (Sean McDonough/Chris Spielman/Quint Kessenich)

UCLA at Colorado — Pac-12 Network (Ted Robinson/Adam Archuleta/Yogi Roth)

7 p.m.
Georgia State at William & Mary — Comcast SportsNet (Bay Area/Chicago/Mid-Atlantic/Northwest)/CSS

South Carolina at Kentucky — ESPN2 (Mike Patrick/Ed Cunningham/Jeannine Edwards)
Towson at LSU — ESPNU (Clay Matvick/Matt Stinchcomb/Allison Williams)

TCU at SMU — Fox Sports Net (national)/Fox College Sports Atlantic (Joel Myers/Brian Baldinger/Jim Knox)
Texas Tech at Iowa State — Fox College Sports Central (Mike Gleason/Dave Lapham/Lesley McCaslin)

Montana at Eastern Washington — Root Sports (Northwest/Rocky Mountain)/Audience Network (DirecTV)

7:50 p.m.
Texas at Oklahoma State — Fox (Gus Johnson/Charles Davis/Julie Alexandria)

8 p.m.
Wisconsin at Nebraska — ABC (Brad Nessler/Todd Blackledge/Holly Rowe)

Louisville at Southern Mississippi — CBS Sports Network (James Bates/Aaron Taylor/Lauren Gardner)

9:15 p.m.
Mississippi at Alabama — ESPN (Joe Tessitore/Matt Millen/Jessica Mendoza)

10 p.m.
Oregon State at Arizona — Pac-12 Network (Kevin Calabro/Glenn Parker/Ryan Nece)

10:30 p.m.
Oregon vs. Washington State at Seattle, WA — ESPN2 (Mark Jones/Brock Huard/Shelley Smith)
Grambling State at Alabama A&M — ESPNU (Joe Davis/Jay Walker) (same night coverage)

Some Monday Linkage

I’ll do some quick linkage on this Monday.

In USA Today, Michael Hiestand talks with NFL on Fox rules analyst Mike Pereira.

In his extensive Monday Morning Quarterback column, Sports Illustrated’s Peter King remembers NFL Films’ Steve Sabol.

John Ourand at Sports Business Journal notes that MLB will be increasing its haul from ESPN, Fox and Turner in the latest TV contract.

Rick Porter at zap2it says NBC’s Sunday Night Football and CBS beat the Emmys on ABC like a drum on Sunday.

Anthony Crupi of AdWeek writes that the NHL lockout is putting NBC Sports Network in a huge bind.

Toni Fitzgerald at Media Life says NBC’s Sunday Night Football scored an overnight ratings win over the network competition.

Ed Sherman at The Sherman Report talks with NFL Network’s Rich Eisen.

ESPN.com’s Darren Rovell says the next big thing is putting team logos on food.

Mike McCarthy at Sports Biz USA tells us that the Brooklyn Nets cheerleaders will stress more of the sizzle in their uniforms.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times writes that not every Time Warner Cable customer had access to NFL Network and NFL RedZone yesterday.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post is the reason why Americans can’t have nice things.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union says Notre Dame’s resurgence has NBC executives doing backflips at its headquarters.

David Zurawik in the Baltimore Sun says NBC’s Hines Ward still doesn’t feel the love from Ravens fans.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle writes that Sunday’s Texans-Broncos game received a big rating in H-Town.

David says former Red Sox and Astros voice Jerry Trupiano called two recent games for MLB.com.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer has the channel numbers for NFL Network and NFL RedZone for Insight customers.

Bob Wolfley in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel tells us that Texans-Broncos did really well locally.

Paul M. Banks at the Chicago Sports Media Watch reports that Comcast SportsNet has replaced the popular Sarah Kustok with a new reporter.

The Los Angeles Daily News’ Tom Hoffarth has five things he learned from the weekend.

Tom has the SoCal sports calendar for this week.

Bruce Dowbiggin in the Toronto Globe and Mail notes that Blue Jays analyst Greg Zaun may be facing some disciplinary action after criticizing the team culture following Yunel Escobar’s homophobic incident.

Matt Yoder of Awful Announcing looks at how a DirecTV error made Lions fans miss a key touchdown during Sunday’s game against Tennessee.

Sports Media Watch notes the overnight ratings for Sunday Night Football.

SMW says IndyCar finished its worst rated season ever.

That’s all.

NFL Viewing Picks For Week 3, 09/23/2012

All Times Eastern

NFL Viewing Maps (from the506.com)

Pregame & Studio Shows
First on the Field — NFL Network, 7 a.m.
NFL Matchup — ESPN, 7:30 a.m.
NFL GameDay Morning — NFL Network, 9 a.m.
Fantasy Football Now — ESPN2, 11 a.m.
Fantasy Football Today — CBS Sports Network, 11 a.m.
NFL Today — CBS, noon
Fox NFL Sunday — Fox, noon
NFL RedZone — NFL Network (check your local listings), 1 p.m.
NFL Red Zone Channel — DirecTV Channel 703, 1 p.m.
Fox NFL Sunday Postgame — Fox, 4 p.m.
NFL GameDay Scoreboard — NFL Network, 4 p.m.
Football Night in America — NBC, 7 p.m.
NFL GameDay Highlights — NFL Network, 7:30 p.m.
NFL GameDay Final — NFL Network, midnight

1 p.m.

CBS
Buffalo at Cleveland — Spero Dedes/Steve Beuerlein
Cincinnati at Washington — Kevin Harlan/Solomon Wilcots
Jacksonville at Indianapolis — Bill Macatee/Steve Tasker
Kansas City at New Orleans — Greg Gumbel/Dan Dierdorf
New York Jets at Miami — Marv Albert/Rich Gannon

FOX
Detroit at Tennessee — Ron Pitts/Mike Martz/Kristina Pink
San Francisco at Minnesota — Kenny Albert/Daryl Johnston/Tony Siragusa
St. Louis at Chicago — Dick Stockton/John Lynch/Jennifer Hale
Tampa Bay at Dallas — Joe Buck/Troy Aikman/Pam Oliver

4:05 p.m.

FOX
Atlanta at San Diego — Chris Myers/Tim Ryan/Jaime Maggio!!!
Philadelphia at Arizona — Thom Brennaman/Brian Billick/Laura Okmin

4:15 p.m.

CBS
Houston at Denver — Jim Nantz/Phil Simms
Pittsburgh at Oakland — Ian Eagle/Dan Fouts

8:30 p.m.

NBC
New England at Baltimore — Al Michaels/Cris Collinsworth/Michele Tafoya

DirecTV NFL Sunday Ticket Channel Assignments
SiriusXM Satellite Radio Channel Assignments 

NFL Viewing Picks For Week 2, 09/17/2012

All Times Eastern

Week 2 NFL Coverage Maps (The506.com)

Pregame & Studio Shows
First on the Field — NFL Network, 7 a.m.
NFL Matchup — ESPN, 7:30 a.m.
NFL GameDay Morning — NFL Network, 9 a.m.
Fantasy Football Today — CBS Sports Network, 11 a.m.
The NFL Today — CBS, noon
Fantasy Football Now — ESPN2, noon
Fox NFL Sunday — Fox, noon
NFL Red Zone Channel — DirecTV Channel 703, 12:55 p.m.
NFL RedZone – Check Your Local Listings, 1 p.m.
NFL GameDay Scoreboard — NFL Network, 4 p.m.
Football Night in America — NBC, 7 p.m.
NFL GameDay Highlights — NFL Network, 7:30 p.m.
NFL GameDay Final — NFL Network, midnight

1 p.m.

CBS
Baltimore at Philadelphia — Greg Gumbel/Dan Dierdorf
Cleveland at Cincinnati — Bill Macatee/Steve Tasker
Houston at Jacksonville — Marv Albert/Rich Gannon
Kansas City at Buffalo — Spero Dedes/Steve Beuerlein
Oakland at Miami — Kevin Harlan/Solomon Wilcots

FOX
Arizona at New England — Dick Stockton/John Lynch/Jennifer Hale
Minnesota at Indianapolis — Thom Brennaman/Brian Billick/Laura Okmin
New Orleans at Carolina — Ron Pitts/Mike Martz/Kristina Pink
Tampa Bay at New York Giants — Joe Buck/Troy Aikman/Pam Oliver

4:05 p.m.

FOX
Dallas at Seattle — Kenny Albert/Daryl Johnston/Tony Siragusa
Washington at St. Louis — Chris Myers/Tim Ryan/Jaime Maggio!!!

4:25 p.m.

New York Jets at Pittsburgh — Jim Nantz/Phil Simms
Tennessee at San Diego — Ian Eagle/Dan Fouts

8:30 p.m.

NBC
Detroit at San Francisco — Al Michaels/Cris Collinsworth/Michele Tafoya

DirecTV NFL Sunday Ticket Channel Assignments
Sirius XM Satellite Radio Channel Assignments

Some Quick Monday Afternoon Linkage

Was out for a bit today so I’m behind in what I want to get done here. I’ll do some links for you to tie you over.

I’ll start with a couple of stories from Sports Business Daily which looks at some record overnight ratings for Fox and NBC for the first Sunday of the NFL regular season.

John Ourand at SBD notes that ESPN has officially scrapped the musical opens for Monday Night Football for good.

From NFL UK, Nicholas Pike writes that viewers can watch Monday Night Football through BBC’s red button or through its website.

Sam Laird at Mashable says NBC’s Michele Tafoya has been sending video tweets from the sidelines during the NFL Kickoff Game and on Sunday Night Football.

Michael O’Connell at the Hollywood Reporter says NBC is really crowing about its Sunday Night Football overnights.

Tim Baysinger of Broadcasting & Cable reports that NFL Network has hired a former DirecTV executive to join its NFL Total Access show.

Christopher Heine of Adweek says the New York Giants are on the forefront of social media.

Adweek’s Emma Bazilian discovers that CNN Situation Room host Wolf Blitzer loves watching ESPN’s SportsCenter.

Media Life Magazine reports that CBS has almost sold out its Super Bowl ad inventory.

Merrill Knox at TV Spy says Friend of Fang’s Bites Courtney Fallon has taken her talents to South Beach from Providence.

ESPN’s Darren Rovell writes that Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, MA becomes the latest NFL facility to offer free Wi-Fi to its fans.

Ed Sherman of The Sherman Report looks at what’s in store this season on ESPN’s Monday Night Fotoball.

Ed says the NFL can’t be pleased over the length of some of Sunday’s games due to replacement refs.

Rob Tobias from the ESPN Front Row PR blog talks to the man who composed the iconic SportsCenter theme.

Also from the Front Row blog, Allison Stoneberg writes about ESPN’s Monday Night Football production truck.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union notes that NBC Sports Network will air World Team Tennis this weekend.

Pete says the Baseball Hall of Fame has narrowed the field for the Ford C. Frick broadcasters award.

Pete writes that the local CBS affiliate has opted not to show the US Open men’s final today. The same here in Providence. It’s been pushed to its co-owned Fox affiliate’s secondary digital channel. Ouch.

At the Baltimore Sun, David Zurawik talks with new Monday Night Football reporter Lisa Salters who got her start in TV news in the Charm City.

Rich Shopes of the Tampa Bay Times says the local blackout of the Buccaneers home opener is killing local sports bars.

David Barron from the Houston Chronicle says a nice day plus a blowout lowered the Texans’ TV ratings.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer writes that the Reds’ radio ratings are truly amazing.

Bob Wolfley at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says Fox’s Joe Buck and Troy Aikman took note of the replacement referees during yesterday’s San Francisco-Green Bay game.

Dusty Saunders of the Denver Post talks with NBC’s Al Michaels.

The Arizona Republic’s Paola Boivin doesn’t have good news in the DirecTV-Pac 12 Networks talks.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News has five things he learned over the weekend.

Tom has your sports calendar for the week.

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail downplays CBC’s acquisition of the 2015 Pan Am Games.

Matt Sarzyniak of Matt’s College Sports has a couple of notes on the ESPN/Fox Big 12 deal.

Picking Out Some Sunday Links For You

Let’s do some Sunday linkage on this first NFL regular season Sunday of 2012.

We’ll begin with Pat Eaton-Robb of the Associated Press with an interesting story on how Connecticut is fast becoming home of major sports media companies.

Candace Jackson of the Wall Street talks about her visit to Rich Eisen and his wife, Suzy Shuster’s home in beautiful Beverly Hills.

Jon Gold from CBSSports.com has statements from Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott on getting the conference’s networks on Dish Network.

Also from CBSSports.com, Dennis Dodd says the SEC expects to have new TV deals in place including the super secret SEC Network, not the one run by ESPN.

Media Rantz solves the mystery of what happened to NFL Network’s Kara Henderson.

Liana Baker of Reuters reports that an NHL lockout could hurt ratings momentum for NBC Sports Network.

John Gaudiosi of Forbes.com tells us that Sony Playstation 3 gamers get a discounted price for  DirecTV’s NFL Sunday Ticket.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel says Dish Network has beaten DirecTV to the punch and made a deal with Pac 12 Networks in time for yesterday’s college football games.

Georg Szalai of the Hollywood Reporter writes that movie director James Cameron will be assisting UK’s Sky Sports in producing a 3-D production of this month’s Ryder Cup.

Tim Nudd of Adweek looks at ESPN’s very funny SportsCenter promo featuring John Clayton that has already gone viral.

Anthony Crupi from Adweek notes that NBC broke even on the 2012 Olympics.

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch has your NFL Broadcasting Guide for the 2012 season.

Eric Deggans of the Tampa Bay Times, writing for the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center has a theory as to why some NFL teams fail to sell out their games.

Ed Sherman of The Sherman Report has former ESPN’er Charley Steiner recalling two of the funniest “This is SportsCenter” ads ever.

Ed also has some videos from the early days of Monday Night Football. Make that very early days.

ESPN’s Darren Rovell wonders if CBS is selling Super Bowl ads on the cheap.

Evan Weiner of Examiner.com says the late Art Modell deserves better from Cleveland fans. I hate to tell you, Evan, but as a Browns fan, Modell made his bed and has to lie in it.

On the other hand, Newsday’s Bob Glauber says he can’t reconcile Modell’s pulling the Browns from Cleveland with the other parts of his legacy.

Rachel Margolis at ESPN’s Front Row PR blog says College GameDay heads to Tennessee for Week 3.

Drew Drawbaugh of Engadget reports that Google Fiber subscribers will get access to NFL Network and NFL RedZone starting tomorrow.

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe says former Celtic and Chicago Bull Brian Scalabrine will join Comcast SportsNet New England as an analyst.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times says two former American Basketball Association team owners who get to collect part of the NBA’s TV revenue in perpetuity, want even more and are suing to get it.

Tanzina Vega of the Times says ESPN Deportes Radio NY will be broadcasting Jets games in Spanish this season.

The Albany Times Union’s Pete Dougherty has NFL Commish Roger Goodell disappointed that the league doesn’t have a deal with Time Warner Cable to carry NFL Network.

David Zurawik from the Baltimore Sun says ratings for the Grand Prix of Baltimore fell by almost 60% from the year before. However, last year’s race was on ABC while this year’s edition was on NBC Sports Network.

David speaks with Amber Theoharis who has left MASN for NFL Network and will replace the aforementioned Kara Henderson.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner talks with Fox Sports college football analyst Charles Davis.

Coley Harvey at the Orlando Sentinel asks if ESPN’s College GameDay will pay a visit to Tallahassee later this month.

Jimmy Burch in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram writes that the new Big 12 deal with ESPN and Fox will allow for more national broadcasts.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle has the college football media guide for this season.

Mel Bracht in The Oklahoman says yesterday’s PPV production of the Florida A&M-Oklahoma game was network quality.

Tim Feran of the Columbus (OH) Dispatch says NFL Network and Time Warner Cable are no closer to an agreement than when the channel debuted.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News wonders how long DirecTV can hold out not carrying the Pac 12 Networks.

Tom says Fox tapped the right man to lead its World Cup coverage.

Sports Media Watch notes that last week’s PGA Deutsche Bank Championship hit a five year ratings high.

Dann Stupp and John Morgan of MMA Junkie write that NBC Sports Network will hire some familiar names for an upcoming World Series of Fighting telecast.

And that will do it. The NFL pregame show quotage is coming up next.

A Rare Sunday Linkage Post!

I wanted to do a piece of site business before doing some rare Sunday linkage and rare linkage in general. Thanks to you, August was the best month ever as far as site visits are concerned. Whether it was due to you visiting over the Olympics schedules or wanting to see who Nicole Zaloumis was all about, Fang’s Bites had over 102,000 unique hits. While this is not in Deadspin or Big Lead range, both get way over 100,000 hits on a bad day, it’s a big deal for me. And this was even during a stretch when I couldn’t post due to the Office Move From Hell, so I thank you for visiting and returning during August. I hope you continue to visit during the fall months.

And because of that office move, I wasn’t able to do what is the bread and butter of this site, the links. I haven’t been able to provide them in several weeks. Let’s start September anew and provide good links to you as I used to.

Let’s begin.

One of the bigger stories from Saturday was the pre-emption in most of the country of the debut of the Fox College Saturday pregame show hosted by Erin Andrews, Joey Harrington and Eddie George. Because two Fox Saturday Baseball games ran long, it wiped out Erin’s Fox  debut. Only 10% of the country saw the pregame show in its entirety.

Media Rantz looks at why this happened.

Sports Media Watch says it wasn’t the start that Fox wanted in its first season of covering college football full-time.

Former USA Today sports media and business writer Mike McCarthy writes in his new $ports Biz USA site that Alabama coach Nick Saban came off as a jerk (what else is new?) in a halftime interview with ESPN’s Heather Cox.

Nicole Auerbach at USA Today at the Campus Rivalry blog asks readers about the debut of Samantha Steele on ESPN’s College GameDay.

Karl Taro Greenfeld at Bloomberg Businessweek takes a look at ESPN’s business model.

George Winslow at Broadcasting & Cable says the embattled Longhorn Network got a big pickup before yesterday’s Texas season opener.

Multichannel News reports that the Athletic Director of the University of California-Berkeley ceremoniously dumped her DirecTV subscription over the satellite provider’s refusal to pick up Pac-12 Network.

Adweek looks at an unexpected shakeup at ESPN The Magazine.

Christopher Heine of Adweek notes that the Mohegan Sun casino has pulled ads from Penn State’s Beaver Stadium.

Adweek’s Anthony Crupi looks at this year’s crop of Nissan Heisman House spots that will air before each and every ABC Saturday Night Football game.

And Emma Bazilian of Adweek notes that USA Today is rolling out a new high school football magazine in 11 markets.

Dylan Murphy at SportsGrid noticed that ESPN’s Bottom Line obscured key sideline replays in two  college football games yesterday.

Joe Lucia at Awful Announcing says DirecTV is slashing prices of its UFC pay per views.

That will do us for now. I may add more links later.

NFL Online and Tablet Streaming For 2012

As we approach the 2012 NFL regular season, let’s take a look at the online streaming plans for the League’s TV partners. Believe it or not, online real-time streaming of games began back in 2007 when DirecTV released its Supercast app for computers (for Internet Explorer only!) and allowed subscribers to its NFL Sunday Ticket service to watch the Sunday afternoon games online. At that time, streaming to mobiles was just in its infancy and the quality on a 3G network was horrible.

The following year, NBC announced it would stream its entire Sunday Night Football schedule online.

Since then, the NFL has taken baby steps in streaming. DirecTV’s Sunday NFL Ticket has expanded to mobiles and tablets as well as a gaming platforms. ESPN’s Monday Night Football now streams on the WatchESPN service, but only for authenticated subscribers of Bright House, Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Verizon Fios systems. And the NFL has provided mobile streaming rights to Verizon meaning only customers of the cell phone provider can watch Sunday, Monday and Thursday Night Football on their devices.

With the new TV contracts signed at the end of last year, the NFL’s broadcast and cable partners have limited streaming rights. I’ve asked several networks about their streaming plans and I’ll provide answers, where applicable, on how this season shapes up online, on mobiles and on tablets.

• CBS — No streaming plans.
• DirecTV — NFL Sunday Ticket streamed online, mobiles and on tablets. Also on participating gaming consoles.
• ESPN — Monday Night Football streamed online and on tablets at WatchESPN only for authenticated cable customers (Bright House, Comcast, Time Warner, Verizon Fios)
• Fox — No streaming plans.
• NBC — Sunday Night Football streamed online at NBCSports.com also available on tablets through browsers. Not available through the NBC Sports Live Extra app.
• NFL Network — Thursday Night Football streamed on mobiles through NFL Live on Verizon devices only. Awaiting word if there will be streaming on tablets this season.

Sunday and Monday Night Football are streamed on mobiles through NFL Live on Verizon devices only.

While Super Bowl XLVI was streamed through NBCSports.com only on computers, there’s no word yet whether CBS will receive permission to stream Super Bowl XLVII. It had sought to stream Super Bowl XLIV in 2010, but was turned down by the league. We’ll see if the NFL decides to allow CBS to show the Super Bowl online in 2013.

A Few Wednesday Sports Media Thoughts

I’ll provide a few thoughts as we hit midweek. They’ll be in bullet form, of course.

• First, here’s hoping the people of New Orleans will be ok in the midst of Hurricane Isaac. They’ve put up with way too much from Hurricane Katrina to Hurricane Gustav and the BP oil spill, I pray they endure this without major damage.
• I’m going to be interested to see how Fox Sports’ new primetime college football package is going to fare against ESPN’s venerable lineup. Fox will focus on the Big 12 and Pac-12. ESPN/ABC can tap plenty of major conferences from the Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12, SEC and place any big game it wants on ABC, ESPN and ESPN2. We’ll see if Fox can hold its own.
• As both CBS and NBC attempt to get their sports radio networks off the ground, both are hoping to get that big name to anchor their lineup. CBS has Doug Gottlieb thus far. The rest of the dayparts have to be filled. NBC has Erik Kuselias plus a few other hires including Rodney Harrison for a weekend show. One of the X Factors for NBC is if it can land Dan Patrick and lure him away from DirecTV/Fox Sports Radio and get him for the 9 a.m. – noon ET slot. That would give NBC some credibility, stations and a big hole filled.
• Original MLB Network reporter Trenni Kusnierek, who’s been co-hosting an afternoon drive radio show in Milwaukee, is shipping up to  Boston where she will become an anchor/reporter for Comcast SportsNet New England. In effect, she replaces Nicole Zaloumis who is at NFL Network.
• While the Pac-12 Networks have launched up and down the West Coast, it has yet to sign satellite providers DirecTV and Dish Network. Issues include the high price per subscriber and the seven networks under the Pac-12 umbrella. DirecTV just wants to carry the national network, but the league wants it to pick up everything. No sign of an agreement with either provider in the near future.
• And speaking of disputes, Time Warner Cable continues its holdout of NFL Network. While the network was able to pick up Cablevision this month, it still can’t get Time Warner in the fold. And it appears that there isn’t an agreement in sight. Time Warner can create its own Southern California regional sports network and attempt to get the Dodgers, but it remains steadfast in its refusal to provide NFL Network and also continues to be stubborn in not picking up MASN in North Carolina. It’s all about power and money in these disputes and who will blink first. Right now, neither Time Warner nor NFL Network are willing to talk. That’s too bad for the consumer.
• It’s unfortunate that none of NBCUniversal’s networks will carry the Paralympics live which begin this week in London. NBC Sports Network will air taped specials in September. Not good enough. Many of these athletes are quite courageous and it would be nice to get some live coverage to learn their stories. It’s not necessary for NBC to pick it up, but how about NBC Sports Network or Universal Sports? They need the inventory. C’mon, NBC.

And we’re done.

Some Really Quick Tuesday Sports Media Thoughts

Due to that stupid office move that prevented me from updating the site regularly over the last two two weeks, I wasn’t able to provide some regular features here. I’m slowly getting back on track. Thanks for your patience and continued readership during this period. I’ll make it up to you somehow.

I’ll do some very quick sports media thoughts. They’ll be in bullet form as always. Just quick hits this time, just one or two sentences in this post. I’ll expound the next time around.

• A few new shows have premiered over the last month. Both in the morning daypart which had been untapped by the sports networks until the last few years. Some thoughts on two new shows
  • NFL AM debuted in late July on NFL Network right as the Olympics were getting underway. Based on the searches landing on Fang’s Bites since the premiere, co-host Nicole Zaloumis has become popular with viewers. I like what I have seen thus far in the only morning show totally devoted to the NFL.
  • NBC Sports Network’s no-frills answer to ESPN’s SportsCenter, The ‘Lights premiered earlier this month with a disembodied voice hosting the show and narrating the highlights in twenty minute blocks. It’s a good concept that has been executed well by NBCSN.
• Earlier in August, it was discovered that Comcast SportsNet affiliates in Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Washington, DC had stopped carrying Fox Sports Net programming as of July 30 and that included the daily simulcast of the Dan Patrick Show. While an agreement could easily be forged between Fox and NBC, I have a feeling that this could be part of a bigger play by NBC for Dan not only as a radio show simulcast on NBC Sports Network, but also as an attempt to lure him to the NBC Sports Radio Network. Keep that in mind as Dan’s contract with DirecTV, the company that owns his radio show and markets his TV show to Fox Sports Net is up soon.
• Friday Night Football on ESPN/ESPN2 won’t be the same without Joe Tessitore.
• We need Michelle Beadle back on sports TV soon.
• It’s time to ignore Skip Bayless and stop writing and tweeting the outrageous things he says. Attention is exactly what he and ESPN want.
• The Big East got a very good Commissioner in former CBS Sports Vice President Mike Aresco. No pressure on Mike now, he only has to keep the conference from being poached and get a big TV contract on par with the ACC, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC.
• DirecTV is no longer providing its free sports “Experience” programming to Standard Definition subscribers. NASCAR Hot Pass, PGA Championship and now the U.S. Open Experience, extra channels that allowed fans to see additional coverage beyond the network coverage are no longer available in SD. And there was no announcement either. That was sneaky, DirecTV. Makes me wonder if NFL Sunday Ticket is next. All are still available in HD.
• If you have a chance, listen to two Friends of Fang’s Bites tonight on 98.5 The Sports Hub in Boston. Jen Royle will do a guest spot on the Damon Amendolara show tonight at 9. The station does stream so you can listen right here.
• Best of luck to another Friend of Fang’s Bites, Courtney Fallon. Monday was her last day as weekend sports anchor at WLNE in Providence. Here’s hoping she lands in a major market really soon.

That’s going to do it for the thoughts.

Checking Out Some Wednesday Linkage

Let’s provide some mid-week linkage before I get too busy later on.

Austin Karp of Sports Business Daily writes that NBC’s overnight rating for Tuesday’s Olympic primetime was up from the comparable night four years ago.

Tripp Mickle of SBJ says NBC is about to set up a set of exhibition beach volleyball matches between the US and China later this year.

In an SBJ podcast, Tripp meets with Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch to talk about the media coverage of the 2012 Olympics.

Tim Goodman of the Hollywood Reporter will not complain about NBC’s Olympic coverage.

Daniel Miller of the Reporter says swimmer Ryan Lochte is in discussions to star in his own reality TV show.

Also from the Reporter, Marisa Guthrie has five lessons NBC should learn from the 2012 Games.

Another from the Reporter, a majority of those polled think Ryan Seacrest is doing a good job at the Olympics? Who is being polled?

And finally from the Reporter, Eriq Gardner reports that the NCAA has been ordered to hand over TV licensing revenue documents in a case involving video game manufacturer Electronic Arts which is using likenesses of student-athletes without permission from the athletes themselves.

Stephen Douglas at The Big Lead has video of Lolo Jones breaking down on the Today Show this morning.

Meanwhile, Glenn Davis of SportsGrid has video of medal winners Dawn Harper and Kellie Wells being rather candid about their opinions on Lolo with Michelle Beadle this morning.

Jen Floyd Engel at FoxSports.com says despite what the media says, this is not the Olympics of the Woman as the media is stating.

Graeme McMillan of Time asks if NBC should offer the Olympics as reality TV or just straight sports?

Joe Posnanski talks with former NBC Sports Emperor Dick Ebersol about working his last Olympics for American television, the 2012 London Games.

Reid Cherner of USA Today’s Game On has a look at the upcoming slate of 30 for 30 documentaries.

Stewart Mandel of Sports Illustrated profiles ESPN’s Joe Tessitore who is getting a high profile college football assignment after years of taking on crazy schedules.

SI’s Richard Deitsch has a college football roundtable featuring writers Stewart Mandel, Andy Staples and Holly Anderson on what they expect from the TV side of the sport this season.

Tim Baysinger of Broadcasting & Cable says NBC Sports Network is setting viewership records with Olympic programming.

Tim writes that AT&T U-Verse has signed a new agreement to carry NFL Network and RedZone.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News says the 2012 Olympics are on pace to become the most-watched TV event in US history.

Anthony Crupi of Adweek writes that online sports viewers can tolerate the bombardment of ads seen during the Olympics.

Thomas Pardee of Advertising Age says the Olympics are topping social TV sites like GetGlue, but HBO’s True Blood is showing its reach.

Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life looks at the winners and losers from broadcasting the Olympics.

Phil Swann at TV Predictions says DirecTV may be adding five new channels including one sports network run by Al Jazeera.

Ed Sherman of The Sherman Report notes that a former Boston Globe college sports columnist is now on his own and got a big scoop this week.

Ed has a couple of NBC Sports-related announcements that have nothing to do with the Olympics.

Ken Kerschbaumer of Sports Video Group looks at NBC’s operations at Olympic Stadium.

ESPN’s Darren Rovell notes that it’s better for sponsors that Michael Phelps remain retired instead of him being an active Olympian.

CBS Radio has officially announced that Scott Zolak will be the radio analyst for New England Patriots games starting this Thursday. He replaces Gino Cappeletti who retired last month.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette writes that NBC is getting a mixed ratings bag for the Olympics from the last few days.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union tells readers where they can find this week’s New York Giants preseason opener.

Pete has ESPN’s schedule of MLB games for most of this month.

Ken McMillan of the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record notes that former Jets and Giants coach Bill Parcells will appear on ESPN Radio NY opposite his buddy, WFAN’s Mike Francesa during NFL season.

Ken says NBC Sports Network will have Olympic reruns throughout August.

From the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog, Dan Steinberg notes that ESPN Radio Hack Colin Cowherd is up to his old tricks again.

Eric Deggans from the Tampa Bay Times wonders if the Olympic promos for the NBC’s “Go On” might actually hurt the show in the long run.

Adam H. Beasley of the Miami Herald looks at last night’s Hard Knock premiere on HBO.

Izzy Gould at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel writes that the Miami Dolphins put the team up for display on Hard Knocks.

Gould says Hard Knocks did not explore the Dolphins’ injuries.

Mel Bracht from The Oklahoman says the local NBC affiliate’s ratings are down from 4 years ago.

T.J. Simers of the Los Angeles Times talks with Vin Scully about calling Sandy Koufax’s perfect game back in 1965.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News says Scully made a great argument for using instant replay in baseball during an argument on the field Monday night.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog says while viewers in the Great White North are complaining about Olympic coverage, the ratings are saying otherwise.

Ben Koo of Awful Announcing goes in-depth into the Turner Sports purchase of the Bleacher Report.

Matt Yoder of AA defends Lolo Jones against the very strange media backlash that began over the weekend in the New York Times.

John Koblin of Deadspin writes that even our troops stationed abroad are victims to NBC’s tape delays and can’t watch the Olympics live!

Sports Media Watch says UFC on Fox set yet another record low for mixed martial arts on network TV.

The Big Lead, in a sponsored post, speaks with CBS’ Clark Kellogg.

That is going to do it for today.

The Olympics Are Here; Let’s Do Some Links

Olympics start today with women’s soccer and there’s more soccer action tomorrow on the men’s side. Let’s bring you some linkage before I get distracted by the live streaming.

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand reports that Erin Andrews will get some high profile NFL assignments working with the Fox Sports “A” announcing team of Joe Buck, Troy Aikman and Pam Oliver on Thanksgiving and the postseason.

Roger Yu of USA Today looks at NBC’s Olympic online streaming plans.

Reid Cherner of USA Today says the Olympic Opening and Closing Ceremonies will not be streamed online by NBC. Both will be held for primetime broadcast. Grrrrr.

David Bauder of the Associated Press has your Olympics Viewing Guide.

I have my own Olympics Viewing Guide.

Ed Sherman of The Sherman Report wonders if NBC will force Bob Costas to back of his pledge to honor the slain Israeli athletes from the 1972 Munich Olympics during this year’s Olympic Opening Ceremony.

Jason Fry and Kelly McBride of the Poynter Review Project as the ESPN Ombudsman review ESPN’s coverage of the Penn State story on Monday.

Sports Business Daily Global notes that the Olympics are the second most valuable brand worldwide.

ESPN may not be the Olympics rightsholder in the US, but it does have the rights in Latin America and John Ourand at Sports Business Journal’s Olympic site looks at its sponsors for the Games.

UK Radio personality Polly James of Absolute Radio has started an Olympics blog and it’s quite good.

R. Thomas Umstead of Multichannel News says Showtime and CBS will team up to show the professional debut of several Olympic boxers.

John Eggerton of Mulitchannel writes that Tennis Channel won a huge victory from the FCC in its carriage battle with Comcast.

Todd Spangler of Multichannel says Netflix feels that growth will be stunted in the current quarter due to the Olympics.

George Winslow of Broadcasting & Cable notes that NBC News will use Storify to piece together certain stories of the Olympics.

Christopher Heine of Adweek reports that one Penn State sponsor has dropped the school in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky scandal.

Jerry Barmash of Fishbowl NY talks with former CBS News and WCBS anchor Dave Marash who covered the 1972 Munich tragedy.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette writes that CBS Sports Network will air some US Open Tennis on Labor Day Weekend.

Ken McMillan at the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record has Fox Sports college football analyst Charles Davis talking about the Penn State sanctions.

Laura Nachman notes that ESPN SportsCenter anchor Ducis Rodgers will be joining the Philadelphia ABC affiliate.

Tim Richardson in Press Box writes that the military will continue its sports sponsorships in the mid-Atlantic region.

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog says the DC NFL Team has already e-mailed the media on quarterback Robert Griffin III’s availability.

Mel Bracht of The Oklahoman talks about the Olympic streaming smorgasbord online.

Mel also looks at the local ratings from the weekend.

Joe Reedy of the Cincinnati Enquirer says the Bengals aren’t going to relax their requirements to ease TV blackouts.

Robert Feder of TimeOut Chicago says a popular Comcast SportsNet reporter is leaving the Windy City.

Scott D. Pierce of the Salt Lake Tribune has NBC’s Bob Costas lashing out at those who write about Olympic tape delays.

Jon Wilner at the San Jose Mercury News has Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott optimistic about getting DirecTV on board for the Pac-12 Networks.

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail talks with CTV Olympic Daytime host James Duthie.

Sports Media Watch looks at NBC Sports Network’s new highlight show.

Joe Lucia of Awful Announcing says the Olympics going digital.

AA’s Matt Yoder feels Fox should ditch the local announcers on its MLB broadcasts.

That’s going to do it.

Bringing You A Few Wednesday Sports Media Thoughts And More…

Let’s do a few sports media thoughts and a couple non-sports thoughts. They’re in bullet form, of course.

• Fox did its usual good job in covering the MLB All-Star Game. The production was spot on. Joe Buck was decent. Ken Rosenthal was good in his role. Fox did not shove Erin Andrews down our throats in her Fox debut as she made just a few appearances. Tim McCarver’s analysis still is lacking and there were times when his statements were head scratchers (“Electric stuff is a new baseball term”). Basing it on the pictures and replays, Fox usually steps up and it did so on Tuesday.

  However, the postgame ceremonies with All-Star Game MVP Melky Cabrera were quite awkward as MLB Commissioner Bud Selig looked confused and wooden like he always does and MLB Nerwork’s Matt Vasgersian wasn’t helpful as Cabrera had difficulty speaking English, yet Matt didn’t try to bail him out. He just let Melky struggle. Bad spot by Matt there.

  While the game was a blowout early and there was most likely a late tune out factor, the All-Star Game’s ratings will probably be on a par with last year’s all-time record low 6.9 rating.

• On Monday night, ESPN carried the Home Run Derby and while ratings for this year’s event were up compared to 2011, one had to think the numbers increased despite Chris Berman’s presence behind the mic.

  While the Derby itself was dull, the highlight of the broadcast was Hall of Fame Kansas City Royals third baseman George Brett bringing barbecue ribs to the set and seeing John Kruk demolish them.

  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Chris Berman’s act is old. ESPN puts him on the U.S. Open and Home Run Derby every year and the complaints about his performance pick up on social media. Every ball that was hit started with either a “WOW!” or an “OH!” How is that a good call? And when Berman tried to get cute with geography by saying one blast was headed to Omaha, Brett chimed in with “Wrong direction,” which made my night.

  Berman is not a play-by man and I wish he was taken off the Home Run Derby.

  The social media bashing of Berman will rise to new heights next month when he handles his first NFL play-by-play assignment.

• The Big Lead reported on Tuesday that ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball voice Dan Shulman could be in demand when his contract expires later this year.

  Jason McIntyre of The Big Lead wrote that Fox and possibly, NBC would be interested in Shulman’s services. Of course, Shulman can call baseball and basketball, both of which he calls very well. If Fox retains baseball, Shulman could easily supplant Joe Buck as lead voice, call the entire season of Fox Saturday Baseball which Buck does not do, and have a role in the MLB Postseason for the network. He could also call college basketball for either Fox’s cable entities, Big Ten Network or Fox Sports Net.

  Should NBC get a piece of the MLB contract, then Shulman again could be the lead voice and also call basketball if NBC gets Big East rights. Of course, NBC could also give Shulman an Olympic sport to call every two years.

  And there’s always the option that Dan could remain with ESPN where he calls the League Championship Series and World Series on Radio and call college basketball with a few NBA games thrown in for good measure.

  Shulman certainly has some options after the final out is recorded at this year’s World Series.

• After failing to come to an agreement, Viacom pulled 17 networks off DirecTV including MTV, VH1, Comedy Central, and Spike, among others. No one wins in these disputes. Both sides blame the other. It all comes down to money. Viacom wants more money from DirecTV, but the satellite provider says it doesn’t want to pay it. No matter what, I see a slide in the Viacom Network’s place. This is all unnecessary and avoidable, yet it happens time and time again.
• Is there a better network meteorologist than Ginger Zee of ABC’s Good Morning America and World News? I didn’t think so. She can chase storms for me any time.

And we’re done.

Guest Column: NFL — Please Take My Money

This will conclude our series of guest columns over the last few days. I want to thank Paul Lebowitz, Ryan Scheb, Corneilus Green, Ed Hannan, Michael Schottey, Jason Chalifour, Andrew Nostvick, Greg Stanko, Matt Lichtenstadter and Jesse Karangu. I would not have been able to provide some fresh content on the site without them and I also thank you for continuing to visit throughout a busy time for me personally.

In this last guest column, blogger Ken Barnes talks about cutting the cord and finding alternate ways of finding your favorite sports action.

Three years ago, my wife and I were blessed with premature twin boys. Due to their serious medical conditions and the need for round-the-clock care, I quit my job while my wife continued her career as an RN nurse. Dropping to one income required financial sacrifices, and one of the first things to go was our pay TV. We went from having AT&T U-verse’s 300-channel package with NFL Network and DVRs (which we loved) to nothing but our local network stations using an over-the-air antenna. As an NFL, NBA, and NHL fan, that was a big sacrifice. Free over-the-air network TV still provides most NFL games plus the playoffs and the Super Bowl. ABC provides NBA games on Sundays throughout the spring, playoffs and the finals. And NBC provides weekend NHL games and playoffs as well.

I get just enough of a sports fix on the weekends to survive without pay TV, and most of our entertainment is now provided by our Roku streaming box and Netflix. The Roku box allows subscribers of MLB Extra Innings, NBA League Pass, and NHL Center Ice to view all games and highlights live and on demand (just like online) right on their TV. The only league missing? The NFL. Of all the leagues, the NFL is my favorite and the one league pass that I would gladly pay for (since I don’t get many Carolina Panthers games here in Arkansas).

If the NFL would allow DirecTV to keep Sunday Ticket but also allow online subscriptions, I know they would make a killing! Please take my money and join the other leagues on my Roku box – please, please, please!

Ken Barnes and his wife have a site (Twins N Tidbits) that features items about twins, special needs, recipes, and tips for saving money.

And that does it for the guest columns. Back to regular posting on Monday.

Guest Column: Announcer Moves and League-owned College Networks

We continue with the guest columns. This one comes from reader Corneilus Green. Three columns in one for you.

Sports Broadcasting Talent Moves

The summer is definitely heating up with the speculation of who is staying or who is going to new networks.

Michelle Beadle is the most high profile talent to leave ESPN (which was mostly expected) and she gets to do more at NBC. It was definitely a shocker that Michelle Bonner left ESPN and the same for Dana Jacobson.

Scott Van Pelt whom I would have preferred leave for NBC/Comcast, remained at ESPN which is good for him, however, his radio partner, Ryen Russillo is near the end of this contract and who knows where he might go.

Doug Gottlieb, whose contract is up in September, could have a contract offer from CBS Sports according to SportsbyBrooks. Whatever CBS offers to Gottlieb has to be astronomical for him to leave the Worldwide Leader, though I think he should go if the opportunity was presented.

I feel Erin Andrews will stay at ESPN. Her stock has fallen since a few years ago and thus does not have value to another network should she still want to cover sports.

The lowest profile re-signing was John Buccigross. Buccigross stayed at ESPN mainly because he would the #1 voice for NCAA Frozen Four replacing Gary Thorne. Buccigross is one of the few at ESPN along with Linda Cohn and Steve Levy who trumpet hockey, which is amazing because as we know, it gives little to no coverage to the sport.

Had Buccigross not stayed with ESPN, it was expected that NHL Network would have offered him the chance to be its main anchor and be the face of the network. It will be interesting to see where all the sports talent lands.

NBA TV and MLB Network should utilize field reporters who can report from the various team’s headquarters instead relying on the insiders and the writers on the dot-com side.

I will be watching to see who the Pac-12 Network hires in addition to Summer Sanders, Ronnie Lott, and Rick Neuheisel. I would like for the Pac-12 Network to hire Tom Ramsey. I miss hearing him call college football. I fully expect Fox to elevate Craig Bolerjack, Joel Klatt, and Petros Papadakis as the main team for college football on FX, also make Gus Johnson its main voice for the Pac-12 on Fox and move Steve Physioc to part-time on Pac-12 football and become the main voice for college basketball for the Big Ten Network.

Fox should replace Kevin Frazier with Fran Charles on as college football studio host and also add another analyst to Marcus Allen.

Never has there been more interest in sports media and who’s staying or who’s going. This year has unofficially been the year of the media rights deals and sports talent moves. Do not expect that to change during the summer.

SEC Network

An SEC Network could become reality in 2014. The SEC has called this Project X. It’s one of a number of things that has come up during the renegotiation the conference’s media rights deals with CBS and ESPN. With the addition of Missouri and Texas A&M to the SEC, it opened the league to an increase of its media rights fees.

An SEC Network was close to starting in 2009 but ESPN threw a boatload of money at the conference not to start one. It appears that the SEC added two schools just for the sake of addition. The conference was already recruiting Texas and Missouri which wanted more money though they should have gone to the Big Ten had an offer been extended to both, but they were wishy-washy while Nebraska was jumping to the Big Ten without any hesitation. Texas A&M kicked and screamed its way to the SEC, but I’ll save that for another day.

The SEC is close to agreeing to an increase its TV rights fees, but the holdup has been CBS. The Tiffany Network has balked at paying more because its game inventory will not change. CBS is justified in balking. Mizzou and Texas A&M do not have the same attraction as Nebraska.

ESPN, which has been trying to establish a monopoly on televised college athletics, will most likely try to buy CBS’ slate of SEC games if CBS does not change its stance. CBS should hold out to the very end and get more doubleheaders and more night games to justify paying more for SEC games.

It’s being speculated that ESPN will partner with the SEC to establish an SEC Network. This would be likely picked up within a year on all the cable, digital cable, and satellite companies in the conference’s footprint because of the league’s popularity. The SEC has a bigger footprint than all of the conferences and the most rabid fan bases.

An SEC Network would most likely be modeled after the Big Ten Network. Many observers thought the SEC should have started its own network instead of allowing ESPN to talk them out of it by dangling more money. This makes Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany look a lot smarter than SEC head honcho Mike Slive in that perspective.

If the conference agrees to establish a TV network, this would put more cash in the SEC membership’s coffers, surpassing the Big Ten in revenue. The conference has enjoyed six consecutive years of a school wining the BCS National Championship Game.

It’s high time the SEC gets its own network. In my opinion, NBC/Comcast would be a better equity partner for the league in establishing an SEC Network than ESPN.

 

Pac-12 Network

The Pac-12 Network was the crown jewel when it came to the historic media rights deal between the conference and ESPN/Fox. Even more historic was the creation of seven networks, the main Pac-12 Network and seven regional channels.

Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott has proved himself to be a power broker in college athletics and he has grown the conference into a financial power. In addition, his experience in negotiating TV contracts brought four digital cable companies as partners to carry the networks when he announced their formation.

While this all sounds good in theory, the hard part will be trying to convince all of the cable and satellite companies to carry all seven networks. Most likely all will carry the main Pac-12 network, but not the other six. Thus, the challenge of starting a sports channel and ensuring most of the country can watch it.

The Mtn. went dark on May 31 because it could not get distribution beyond DirecTV and various smaller cable providers in the West. Longhorn Network is having difficulty gaining carriage in Texas.

Time Warner Cable will have a tough time convincing cable and satellite companies to pick up its two new regional networks it is starting with the Los Angeles Lakers. As reported by John Ourand from the Sports Business Journal, Time Warner is charging companies $3.95/subscriber fee. That’s insane.

DirecTV President and CEO Mike White said that the satellite provider will not carry the Longhorn Network. Another statement could potentially spell bad news for the Pac-12 Network. White said DirecTV will most likely not carry all seven Pac-12 Networks. If you’re Larry Scott, you should be concerned. It appears DirecTV will only carry the main network and not the regional channels. Dish Network and AT&T U-Verse are probably thinking the same thing.

While Larry Scott’s thinking was out of the box, it could be a bad move for now. The Big Ten Network has been largely successful, but it was just one network. The Pac-12 Networks will have major challenges in gaining carriage. As a U-verse customer, I would like to be able to watch all of the networks from their inception. The question is: Can the Pac-12 convince every digital and satellite company to carry all seven networks? Good luck, Larry Scott.

Corneilus Green resides in Orangeburg, South Carolina. Currently unemployed, but Corneilus is a sports enthusiast who once had a dream of being a sports broadcaster and commentator. He still might do it.

Thanks to Corneilus for the column. More guest columns will published throughout the week.

http://articles.latimes.com/2004/jul/30/sports/sp-tvcol30

Late Monday Night Links

As promised earlier today, I’m giving you more links. I was out earlier today and I’ll be out again tomorrow so it’s going to be a bit crazy for me. So let’s get to the linkage right now.

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch looks at the media circus that was the Tim Tebow press conference at the New York Jets practice facility on Monday.

Speaking of Richard, he and CNBC’s Darren Rovell were locked in Round 2 of their Twitter feud. This was fun while it lasted as Matt Yoder of Awful Announcing recaps.

Matt notes that Al Trautwig of MSG Network had a slip of the tongue.

And Matt is gleeful that ESPN’s Jonathan Coachman also had a similar slip.

Christina Settimi of Forbes looks at baseball’s biggest local cable TV rights deals.

George Winslow of Broadcasting & Cable says ESPN has promoted an executive to handle its international digital media efforts.

Sam Laird of Mashable notes that the Boston Bruins have launched their own social media portal, believed to the first in pro sports.

Todd Cunningham at The Wrap says with Tiger Woods win this past weekend, CBS now looks forward to having masterful ratings for The Masters^® in two weeks.

Dale Buss of Brand Channel writes that Jockey brand underwear welcomed Tim Tebow to New York as only it could.

Kevin Kaduk of Yahoo’s Big League Stew has one of the funniest on-screen graphics pulled by Fox Sports Midwest during a St. Louis Cardinals exhibition game.

Jesse Sawyer of the Avon (CT) Patch says ESPN’s Kenny Mayne has sold his Connecticut home over half a year after he moved his family to Washington State.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post hates everybody.

Breaking the Bob Raissman ban to note that the New York Daily News curmudgeon feels Tim Tebow is already a pro at handling the Big Apple media circus.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union notes that the ratings for the NCAA Tournament this past weekend took a huge hit thanks to Tiger Woods.

Greg Connors of the Buffalo News writes about ESPN’s three month-long initiative to celebrate Title IX.

Keith Groller of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call talks about the departure of local native Meredith Marakovits for the bright lights of New York.

Dan Steinberg at the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog tells us that he’s going to have a partner on the blog.

And Sarah Kogod introduces herself to DC Sports Bog readers in her first post.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner talks with Tennis Channel’s Mary Carillo.

Tom Jones from the Tampa Bay Times reviews the weekend in sports television.

Mel Bracht of The Oklahoman notes that the Oklahoma City Thunder set a new ratings record.

John Kiesewetter at the Cincinnati Enquirer says a nationally syndicated radio morning show will be in town for Reds Opening Day.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says Wisconsin-Syracuse in the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 did well in the local ratings.

Scott D. Pierce at the Salt Lake Tribune says BYU basketball coach Dave Rose has a future in TV if he so chooses.

Joe Flint of the Los Angeles Times says an investment bank helped to broker the Pac-12 media rights contract with ESPN and Fox plus other huge sports and entertainment megadeals.

Joe reports that DirecTV and Tribune are in a dispute over the company’s TV stations and this could include WGN America which carries a bunch of sports programming.

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail has yet another amazingly uninformed column not realizing that CBS and Turner share the NCAA Tournament and CBS no longer regionalizes games. Many Canadian college basketball fans are aware of this, yet Bruce is not.

Sports Media Watch looks at the lower ratings generated by the NCAA Tournament over the weekend.

SMW has the viewership for the first primetime effort by ESPN2′s First Take.

To Macgasm where we learn that ESPN is teaming with Apple to make sports scores available on the Siri voice platform on the iPhone 4S.

Joe Favorito asks does UFC really needs New York to be successful?

Jim Connelly at USCHO.com wonders if ESPN is doing more to hurt the NCAA Men’s Hockey Tournament than help promote it.

Maury Brown at the Biz of Baseball wonders when MLB Network will hit Canada.

And we’ll end it there. Good night.

33rd Annual Sports Emmy Nominations Announced

We have the nominations, all 170 in 33 different categories, for the 33rd Annual Sports Emmy Awards. They just came out today. There are some surprises like massive hockey charlatan Pierre McGuire nominated in the Sports Reporter category and for some really strange reason, Skippy Bayless of ESPN2′s First Take was nominated for Best Studio Analyst. What analysis does he do besides yelling and having massive manlove for Tim Tebow?

There are some of the usual suspects are nominated, Bob Costas for Best Studio Host, Al Michaels in Play-by-Play, Cris Collinsworth for both Studio and Game Analyst.

Some of the nominations I agree with include Mike Mayock for Best Game Analyst, College GameDay and Football Night in America as Best Studio Shows and all of the movies in the Sports Documentary category. Sports documentaries were strong this year and I have trouble picking one although Catching Hell, the ESPN Films effort on Steve Bartman and the Chicago Cubs might be the weakest of the bunch, but the doc was still very good.

Ok, get ready to scroll, the entire list is below. We do need a page break so the list of nominees will after the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences press releases.

THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF TELEVISION ARTS & SCIENCES ANNOUNCES THE NOMINEES FOR THE 33^RD ANNUAL SPORTS EMMY® AWARDS

Winners to be Honored During the April 30^th Ceremony At Frederick P. Rose Hall, Home of Jazz at Lincoln Center
Jack Whitaker to Receive Lifetime Achievement Award

New York, NY – March 20, 2012 – The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) today announced the nominees for the 33^rd Annual Sports Emmy® Awards.

More than 170 nominees were announced in 33 categories including outstanding live sports special, live series, sports documentary, studio show, promotional announcements, play-by-play personality and studio analyst.  The Awards will be given out at the prestigious Frederick P. Rose Hall, Home of Jazz at Lincoln Center located in the Time Warner Center on April 30^th, 2012 in New York City.

This year’s Lifetime Achievement Award for Sports will go to the Sports Commentator and Essayist, Jack Whitaker.

“This is an outstanding year for the sports community and for The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences,” said Malachy Wienges, Chairman, NATAS. “The entries received in this year’s Sports Emmys resulted in a record 175 nominees, illustrating the quality of these entries.  We are also honoring Jack Whitaker with our Lifetime Achievement Award.  I had the pleasure of working with Jack for eighteen years at CBS, and Jack is a sports icon and a class act.”

In addition to Jack Whitaker, many of the today’s leading sports broadcasters, personalities and television professionals will be in attendance as presenters at the event.

The networks of ESPN (ESPN, ESPN 2, ABC, ESPN 3D & espn.com) lead the nomination totals with 55, the NBC Sports Group (NBC, Versus, Golf Channel & nbcsports.com) garnered 32, CBS (CBS, Showtime, CBSSports.com) entries received 26 nominations, while Turner Sports (TNT, TBS, NBA TV, NBA.com & truTV) have 22.

A complete list of all nominees is attached below.

33^rd Annual Sports Emmy Award Nominations by Network Group

ESPN (ESPN, ESPN 2, ABC, ESPN 3D, espn.com) – 55
NBC Sports Group (NBC, Versus, Golf Channel, nbcsports.com) – 32
CBS (CBS, Showtime, CBSSports.com) – 26
Turner Sports (TNT, TBS, NBA TV, NBA.com, truTV) – 22
HBO Sports – 19
FOX Sports Media Group (FOX, SPEED) – 16
NFL Network – 12
MLB Network – 8
DIRECTV – 2
MLB Advanced Media (MLB.com, MLBAM) – 2
NFL.com – 2
NCAA.com – 1
PGA.com – 1

33^rd Annual Sports Emmy Award Nominations by Network

ESPN – 36
NBC – 22
HBO Sports – 19
CBS – 15
FOX – 15
TNT – 15
ESPN2 – 14
NFL NETWORK – 12
SHOWTIME – 10
MLB NETWORK – 8
VERSUS – 7  
TBS – 3
ABC – 2   
DIRECTV – 2
ESPN 3D – 2
GOLF CHANNEL – 2
NBA TV – 2
NFL.COM – 2
CBSSPORTS.COM – 1
ESPN.COM – 1
MLB.COM – 1
MLBAM – 1
NBA.COM – 1
NBCSPORTS.COM – 1
NCAA.COM – 1
PGA.COM – 1
SPEED – 1
truTV – 1

BREAKDOWN OF MULTIPLE PROGRAM/SERIES NOMINATIONS

Program/Nominations/Network

24/7: 8 -  HBO
E: 60: 7 – ESPN2
A Game of Honor: 5 – Showtime/CBSSports.com
MLB on FOX: 5 – FOX
NASCAR on FOX: 5 – FOX
NBA on TNT: 4 – TNT
NBC Sunday Night Football: 4 – NBC
FIFA Women’s World Cup: 3 – ESPN/ESPN2
Outside the Lines: 3 – ESPN
Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel: 3 – HBO
SportsCenter: 3 – ESPN
The Army/Navy Game: 3 – CBS
The Franchise: 3 – Showtime
Winter X Games 15: 3 – ESPN/ESPN3D
2011 Open Championship: 2 – ESPN
2011 Stanley Cup Final: 2 – NBC/Versus
ESPN Monday Night Football: 2 – ESPN
Football Night in America: 2 – NBC
Grand Slam Tennis on ESPN: 2 – ESPN2
Inside the NBA on TNT: 2 – TNT
Joplin: City of Hope: 2 – ESPN2
McEnroe/Borg: Fire & Ice: 2 – HBO
MLB Tonight: 2 – MLB Network
NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament: 2 – CBS/TBS/TNT/truTV
NFL Films Presents: 2 – NFL Network
NFL GameDay Morning: 2 – NFL Network
NFL on FOX: 2 – FOX
Sports Science: 2 – ESPN/ESPN.com
Sunday NFL Countdown: 2 – ESPN
Unguarded: 2 – ESPN

And after the page break, all of the nominees for the 33rd Annual Sports Emmy Awards which will be handed out April 30 in New York City.

(continue reading…)

Quick Sunday Linkage

While I have a moment, let’s provide some rare Sunday links.

The lovely Nicole Auerbach of USA Today notes that ESPN’s Bob Knight won’t mention Kentucky by name on the air. ESPN allows Knight to wear sweaters on the air instead of a suit and tie and now this. I don’t understand it.

The Associated Press reports that Hall of Fame Los Angeles Dodgers voice Vin Scully is cutting back on his schedule even further this upcoming season.

The Biz of Baseball’s Maury Brown writes that the Dodgers have released their 2012 radio and TV schedule with the news about Scully buried deep in the press release.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News says Friday’s historic upsets in the NCAA Tournament gave CBS/Turner record ratings.

R. Thomas Umstead of Multichannel notes that HBO has set the date for its next pay per view boxing event.

Dan Fogarty of SportsGrid wonders exactly what CBS/Turner’s Bill Raftery said during last night’s Iowa State-Kentucky game.

Brandon Costa of Sports Video Group writes that Ball State students are helping Turner Sports drive its social media engine for the NCAA Tournament.

Sox & Dawgs has the funny video of UConn’s Stefanie Dolson taking a knee to the groin, but what’s makes it funny is that ESPN2′s Rebecca Lobo is laughing when she sees the replay.

Phil Swann at TVPredictions says DirecTV aired last night’s launch of Fox Sports San Diego in HD.

The New York Post’s Phil Mushnick can’t stand ESPN’s Stephen A. “A is for Anti-Asian” Smith kissing up to certain New York Knicks players.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union notes the higher ratings for the NCAA Tournament on Friday.

Greg Connors of the Buffalo News says the Bills’ courting of Mario Williams stretched the Western New York media to all corners of the region.

Jim Williams from the Washington Examiner talks with Sirius XM NFL Radio host Ross Tucker about the DC NFL Team.

Tom Jones from the Tampa Bay Times profiles NBC/Golf Channel’s on-course reporter Dottie Pepper.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle says ratings for the first true day of the NCAA Tournament were up.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has writers analyzing the Brewers by each position.

Bill Center of the San Diego Union-Tribune says the Padres got their official launch on Fox Sports last night.

Jim Peltz of the Los Angeles Times writes about Vin Scully cutting back on his schedule this season.

Sports Media Watch notes the increased ratings for the NCAA Tournament on Thursday.

SMW says the NBA drew strong numbers for ESPN/ABC.

And that will complete the links for today.

Some Quick Thursday Links

Ok, going to attempt some linkage here. Quite busy, but I’ll try to sneak some stuff for you.

Eric Fisher of Sports Business Daily looks at the new $3.99 charge for the new March Madness Live app for the NCAA Tournament.

R. Thomas Umstead of Multichannel News/Broadcasting & Cable also writes about the new March Madness Live app.

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch talks with ESPN’s Ron Jaworski about being removed from the Monday Night Football booth.

Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio has the impression that ESPN’s Jon Gruden didn’t agree with the decision to take Jaws out of the MNF booth.

Former New York Times columnist George Vecsey is now on Twitter and he’s a bit apprehensive about it.

Glenn Davis at SportsGrid is confused about yesterday’s Colin Cowherd interview with Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit cover girl Kate Upton.

Timothy Burke at Deadspin has audio of CNBC’s Darren Rovell explaining his Valentine Day’s proposal to Kate Upton.

Maury Brown at the Biz of Baseball says not every local MLB deal is equal and fair.

Anthony Crupi from Adweek notes that CBS El Capo di Tutti Capi Les Moonves predicts record ad rates for Super Bowl XLVII which will be aired on the Tiffany Network next year.

Adweek has a video with NASCAR CEO Brian France on the upcoming Sprint Cup season.

Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life Magazine says thanks to the Super Bowl, NBC leads the February sweeps by a 2-1 margin over CBS.

Sam Eifling of The Big Lead talks with a Memphis sports radio host who kept grinding and has been rewarded with national recognition.

At the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, Ronnie Ramos talks about how to maximize your Facebook and Twitter strategies.

Also at the National Sports Journalism Center, Eric Deggans of the Tampa Bay Times cautions traditional media about falling into prejudicial traps when writing about Jeremy Lin.

Karen Hogan of Sports Video Group explains the logistics for CBC’s Hockey Day in Canada.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says one sporting goods chain is going all in for Jeremy Lin.

Kevin Lincoln at the Business Insider’s Sports Page notes that Time Warner Cable is sending out small refund checks for those missing MSG Network.

WEEI’s Kirk Minihane lists the best and worst Boston TV announcers.

The Boston Herald’s Inside Track found Red Sox first baseman Adrian Gonzalez going through the ESPN “Car Wash” yesterday.

To the Worcester Telegram & Gazette where Bill Doyle gets Comcast SportsNet Celtics sideline reporter Greg Dickerson to talk about epilepsy and Tourette syndrome which have plagued him.

Over to the New York Times’ Richard Sandomir who looks into ESPN’s Monday Night Football personnel move.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union has the New York Mets Spring Training TV schedule.

Ken McMillan of the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record posts the Yankees Spring Training TV and Radio schedules.

Ed Barkowitz at the Philadelphia Daily News says Jaws being taken off Monday Night Football doesn’t mean the end for him at ESPN.

From the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog, Dan Steinberg says DirecTV has added Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic’s overflow channel in HD, finally.

Jim Williams at the Washington Examiner says a two man booth will benefit Monday Night Football.

Tom Jones of the Tampa Bay Times writes that local sports radio talk show host is out of a job today.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle says Astros voice Milo Hamilton may be retiring after this season, but the team won’t be losing him altogether.

The Houston Astros website has an entire section devoted to Hamilton’s career including some of his most famous radio calls.

Bob Wolfley at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says the Brewers will be featured at least six times on Fox’s Saturday baseball package.

Helene Elliott of the Los Angeles Times says the NHL finally has a TV partner which is fully promoting the league.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News has reaction to Bob Ryan’s announced retirement from the Boston Globe.

Barry Wilner at the San Jose Mercury News gets some details of the new Pac-12 Network from league commissioner Larry Scott.

Blogs and reporters are constantly receiving public relations pitches. Here’s one regarding Jeremy Lin and it’s a bit over the top.

Sports Media Watch notes that the 2012 MLB on Fox schedule is reduced from last year due to the 2012 Olympics.

SMW says Golf Channel set a ratings record last Sunday.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog has the sports TV viewership numbers for last week.

Mike Silva of the Sports Media Watchdog has a review of the new CBS Radio Mike Francesa Show app.

Joe Favorito says the Phoenix Suns are using the Samsung Galaxy tablet on the sidelines.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media has the numbers for the NHL on NBC Sports Network from early this week.

Ben Koo at Awful Announcing notes that ESPN is not tiring of the Jeremy Lin overkill.

Lou Clinton at 38 Cliches is rooting for former Red Sox announcer Jerry Trupiano.

And that’s where we’ll end it. Enjoy your Thursday.

Doing Some Friday Megalinks

With a rainy day in Southern New England, it’s time to provide you with some media links. Lots of them on a Friday.

You can check out the Weekend Viewing Picks for the sports and entertainment programming suggestions.

Now to the links.

National

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand talks with NBC’s Al Michaels about calling his 8th Super Bowl and 2nd for NBC.

Mike Ozanian from Forbes says NFL TV rightsholders will be able to reap financial benefits while non-rightsholders end up holding the bag.

Sam Mamudi of Marketwatch.com says you can follow along the USA Today Super Bowl Ad Meter results in real time thanks to a new Facebook app.

Michael O’Connell from the Hollywood Reporter has a sneak peek at some of the Super Bowls ads.

Kelly McBride of the ESPN Poynter Review Project looks at why ESPN made so much of Tim Tebow.

Alex Klein at Romanesko looks into why the Yale Daily News sat on a story for several months and how it took the New York Times to report on former quarterback Patrick Witt’s alleged sexual assault on campus. You may remember that Witt was a candidate to become a Rhodes Scholar but then skipped his interview. Now we know why.

Todd Spangler at Multichannel News says ESPN will let viewers see additional highlights and material from the Winter X Games via the Shazam mobile app.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel writes that NBC Sports Network goes into the NHL All-Star Weekend with increased ratings for the games.

Austin Karp of Sports Business Daily also has a story on the increased NHL ratings for NBC Sports Network.

Gabriel Beltrone from Adweek says Coke will have a Super Bowl microsite where its famous polar bears will react to the game and ads in real time.

David Gianatasio of Adweek writes one local Super Bowl spot will urge you to pee during its commercial.

E.J. Schultz at Advertising Age has Anheuser-Busch’s Super Bowl plans.

Matt Hardigree at Jalopnik says he’s solved the mystery behind the advertiser behind the Ferris Bueller-themed Super Bowl spot.

Adam Jacobi, the college football writer at CBSSports.com, who put the link to Onward State’s erroneous tweet about Joe Paterno’s death last Saturday has been fired. Jacobi says he understands the decision and has apologized to the Paterno family for his mistake.

Brandon Costa of Sports Video Group says NBC will take a lighter approach for Sunday’s NFL Pro Bowl in Hawaii.

Harry A. Jessell at TV NewsCheck notes that while the national TV ratings for the NFL are good, go inside the local numbers and they’re even better.

ESPN PR man Bill Hofheimer gives you an inside look at the network’s Super Bowl studios in Indianapolis.

Sports Media Watch says college basketball ratings are up on both ESPN and ESPN2.

SMW has some news and notes on some various people in the sports media.

Matt Yoder at Awful Announcing goes into some of the on-screen typos on TV this week.

Jeff Pearlman gets vindication from Chris “Mad Dog” Russo.

Steven Crist from the Daily Racing Form feels returning the Breeders Cup to NBC can only help horse racing.

All Access says a Hartford, CT FM station has flipped to all-sports.

East and Mid-Atlantic

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe says NESN has selected the replacement for Heidi Watney on its Red Sox broadcasts.

Chad says of all of the local TV outlets, Comcast SportsNet New England will have the largest contingent covering the Super Bowl in Indianapolis.

Johnny Diaz from the Globe says Boston DirecTV subscribers will see the Super Bowl after all.

Bill Doyle from the Worcester Telegram & Gazette talks with NBC’s Rodney Harrison about Super Bowl XLII and how some present New England Patriots still remaining from the game want revenge.

Stuart Elliot at the New York Times says some Super Bowl advertisers are returning buyers.

Richard Sandomir of the Times has Joe Namath’s reaction to the HBO/NFL Films documentary on his career that premieres tomorrow.

Richard adds that Namath is right now estranged from his former team, the New York Jets.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post says the Namath documentary for the most part is good.

Justin Terranova of the Post speaks with NBC NHL charlatan Pierre McGuire.

Mike Silva at Sports Media Watchdog wonders why Kim Jones left YES.

Pete Dougherty from the Albany Times Union says a local sports talk show will broadcast live from the Super Bowl next week.

Pete talks with the host of that talk show who also wears other hats in the Albany market.

Ken McMillan from the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record says NYC residents will be able to hear the local and national radio calls of the Super Bowl next Sunday.

The Harrisburg (PA) Patriot-News notes the firing of a CBSSports.com writer for falsely reporting Joe Paterno’s death.

DCRTV’s Dave Hughes at Press Row has media notes from the Baltimore-DC area.

South

The Tallahassee (FL) Democrat writes that a local sports talk show host who left his former station this week will be back on the air at another station later this year.

Billy Cox of the Sarasota (FL) Herald Tribune says ESPN’s Dick Vitale will be the subject of a profile produced by ….. ESPN!

Josh Bowe of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram says Fox Sports Southwest will stream Lone Star Conference football games and a highlight show over the internet.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle talks with a retiring local sports anchor who looks back at the 2011 Texans rather fondly.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman reviews the HBO/NFL Films documentary on Joe Namath.

Mel says ESPNU will be all over National Signing Day.

Midwest

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer talks with former Bengal Artrell Hawkins who is now co-hosting Fox Sports Radio’s national morning show.

Jeff Moss of the Detroit Sports Rag looks into the new program director and on-air host of a local sports radio station.

Bob Wolfley at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says Wisconsin sports teams did well in the national TV ratings last year.

Dan McGrath of the Chicago News Cooperative notes the 20 year anniversary of sports talk radio in the Windy City.

Paul Christian of the Rochester (MN) Post-Bulletin says new Minnesota Twins radio voice Cory Provus has big shoes to fill.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch talks with Bob Costas about returning to host his familiar town hall format next week.

West

Thomas Harding of MLB.com says Root Sports Rocky Mountain’s Alana Rizzo is leaving the network’s Colorado Rockies broadcast team and heading for MLB Network.

John Maffei at the North County Times says HBO’s documentary on Joe Namath is on par with previous efforts.

Jim Carlisle of the Ventura County Star also reviews the documentary.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News talks with Kings radio analyst Daryl Evans and also lists his best/worst LA broadcast analysts.

Tom has more on Evans in his blog.

Canada

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail says it’s time to play the NHL All-Star Game outdoors.

And that will do it.

The Mid-Week Linkage

I haven’t provided links on schedule so let me try to do it now.

We begin with Michael Hiestand of USA Today who talks about NBCUniversal’s big plans to blanket Super Bowl XLVI next week.

Wow. The secret organization Anonymous plans to attack ESPN.com over its support of SOPA and PIPA. In case anyone from Anonymous is reading, Fang’s Bites is an ardent critic of both bills.

Adrian Melville of Forbes says Fox is hoping to retain the US rights to the English Premier League.

Jeff Roberts at paidContent looks at USA Today Media Group’s purchase of Big Lead Sports.

Funny post. It’s a long one, but stay with it. Complex provides the 100 Worst Sports Tweets in history.

The Nielsen Wire blog reviews the year in sports advertising for 2011.

Rarely do we link to Self Magazine, but it has a story on ESPN SportsCenter anchor Sage Steele training for the upcoming Disney Princess Half Marathon.

Last week, ESPN’s Front Row PR blog posted part one of its behind the scenes look at Sunday NFL Countdown. Today, it provides part two of that look.

Lacey Rose at the Hollywood Reporter writes that current NFL Network analyst Kurt Warner will host a USA Network reality show that will premiere later this year.

James Hibberd at Entertainment Weekly looks at NBC’s plans for the Super Bowl.

John Eggerton from Broadcasting & Cable says Massachusetts US Senator John Kerry wants DirecTV and Sunbeam to pledge that Super Bowl XLVI won’t be blacked out in Boston. Sunbeam’s WHDH-TV is off DirecTV right now over a carriage dispute and it’s the NBC affiliate.

Tim Nudd of Adweek says clothing retailer H&M is trying to put out a social media firestorm in advance of its first-ever Super Bowl ad.

Ken Wheaton at Advertising Age says CareerBuilder is keeping its lovable chimps for this year’s Super Bowl commercial.

Ad Age’s Michael Learmonth has the best Super Bowl ads ever.

Diego Vasquez from Media Life Magazine speaks with two people from a research firm to find out why some Super Bowl ads fail to connect with viewers.

Karlene Lukovitz from MediaPost’s Marketing Daily says Papa John’s is betting on the Super Bowl coin flip to help sell pizzas.

Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life notes that the NBA’s ratings despite the lockout are way up from last year’s record.

Dan Fogarty of SportsGrid catches ESPN2′s Patrick McEnroe firing off an “F” bomb during the Australian Open coverage last night.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell has some myths and facts about the Super Bowl ticket market.

Mary Alice Gill from the Nashua (NH) Telegraph writes about the DirecTV/Sunbeam dispute that could affect Boston’s watching of the Super Bowl.

Johnny Diaz of the Boston Globe says area bars with DirecTV are scrambling for other possible ways to show the Super Bowl.

At SB Nation Boston, Kat Hasenauer Cornetta looks at how small market New England sports radio stations try to serve the needs of their audience.

Stuart Elliot of the New York Times says the pregame show has begun for the Super Bowl ads.

To Newsday and Neil Best who writes that reporter Kim Jones is leaving the YES network.

Justin Terranova and Phil Mushnick of the New York Post report that Jones is talking with a national network.

Don McKee of the Philadelphia Inquirer has an obituary for the late Andy Musser.

Ray Didinger of Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia remembers Musser.

David Jones from Florida Today feels ESPN’s deal with the SEC is bad for the league.

Gregory A. Hall of the Louisville Courier-Journal notes that NBC has brought the Breeders’ Cup back under its fold.

The Houston Chronicle’s David Barron says a long-time local TV sports director is leaving after this year.

Mel Bracht from the Daily Oklahoman notes that the NFL Conference Championship Games drew big ratings locally.

Steve Nitz of the Morris (IL) Daily Herald is no longer a fan of ESPN.

NBC’s Michele Tafoya is ending her Minneapolis radio show.

Jon Bream at the Minneapolis Star Tribune says Tafoya has grown tired of a weekly 7 day grind between her show and Sunday Night Football.

David Brauer of MinnPost.com writes that Tafoya’s ratings weren’t great.

Bruce Pascoe of the Arizona Daily Star looks at ESPN’s College GameDay’s visit to the University of Arizona campus this weekend.

Anthony Gimino of the Tucson Citizen says CBS Sports Network will have inside access to Rich Rodriguez and the University of Arizona during National Signing Day.

Bruce Dowbiggin from the Toronto Globe and Mail wonders if TSN’s Dave Hodge was reaching when he tried to tweet a connection between Boston Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas and the KKK after Thomas refused to go to the White House earlier this week.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog looks at CBC’s dropping of the Curling’s Grand Slams.

To the Big Lead and Jason McIntyre who has a profile of ESPN Radio Hack Colin Cowherd. Actually it’s a very good profile.

Ryan Yoder at Awful Announcing has the Top 10 Sports Media Busts.

Blythe Brumleve at AA looks at CBS’ client stroke for E-Trade during the NFL Today on Sunday.

Sports Media Watch notes that the NHL is getting increased ratings on both NBC and NBC Sports Network.

Steve Lepore of Puck The Media wants the in-game coach interviews during NHL games to end.

Steve tells us where the AHL All-Start Game can be seen in your market.

SportsRantz says NBC Sports Network is using the Super Bowl to get a ratings boost.

And Morgan Wick informs us what the Breeders’ Cup move back to NBC means.

And that is it.

Bringing Out Friday Megalinks

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.

Some Monday Morning Sports Media Thoughts

I’ll provide some thoughts on the weekend in sports media as hopefully, MLK Day is a holiday for you. If not, then I hope you’re able to find a way to honor Dr. King and his message in some manner today.

As always, the thoughts come in bullet form.

• As I watched the Houston-Baltimore game on Sunday, I kept thinking that Ian Eagle and Dan Fouts should be the NFL on CBS “B” team starting next season. I feel I’m in the minority liking Greg Gumbel and Dan Dierdorf, but having heard them extensively over the last half of this season, it’s my opinion that “The Bird and The Beard” have surpassed them as an announcing team. Dierdorf has been a premier analyst for both ABC and CBS, and so has Fouts, but I feel The Beard is better. And while Gumbel has also been the number one play-by-play man for CBS, he is no longer an elite play caller. Ian has continually paid his dues for the Tiffany Network dating back to when CBS reobtained the NFL in 1998 until 2010 when he replaced Dick Enberg on the “C” team with Fouts.

  Ian and Dan have clicked to the point where I named them Best Announcing Team in this season’s NFL TV Awards. CBS should honor them with a promotion and a postseason game next year. It’s about time.

• And while I’m talking about CBS, one of the more blatant client strokes I’ve ever seen came during The NFL Today postgame show when Subway’s sponsorship was all over the screen, not only with the appearance of endorser Ndamukong Suh of the Detroit Lions, but also through company spokesman, Jared Fogle. CNBC’s Darren Rovell was highly suspicious of Suh’s appearance and also criticized the entire Subway integration into the program. With NFL rights fees so high, I understand the networks wanting to recoup their money, but there are other ways to accomplish this.
• The Australian Open has begun and thanks to ESPN’s partnership with DirecTV, I have access to five additional channels that compliment ESPN2′s coverage. I can tell I’m going to hate analyst Luke Jensen. During Li Na’s first round match against Ksenia Pervak, Jensen kept talking throughout the action and hardly took a breath. In fact while play was ongoing, he analyzed points that had previously occurred as if to prove he could keep talking and annoy the viewer. If you don’t have DirecTV, Jensen’s commentary can be accessed through ESPN3.com. If you’re a tennis fan like me, it’ll be hard to put up with him because he doesn’t shut up. The other outer court announcers like Elise Bergin, Jeff Tarango, and Barry McKay are quite good. And ESPN now has a studio show for the five channels to help the transition in between matches and that is welcomed on this end.
• For the first time ever, I actually enjoyed Joe Buck and his call of the New York Giants-Green Bay game. Not only was this related to his transparency on Twitter, I also noticed that Buck was more animated on Sunday than in the past. I’m liking Joe Buck. Cocaine is one hell of a drug. I’m joking, I don’t do coke. But I really don’t know who I am if I can truly enjoy Joe Buck. The Mayans must be right. This year must be the end of the world.

I’m out. Rack me.

NFL Viewing Picks For Week 17, 01/01/12, All Times Eastern

NFL TV Coverage Maps (the506.com)

Blackouts: None

NFL GameDay Morning — NFL Network, 9 a.m.
Fox NFL Sunday — Fox, noon

1 p.m.
CBS
Buffalo at New England — Don Criqui/Randy Cross
Indianapolis at Jacksonville — Spero Dedes/Steve Beuerlein
New York Jets at Miami — Greg Gumbel/Dan Dierdorf
Tennessee at Houston — Bill Macatee/Steve Tasker

FOX
Carolina at New Orleans — Joe Buck/Troy Aikman/Pam Oliver
Chicago at Minnesota — Kenny Albert/Daryl Johnston/Tony Siragusa
Detroit at Green Bay — Thom Brennaman/Brian Billick/Laura Okmin
San Francisco at St. Louis — Chris Myers/Tim Ryan/Jennifer Hale
Washington at Philadelphia — Ron Pitts/Charles Davis/Drea Avent

4:15 p.m.
CBS
Baltimore at Cincinnati — Ian Eagle/Dan Fouts (“The Bird” and “The Beard)
Kansas City at Denver — Jim Nantz/Phil Simms
Pittsburgh at Cleveland — Kevin Harlan/Solomon Wilcots
San Diego at Oakland — Marv Albert/Rich Gannon

FOX
Seattle at Arizona — Sam Rosen/Chad Pennington/Jody Jackson
Tampa Bay at Atlanta — Dick Stockton/John Lynch/Jaime Maggio!!!

7 p.m.
Football Night in America — NBC

7:30 p.m.
NFL GameDay Highlights — NFL Network

8:30 p.m.
NBC — Sunday Night Football
Dallas at New York Giants — Al Michaels/Cris Collinsworth/Michele Tafoya

Midnight
NFL GameDay Final — NFL Network

Westwood One Radio
12:30 p.m.
New York Jets at Miami — Howard David/Tony Boselli

3:45 p.m.
Kansas City at Denver — Kevin Kugler/Mark Malone

7:30 p.m.
Dallas at New York Giants — Dave Sims/James Lofton/Hub Arkush

DirecTV NFL Sunday Ticket Channel Assignments
Sirius XM Week 17 NFL Schedule
NFL RedZone

NFL Viewing Picks for Week 16, 12/24/2011, All Times Eastern

NFL TV Coverage Maps (the506.com)

Blackouts: Buffalo, Cincinnati

NFL GameDay Morning — NFL Network, 9 a.m.
Fox NFL Sunday —  Fox, noon

1 p.m.
CBS
Cleveland at Baltimore — Spero Dedes/Rich Gannon
Denver at Buffalo — Jim Nantz/Phil Simms
Jacksonville at Tennessee — Bill Macatee/Steve Tasker
Miami at New England — Ian Eagle/Dan Fouts (“The Bird” and “The Beard”)
Oakland at Kansas City — Kevin Harlan/Solomon Wilcots

FOX
Arizona at Cincinnati — Thom Brennaman/Brian Billick/Laura Okmin
Minnesota at Washington — Chris Myers/Tim Ryan/Jaime Maggio!!!
New York Giants at New York Jets — Kenny Albert/Daryl Johnston/Tony Siragusa
St. Louis at Pittsburgh — Dick Stockton/John Lynch/Jennifer Hale
Tampa Bay at Carolina — Sam Rosen/Chad Pennington

4:05 p.m.
CBS
San Diego at Detroit — Greg Gumbel/Dan Dierdorf

4:15 p.m.
FOX 
Philadelphia at Dallas — Joe Buck/Troy Aikman/Pam Oliver
San Francisco at Seattle — Ron Pitts/Charles Davis/Drea Avent

7:30 p.m.
NFL GameDay Final — NFL Network

8 p.m.
NFL Primetime — ESPN2

Westwood One Radio
12:30 p.m.: New York Giants at New York Jets — Howard David/Tony Boselli
|3:30 p.m.: San Diego at Detroit — Kevin Kugler/Mark Malone

DirecTV NFL Sunday Ticket Channel Assignments
Sirius XM NFL Schedule
NFL RedZone

Some Sunday Morning Sports Media Thoughts & One Musical Comment

As we get into the home stretch and the Christmas holiday is now just a week away, let me offer a few thoughts on sports media this morning. As usual, they’ll go in bullet form.

• So we have a couple of cable carriage disputes looming large as we end 2011. Looks like MSG Network and Time Warner Cable are heading towards a train wreck unless something drastic happens. It appeared the two sides were heading towards an agreement, but now, MSG Media is encouraging TWC subscribers in New York and Buffalo to find another cable provider in case MSG Network, MSG Plus, MSG Plus 2 and MSG Buffalo are pulled. It’s another example of both sides accusing the other of making ridiculous demands. And in the end, it’s the consumer that gets the shaft, not the cable or content provider.
• The other sports channel that’s in danger of being dropped is Universal Sports. A whole slew of providers are threatening to drop the channel on New Year’s Day unless NBCUniversal can convince them to keep it. Just this year, Universal Sports got an agreement with DirecTV, but any gains made with DirecTV will be lost when it goes dark on a bunch of providers that put it on a sports tier. Universal Sports airs Olympic sports that don’t get much play on the regular networks. Here’s hoping that this dispute will be resolved as well.
• With bowl season starting, I wonder how major college football has gone so long without a legitimate playoff system. The NCAA manages to get a championship done in the other divisions including the smaller Division I schools. Yet, the bowls and college presidents somehow think that they must protect the “integrity” and the “sanctity” of their systems. The Bowl Championship Series has done nothing but raise more questions and the fact that we have a #1 vs. #2 matchup involving teams from the same conference and also a rematch from a game this year totally stinks. Yet, the bowls make money from shoddy accounting and executives lining their pockets. The bowls make their matchup choices based on which schools “travel well” and can sell their allotment of tickets. Often these trips are money losing operations, but because the bowls have such a grip on the BCS schools, they refuse to change. Here’s hoping that at least we get a +1 addition to the BCS when the current TV contract with ESPN ends because what we have is not working right now.
• While we have seen resolution of TV rights for the NHL, Olympics, World Cup and NFL this year, it’s 2012 where we could see some upheaval in rights. Bidding for MLB and NASCAR will open up and there’s a lot of interest in baseball. Walking, Talking Conflict of Interest Bud Selig has said there’s more networks bidding for the rights than at any time. In the last contract, TBS took postseason rights from ESPN and half of the League Championship Series. We’ll see if Turner remains in the baseball business. Will NBC get back into baseball after leaving in 2000? Can Fox stay with MLB despite declining ratings in the regular season and postseason? Will ESPN spend to break back into the playoffs? We’ll find out when the new contracts are signed.And what about NASCAR? ESPN went all in to return for the Sprint Cup series. With three networks Fox, TNT and ESPN taking three different approaches to televising the sport, will the higher ups at NASCAR decide to make one certain style uniform or will we see one of the partners drop out? This will be quite interesting to see this play out.
• And lastly, we learned last week that Etta James, a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, is terminally ill. While this is not sport media news, it’s sad to hear that one of the greatest voices in rock history will be leaving us. Etta gave us great songs like “At Last”, “A Sunday Kind of Love”, “Tell Mama” and “Something’s Got A Hold on Me.” She had a heroin addiction in the 1970′s and kicked that. She’s had several health problems over the last few years including dementia, but they don’t diminish what James gave us. She won’t have much more time with us, but her music will live on long afterwards. I’ll leave you with her signature song, “At Last.”

Enjoy your Sunday.

Providing The Friday Megalinks

Let’s get to the megalinks today. Lots to get to including some interesting news that is breaking today.

First, the Weekend Viewing Picks are back after a week’s absence. Check out what sports and entertainment viewing recommendations I’ve made.

Now to the links.

National

Developing today is a story out of Boston that CBC and NBC NHL analyst Mike Milbury allegedly assaulted a 12 year old boy during a youth hockey game last week. WCVB in Boston has broken the story and we’ll what develops. Milbury has been charged by police, but still worked on Versus this week.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today says expect more reality TV like HBO’s 24/7 in sports.

Jen Floyd Engel from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram writes for Fox Sports that Craig James’ US Senate run should be music to college football fans who have had to endure his analysis on ESPN.

In a related note, Dan Fogarty of SportsGrid notes that James is taking leave from ESPN due to his run.

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch says the NFL, the TV networks and the fans are all winners in the latest 9 year rights deal.

Richard says as he becomes more popular, it’s only natural to see more media coverage of Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow.

Tim Baysinger of Broadcasting & Cable writes that Pac-12 Networks about to take operation next year, has secured headquarters in San Francisco.

John Eggerton of B&C says the American Cable Association is sounding the alarm bell on the new NFL TV deals.

Todd Spangler from Multichannel News writes that AT&T U-Verse customers in Connecticut will see MSG Network and its companion networks in HD starting in January just after Verizon Fios picked them up as well.

Eric Deggans of the St. Petersburg Times writing in the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center looks at some of the negatives of the new NFL TV deals.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell tells us to prepare for DirecTV and NFL Sunday Ticket in cars. Yes, cars.

Leave it to Deadspin. Tommy Craggs has video of a young Seth Davis of Sports Illustrated and CBS Sports appearing in an edition of HBO’s Real Sex from the 1990′s. Hilarious.

Matt Yoder from Awful Announcing breaks down the new NFL TV deals.

In the wee hours of this morning, I wrote some thoughts on the NFL TV deals and HBO’s 24/7 season premiere among other things.

Sports Media Watch says new NBA on TNT analyst Shaquille O’Neal will not join Turner Sports’ coverage of the NCAA Tournament in March.

At Puck The Media, Steve Lepore wonders what’s up with a new program listing for NHL Network.

East and Mid-Atlantic

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe feels five NBA games on Christmas Day are too many.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times mulls over the numbers in the new NFL TV deals.

Richard reviews the upcoming Army-Navy documentary produced by CBS Sports/Showtime.

George Vescey has written his last “Sports of the Times” column for the New York Times.

Newsday’s Neil Best says New Yorkers will not see New England-Denver on CBS this Sunday.

Neil notes that TNT’s Charles Barkley now endorses Weight Watchers.

Neil looks at Jeff Van Gundy’s frequent flyer mileage as he works two NBA games on Christmas Day.

New York Post curmudgeon Phil Mushnick says NFL TV analysts give Tim Tebow way too much credit.

Justin Terranova of the Post has ESPN/ABC announcer Sean McDonough complaining about too many bowl games.

Terranova has five questions for NFL Today analyst Shannon Sharpe.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union looks at one local radio station’s move to dump the New York Mets in favor of the Boston Red Sox.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette likes the new edition of HBO’s 24/7 Flyers/Rangers.

Keith Groller of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call says there’s nothing like the NFL as a ratings draw.

In Press Box, Dave Hughes of DCRTV.com has the latest sports media news from the Baltimore-Washington, DC area.

At the DC Sports Bog, the Washington Post’s Dan Steinberg notes that John Riggins has ended his daily sports talk show in favor of a new outdoors career.

Jim Williams from the Washington Examiner says the Nationals could see a hefty increase in their rights fee from MASN.

South

Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times talks with NFL Network analyst Mike Mayock who will call Saturday’s Dallas-Tampa Bay game with Brad Nessler.

David Barron from the Houston Chronicle has some quotes from Fox NFL Sunday analyst Jimmy Johnson.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman has quotes from TNT’s Charles Barkley on the two Los Angeles NBA teams.

Mel has TNT’s NBA analysts discussing the Oklahoma City Thunder’s chances this season.

Mel notes that ESPN/ABC’s Mike Breen and Jeff Van Gundy will be quite busy on Christmas Day.

Midwest

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer looks into the sudden quitting of one local sports talk show host this week.

Michael Zuidema from the Grand Rapids (MI) Press talks with Fox Sports Detroit NBA analyst Greg Kelser about the Pistons.

Ed Sherman of Crain’s Chicago Business has his winners and losers in sports business and media.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch notes that CBS’ Dan Dierdorf gets to call a rare “home” game on Sunday.

West

Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune writes that the Chargers have avoided a blackout for Sunday night’s game against the Ravens.

John Maffei of the North County Times says Louisiana Tech is happy to finally to have some exposure on the ESPN mothership after being relegated to ESPNU 9 times this season.

Jim Carlisle of the Ventura County Star writes that the Los Angeles Clippers are no longer a media laughingstock.

Jim looks into the new NFL TV deals.

Jim has his weekend viewing picks.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News talks with former DC NFL team QB Mark Rypien and his daughter Angela, who’s now one in the Lingerie Football League.

Tom talks with TNT’s Charles Barkley.

Tom has a few more hits that didn’t make his Barkley column.

Canada

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail reviews the season premiere of HBO’s 24/7.

And that’s going to do it.