Fang's Bites

ABC Wins Primetime Ratings with NBA Finals Game 6

ESPN puts out this press release that ABC won the primetime ratings with NBA Finals Game 6. As Sports Media Watch pointed out, the ratings were lower from Game 5. But take a look at this release.

NBA Finals Deliver Sixth Straight Primetime Win for ABC

Third NBA Finals Game 7 in 22 Years to be Played Thursday on ABC

ABC’s exclusive coverage of The Finals Game 6 – Boston Celtics at Los Angeles Lakers – delivered a 12.3 overnight rating, propelling the network to win the night in prime time for the sixth straight game. Tuesday’s Game 6 broadcast was the highest-rated show of the night for all of television, as was the case for the previous five games.

The Lakers’ 89-67 victory forced a decisive Game 7 – only the third NBA Finals Game 7 in the last 22 years – Thursday, June 17, at 9 p.m. ET on ABC and ESPN Radio.  Mike Breen calls The Finals on ABC with analysts Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy and reporter Doris Burke. Jim Durham provides play-by-play on ESPN Radio with Hall of Famers Hubie Brown and Dr. Jack Ramsay. ABC’s NBA Countdown, with host Stuart Scott and analysts Magic Johnson, Jon Barry and Michael Wilbon, will preview Game 7 at 8:30 p.m.

Through five games of national ratings, The Finals have averaged 16,155,000 viewers and a 9.6 rating, the highest five-game averages since 2004 (Pistons/Lakers). The Finals’ viewership is up 13 percent (vs. 14,347,000 viewers) and ratings are up 14 percent (vs. 8.4) vs. last year (Lakers/Magic).

That’s it.

ABC Gets Good Ratings for Game 5 of NBA Finals

I’ve been amiss at posting ESPN press releases on the NBA Finals ratings. Suffice to say that they’re up significantly from last year. Last night was no exception as we find out from this note.

NBA Finals Game 5 on ABC Overnight Rating up 36 Percent

Celtics-Lakers Wins the Night for ABC; Highest Game 5 Rating in Six Years

ABC’s exclusive coverage of The Finals Game 5 – Los Angeles Lakers at Boston Celtics – delivered a 12.8 overnight rating, the highest of the series so far and a 36 percent increase from 2009 (Lakers vs. Orlando, 9.4 overnight).

Thursday night’s Game 5 broadcast was the highest-rated show of the night for all of television, helping ABC to win the night for all networks in primetime, as was the case the previous four games. The game peaked with a 16.5 rating from 10:30-10:45 p.m. ET.

The broadcast received the highest Game 5 overnight rating since 2004 (Lakers/Detroit, 15.5 overnight rating), a mark that has been achieved by each game of The Finals.  

Coverage will continue with Game 6 on Tuesday, June 15, at 9 p.m. on ABC and ESPN Radio. The Celtics currently lead the series 3-2, with the Lakers facing elimination in Game 6.

Short and sweet and to the point.

Celtics-Cavs Game 6 2nd Most Viewed Basketball Game on ESPN

The final ratings for ESPN are in and they’re lower than the overnights, but they’re still good for the Alleged Worldwide Leader as Celtics-Cavs Game 6 becomes the second highest viewed basketball game, college or pro on the network. The average viewership was almost 9 million viewers plus the ratings in Cleveland, Boston, Orlando, Chicago and New York were very good as well. Here’s the official press release.

Cavaliers/Celtics Game 6 – ESPN’s Second Most-Viewed Basketball Game

ESPN’s exclusive telecast of the Eastern Conference Semifinal Game 6 between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics Thursday, May 13, at 8 p.m. ET earned a 6.6 rating and an average of 6,552,000 households and 8,983,000 viewers to become the network’s second most-viewed basketball game (college or pro). The telecast only trails last year’s Western Conference Final Game 4 between the Los Angeles Lakers and Denver Nuggets (6.9 rating, 6,746,000 households and 9,833,000 viewers). The Cleveland/Boston telecast is ESPN’s highest-rated and most-viewed Conference Semifinal ever, surpassing last year’s Game 6 between the Los Angeles Lakers and Houston Rockets (5.4 rating, 5,306,000 households and 7,352,000 viewers).

Last night’s Game 6 is the third most-viewed program on ESPN in 2010 and the fourth most-viewed program on ad-supported cable among households and viewers. The telecast is the fifth most-viewed NBA Playoff game ever on cable among households and viewers. It was the highest-rated and most-viewed program of the night among M18-34, M18-49 and M25-54 on all networks (broadcast or cable). In addition to key male demos, ESPN won the night among P18-49 and P25-54.

Additional highlights:

• The Cavs/Celtics game delivered a 29.4 rating in Cleveland, ESPN’s highest-rated NBA Playoff game ever in that market (records dating back to 2003);
• In Boston, the game posted a 16.9 rating, ESPN’s highest-rated NBA Playoff game locally since Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals in 2008 (Boston/Detroit – 18.4 rating);
• The Cavs/Celtics game was the highest-rated NBA Playoff game ever in Orlando (9.4) and Chicago (7.1) and was the highest-rated NBA Playoff game in New York (6.0) since 2004 (Detroit vs. Indiana, Eastern Conference Finals Game 2 – 6.3 rating).

ABC NBA Playoff Ratings Up 10 Percent

Through eight broadcasts, the NBA Playoffs on ABC are averaging a 3.3 rating, an increase of 10 percent compared to a 3.0 rating through the same number of games last season. The corresponding 5,013,000 viewers are up nine percent over last year’s 4,582,000 viewers and households are up eight percent (3,739,000 vs. 3,472,000). ESPN’s 14 telecasts have averaged 3,587,000 viewers, up four percent compared to last year’s 3,442,000 (at this time). ESPN’s 2,678,000 household impressions are up one percent (2,658,000 households last year) and the 2.7 household rating is equal to last postseason. 

Conference Finals Coverage on ESPN

Exclusive coverage of the Eastern Conference Finals – the Boston Celtics and Orlando Magic – will begin Sunday, May 16, at 3:30 p.m. on ABC.  Mike Breen will call the Eastern Conference Finals with analysts Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy and reporter Doris Burke.  ABC’s NBA Countdown pregame show, with host Stuart Scott and analysts Magic Johnson, Jon Barry and Michael Wilbon, will preview the action at 3 p.m. Jim Durham will provide play-by-play for ESPN Radio (coverage begins at 2:35 p.m.) with Hall of Famer Dr. Jack Ramsay. 

ESPN Radio will also broadcast the Western Conference Finals between the Phoenix Suns and Los Angeles Lakers, tipping off Monday, May 17, at 8 p.m. Kevin Calabro will describe the action with Hall of Famer Hubie Brown.

That’s it.

Celtics-Cavs Game 6 Draws Viewers For ESPN

ESPN’s PR department is putting out drips and drabs on the ratings for last night’s Celtics triumphant win over the Cleveland Cavaliers. The national overnight rating was 7.1 which was the highest rated NBA Playoff game ever on ESPN.

Cleveland’s overnight was 29.4 which was tops across the nation and set a record for an NBA Playoff game rating in the city. Boston came in at 16.9 which is the highest rated playoff game in the market since the 2008 Eastern Conference Finals Game 6 against Detroit (18.4). Other markets of note, Orlando was 9.4, Chicago at 7.1 and New York at 6.0.

Not only was interest high in the game, but of course for the maddening LeBron James storyline which only stands to get Brett Favre-like until he decides whether to stay in Cleveland or leave for the Knicks.

Due to a busy personal schedule, I won’t have the megalinks today, but I will post news if something breaks.

In addition, the press release with the final ratings will be out later today and when that comes in, I will post it on the blog.

ESPN’s NBA Ratings Plus Playoffs Schedule For This Weekend

ESPN is pleased over the ratings for the NBA Playoffs. Check out this blurb.

ESPN’s NBA Playoff Viewership up 19 Percent

Through nine telecasts, ESPN is averaging 3,048,000 viewers, an increase of 19 percent over the comparable 2,568,000 viewers at this time last postseason (eight telecasts).  The corresponding household impressions are up 18 percent (2,295,000 vs. 2,040,000) and the rating is up 10 percent (2.3 vs. 2.1). ESPN’s telecast of Game 6 between the Los Angeles Lakers and Oklahoma City Thunder (Friday, April 30) delivered a 3.6 rating, 3,582,000 household impressions and 4,833,000 viewers to become ESPN’s most-viewed first-round playoff game ever. The telecast tied for the highest-rated-first- round game with the Lakers/Houston Rockets (April 23, 2004).

ABC’s four broadcasts are up one percent in viewership (4,601,000 vs. 4,536,000) and are even in household impressions (3,463,000 vs. 3,470,000) and rating (3.0).

And here’s the schedule for ESPN and ABC over the next few days.

Date	Time (ET)	Matchup	Network
Thur, May 6	7:30 p.m.	NBA Shootaround Stuart Scott, Avery Johnson, Jalen Rose	ESPN, ESPN HD,
	8:00 p.m.	Atlanta at Orlando (Game 2) Mike Tirico, Hubie Brown, Heather Cox	ESPN, ESPN HD, ESPN3.com, ESPN Mobile TV, ESPN Deportes
Fri, May 7	7:00 p.m.	Cleveland at Boston (Game3) Mike Breen, Mark Jackson, Jeff Van Gundy, Lisa Salters	ESPN, ESPN HD, ESPN3.com, ESPN Mobile TV
	9:30 p.m.	Phoenix at San Antonio (Game 3) Dan Shulman, Jon Barry, Ric Bucher	ESPN, ESPN HD, ESPN3.com, ESPN Mobile TV
Sat, May 8	4:30 p.m.	NBA Shootaround Mark Jones, A. Johnson, Jamal Mashburn	ESPN, ESPN HD,
	5 p.m.	Orlando at Atlanta (Game 3) Dave Pasch, Doris Burke, Holly Rowe	ESPN, ESPN HD, ESPN3.com, ESPN Mobile TV
	8 p.m.	NBA Countdown Scott, Jon Barry, Mike Wilbon, Magic Johnson	ABC, ABC HD
	8:15 p.m.	L.A. Lakers at Utah (Game 3) Tirico, Brown	ABC, ABC HD, ESPN Radio
Sun, May 9	3 p.m.	NBA Countdown Scott, Jon Barry, Mike Wilbon, Magic Johnson	ABC, ABC HD
	3:30 p.m.	Cleveland at Boston (Game 4) Breen, Jackson, Van Gundy, Salters	ABC, ABC HD, ESPN Radio

That’s it.

Canada’s Olympic Broadcasting Consortium’s Schedule for Day 8 of the Winter Olympics

We’re about at the halfway point of the Winter Olympics. I’d have to say for the most part, they have been fun to watch, especially the feeds I have found from either the BBC or CTV. I won’t say how or where they are, but suffice to say I’ve been able to watch live coverage when NBC won’t provide it so I’ve been getting my Olympics fix.

CTV has your schedule for Friday.

Day 8 Highlights: Skeleton Racers Hollingsworth, Montgomery and Pain Dive in Head First For Gold , Friday, Feb.19

DAY 8 – SCHEDULED SPORTS HIGHLIGHTS (SUBJECT TO CHANGE)
OLYMPIC DAYTIME/JEUX OLYMPIQUES EN JOURNÉE  
Alpine Skiing: Men’s Super-G – The ‘Canadian Cowboys’ head back to the hill to lasso a gold medal, as Manuel Osborne-Paradis, Erik Guay, Robbie Dixon and Jan Hudec take to the slopes (CTV, TSN, V, CTVOlympics.ca, RDSolympiques.ca)

Curling: Men’s – With a perfect 3-0 record at the Games, Kevin Martin skips Team Canada against Denmark (TSN, RDS, APTN, CTVOlympics.ca, RDSolympiques.ca)

OLYMPIC PRIME TIME/JEUX OLYMPIQUES AUX HEURES DE GRANDE ÉCOUTE  
Skeleton: Men’s and Women’s – Mellisa Hollingsworth, Jon Montgomery and Jeff Pain take their final runs as they race for a spot on the podium (CTV, OLN, APTN, V, RIS Info Sports, ATN – Tamil, CTVOlympics.ca, RDSolympiques.ca)

Figure Skating: Ice Dance – 2009 World bronze medallists Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir perform their compulsory dance as Canada’s darling duo look to become the youngest Ice Dance gold medallists in the history of the Olympic Games (CTV, TSN, RDS, ATN – Punjabi, CTVOlympics.ca, RDSolympiques.ca)

Curling: Women’s – Cheryl Bernard leads Team Canada against Denmark in its fourth curling match of the Games (Rogers Sportsnet, RDS, OMNI – Mandarin, CTVOlympics.ca, RDSolympiques.ca)

DAY 8 – ADDITIONAL HIGHLIGHTS (SUBJECT TO CHANGE)
OLYMPIC MORNING – The hosts sit down with celebrated American swimmer Michael Phelps, eight-time gold medallist at Beijing 2008 and winner of 14 career Olympic Games gold medals.

LE RÉVEIL OLYMPIQUE – Former NHL head coach Michel Bergeron discusses Team Canada’s performance against Switzerland, and Kelly VanderBeek, a three-time World Cup medallist in alpine skiing, chats with host Claude Mailhot.

ETALK and FASHIONTELEVISION – Leah Miller chats with swimming guru Michael Phelps, fiddler-extraordinaire Ashley MacIsaac and Ghana ski team member Kwame ‘Snow Leopard’ Nkrumah-Acheampong. Lainey Lui gets the dirt from trainer Harley Pasternak about the A-list celebrities he has trained in Vancouver.

MOD LIVE @ THE BASE – Jenn Heil talks about her silver medal performance and Vancouver’s Marianas Trench performs for fans. Saturday’s Victory Ceremony concert features rockers Theory of a Deadman.

DIGITAL LOUNGE – A musical performance by Newfoundland native Sherman Downey is featured as well as more magical moments with Canadian medallists.

And CTV is happy over another night of success for Canadian athletes at the Games.

Vancouver 2010 Audience Day 6 Recap: 3.5 Million Watch Marianne St-Gelais Win Silver for Canada

• – 4.9 million watch Short Track Speed Skating –
  – 2.9 million on CTV watch Maëlle Ricker awarded Canada’s second gold medal–
  – 1.4 million watch Canadian women defeat Sweden in hockey on TSN –
  – OLN triples prime time average with largest audience for the Games –
  

When Marianne St-Gelais won silver in the Short Track Speed Skating Ladies’ 500m final, 3.5 million Canadians were there cheering her along. Overnight data from BBM Canada confirms 1.8 million were watching on Rogers Sportsnet alone, while 948,000 watched on V/CPAC. After Day 6, overall engagement with Vancouver 2010 coverage has now reached 96% of the population – or 32.18 million Canadians, according to Canada’s Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium’s CUME index.

Day 6 Average Audiences

OLYMPIC MORNING/LE RÉVEIL OLYMPIQUE 926,000
OLYMPIC DAYTIME/JEUX OLYMPIQUES EN JOURNÉE 2.97 million
OLYMPIC PRIME TIME/JEUX OLYMPIQUES AUX HEURES DE GRANDE ÉCOUTE 4.5 million

Additional Highlights – Television

• 79% of English-language teens (aged 12-17) watched Vancouver 2010 coverage yesterday on television.
• After five shows, more than one in three Canadians has now woken up to OLYMPIC MORNING on CTV alone, reaching nearly 14 million viewers.
• Wednesday’s most-watched event was the Short Track Speed Skating: Men’s 5000m Relay Semifinals, which drew an audience of 4.9 million viewers at 6:30 p.m. PT.
• Maëlle Ricker was awarded Canada’s second gold medal as 2.9 million viewers on CTV alone – peaking at 3.3 million viewers – watched her medal presentation at last night’s Victory Ceremony.
• Short Track Speed Skating was a big hit on Sportsnet, with 1.8 million viewers for the Ladies’ 500m finals and 1.5 million for the Men’s 5000m Relay Semifinals.
• 1.4 million viewers watched Canada defeat Sweden 13-1 in Women’s Hockey on TSN.
• Men’s Halfpipe qualifications averaged 222,000 viewers on OLN, one of the channel’s most-watched broadcasts ever and three times its prime time average.
• JEUX OLYMPIQUES AUX HEURES DE GRANDE ÉCOUTE delivered 589,000 viewers for V/CPAC, RDS and RIS, while JEUX OLYMPIQUES EN JOURNÉE was watched by 376,000 viewers.

Additional Highlights – Online

• Total video views for CTVOlympics.ca and RDSolympiques.ca exceeded 10 million after Day 6.
• The Michael J. Fox ‘It’s Our Game’ feature saw nearly 17,000 views yesterday, largely driven by social media buzz.
• Visitors to both sites are becoming more engaged as daily video views per visitor and page views per visitor continued to increase on Day 6, compared to the previous day.
• Top Athlete Profiles visited are: #1 Johnny Weir; #2 Cheryl Bernard; #3 Kevin Martin; #4 Maëlle Ricker; #5 Lindsey Vonn.
• Last week’s Opening Ceremony is still resonating with visitors as it is the most-searched item on the sites.
• Tuesday’s CAN/NOR Men’s Hockey game was still being watched by Canadians one day later, as the game’s highlight reel was the most-watched video on CTVOlympics.ca Wednesday.

Top Five Television Events

Total Viewers Event Time (PT) Channels
1. 4.9 million Short Track Speed Skating: Men’s 5000m Relay Semifinals 18:34 CTV, V/CPAC, Sportsnet, OMNI.2
2. 4.3 million Men’s Halfpipe Finals 19:17 CTV, V/CPAC, TSN, RDS
3. 3.5 million Short Track Speed Skating: Ladies’ 500m Finals 19:08 CTV, V/CPAC, Sportsnet, OMNI.2
4. 2.4 million Short Track Speed Skating: Ladies’ 500m Semifinals 18:12 CTV, V/CPAC, RDS, OMNI.2
5. 2.2 million Ladies’ Downhill 11:01 CTV, V/CPAC

I’ll give you NBC’s quotage from the games coming up.

Monday Night Football Wins Cable Primetime Again

Monday Night Football continues to do well for ESPN. On Monday, the Giants-Washington game was a bust, but not so in the ratings. It was down from last week’s 9.6 rating for the Arizona-San Francisco contest. But football continues to be king on TV.

Monday Night Football Wins the Night Among All Networks

 

Giants-Redskins Game Earns 8.4 Rating and 11.3 Million Viewers;

 

MNF Wins the Night in Viewers for Fifth Time This Season

 

This week’s Monday Night Football game – the New York Giants’ 45-12 victory over the Washington Redskins – earned an 8.4 rating, representing an average of 8,366,000 households (11,343,000 viewers – P2+). MNF led all the night’s programs (broadcast or cable) among households, viewers and all key male and adult demos, making ESPN the top network for the night in all categories. It is the fifth time ESPN’s Monday Night Football has won the night for total viewers among all networks this season.

 

For 2009, ESPN’s MNF telecasts represent cable’s 15 biggest audiences (and 16 of the top 17) among households, as well as the top 14 among viewers. Through 15 weeks (16 games) of the NFL season, ESPN’s MNF is averaging a 10.3 rating and 10,206,000 households (14,202,000 P2+), up 17 percent, 18 percent and 20 percent, respectively, from last season.

 

ESPN.COM

ESPN.com had 55.5 million page views to NFL content accessed via computers and mobile devices for Monday thru Tuesday at noon — up 11 percent from the comparable time period last year.  Specifically, page views for the NFL section on computers and mobile were up 23 percent from last year. Additionally, ESPN.com streamed 2.4 million NFL related videos.

 

MNF SEASON FINALE: BRETT FAVRE AND VIKINGS AT CHICAGO BEARS

ESPN’s MNF 2009 season finale next week (Dec. 28) will feature an NFC North rivalry when Brett Favre and the Minnesota Vikings continue their push to the playoffs when they travel to the Windy City to face Jay Cutler and the Chicago Bears at 8:30 p.m. ET. ESPN’s game around the game coverage begins at 3:30 p.m. with NFL Live and continues throughout the afternoon.

More releases coming up.

Two Quick Press Releases For You

I have a couple of releases for you before I do the regular stuff for today.

These are quotes and notes from NBA TV’s Fan Night on Tuesday.

Notes from NBA TV’s Fan Night – Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Denver Nuggets (90) @ Chicago Bulls (89)

Voting is open on NBA.com for next week’s Fan Night match-up that will air on Tuesday, Nov. 17. Fans can select between the following games:

Warriors @ Cavaliers

Suns @ Rockets

Thunder @ Heat

Raptors @ Nuggets

Pacers @ Nets

Clippers @ Hornets

Bulls @ Kings

Pistons @Lakers

CLIP OF THE DAY

(click on link below to watch)

TNT’s Ernie Johnson interviews Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on his recent announcement that he has leukemia

**** **** **** ****

Pre-Game Show

Ernie Johnson, Dennis Scott and Kevin McHale

McHale on Nuggets guard JR Smith and what he is bringing to the team: “Shooting and more shooting. He helps spread the court. He rises up and shoots the three effortlessly.”

McHale on Nuggets forward Kenyon Martin: “Kenyon Martin is one tough customer. He gives them a real physical presence. He’s not afraid to hit you and when he is hitting people and him and Nene are playing aggressively, that makes them a whole different type of team.”

Scott on the progression of Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony’s game: “He loves contact. He is one of the few guys in the NBA that really relishes taking the ball to the basket and getting to the free-throw line. George Karl talked about his focus and how he is looking for the double-team and always looking for the right things.”

McHale on Carmelo Anthony: “The amazing thing to me is that he gets to the free throw line 11 times a game. He puts pressure on the defense and makes you foul him.”

Scott on Bulls forward Taj Gibson’s energy in the game: “He’s the energizer bunny. When he comes in the game he’s diving at loose balls. I think he may be kin to (Joakim) Noah the way they both play, they go for everything.”

McHale on Allen Iverson’s current situation with the Grizzlies: “First of all, if you are looking at Memphis, they are very disjointed right now. Is A.I. going to play, is he not going to play, what is going to happen? So right away it hurts the team. When you are in our league it has to be the team first and that is the one thing about Allen he is so talented but does he put the team first. Is it more about you or the Memphis Grizzlies?”

McHale on Suns guard Steve Nash’s performance so far this season: “He is doing what he has always done which is to take the ball in his hand and make plays and make shots. Right now it is fun to watch him play. (Channing) Frye gives them that spreading the floor, which is so good for Steve. Steve needs court spreaders.”

Abdul-Jabbar on finding out that he had been diagnosed with leukemia: “For me, it was scary. I have had to live with cancer in my family. My grandfather died from colon rectal cancer. My uncle died from it. My dad almost died from it. I have the gene for it. Cancer is a scary thing and is part of what I was dealing with already so when I heard the word leukemia I was scared and very concerned.”

Abdul-Jabbar on his current health status and his ongoing treatment program: “I feel great now. I have been dealing with it under the instruction of my oncologist. That is the key – to stick with the regimen. You have to see a healthcare specialist that understands this type of situation and you have to take your medication and get your blood checked regularly. If you do that, with early detection and treatment you have a good chance of managing this condition and not having to change your life drastically.”

***** ***** *****

Halftime Report

Johnson, Scott and McHale

McHale on Carmelo Anthony’s ability to score at will: “He scores the ball very easily. He scores in such a myriad of ways that it is hard to keep him off the line and off the box score.”

Scott on Carmelo Anthony’s improved game: “I’m amazed at his patience this year. Really under control, really focused and waiting for the double-team. Ya’ll not coming; I’m taking my man, so ya’ll better come get me.”

McHale on the maturation process for players in the league: “When I first got the ball in the post, I was so excited to get it. I went so fast, I would end up shooting a seven footer at the basket. As you get better, you don’t look at the guy defending you, you look at where you are going. He is looking at where he is going. When you are a good low-post player, it is the patience that makes the difference.”

McHale on Bulls center Joakim Noah: “I love this kid. He works so hard. I loved him at Florida. He is just a winner; He does a lot of little things and he is really fighting hard for them (Bulls).”

Scott on Noah’s passion: “I love his energy coming out of Florida. A lot of people said they didn’t like his game. But with two national championships in college, he is bringing that same energy and same passion to the game and it is rubbing off on the rest of his teammates.”

***** ***** *****

NBA GameTime

Johnson, Scott and McHale

Scott on Chicago’s loss to the Nuggets: “I have to give Chicago a lot of credit. They didn’t shoot the ball well but they stayed scrappy. Noah with 21 rebounds. I thought Taj (Gibson) did an excellent job filling in for (Tyrus) Thomas but throughout the game, they could not make the wide open shot out of the pick and roll.”

Scott on the Bulls’ offense: “Until they find another guy off the bench to come in with some offensive fire power like (Ben) Gordon, it could be a long year unless they score by committee.”

Nuggets guard Carmelo Anthony joined the Fan Night crew via Arena Link.

Anthony on his improved play: “I feel real good, I feel real focused. I’m trying to make the free throw line a friend of mine again. Getting out in open court is something that I’ve been focusing on. ”

Anthony on JR Smith’s request to be called Earl Smith: “I think I’m going to stick with JR.”

Anthony on new teammate Ty Lawson: “I love him; I love what he is bringing to our team and what he is bringing off the bench. He is brining that momentum that we are looking for.”

And the finale of HBO’s 24/7 Pacquiao/Cotto is on Friday.

24/7 PACQUIAO/COTTO

NOV. 13 EPISODE

Episode #4 (series finale)

Debut: FRIDAY, NOV. 13 (9:30-10:00 p.m. ET/PT)

Both camps wind down and the pressure builds as Manny Pacquiao (49-3-2, 37 KOs) and Miguel Cotto (34-1, 27 KOs) attend mandatory fight week activities preceding their Nov. 14 megafight in Las Vegas.

Prior to the debut of the final episode of 24/7 PACQUIAO/COTTO, the first three episodes will be seen back-to-back, starting at 8:00 p.m. In addition, all four episodes will be seen back-to-back on HBO on Saturday, Nov. 14, starting at 9:30 a.m. The series is also available on HBO On Demand.

On Saturday, Nov. 14 at 9:00 p.m. (ET)/6:00 p.m. (PT), HBO Pay-Per-View presents “Pacquiao vs. Cotto,” live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

The executive producers of 24/7 PACQUIAO/COTTO are Ross Greenburg and Rick Bernstein; coordinating producer, Dave Harmon; producers, Scott Boggins and Bentley Weiner; writer, Aaron Cohen. Liev Schreiber narrates.

To the Primetime and Late Night Viewing Picks next.

A Few Tuesday Press Releases

I’ve found that Monday and Wednesday are usually the big days for press releases. Tuesday is a bit quieter. This Tuesday is no exception. But still, it’s nice to get releases to post.

Here’s one from ESPN which continues to harp on the primetime wins the NBA Finals had in June.

NBA Finals Propel ABC to Dominate Prime Time in June

The 2009 NBA Finals – which saw the Los Angeles Lakers defeat the Orlando Magic 4-1 for the NBA championship – were a slam dunk for ABC throughout June, averaging over 14 million viewers and providing the top five broadcasts on television among viewers. The broadcasts also accounted for the top five programs among Men 18-34 since February.

If ratings figures hold through the remainder of the month, it will be the second consecutive year The Finals have delivered June’s most-watched programs. All five Finals broadcasts ranked No. 1 each night for ABC.

The Finals also sparked ABC to dominate in all key demos, including the following five-game averages:

• M18-34 (6.8)
• M18-49 (7.1)
• M25-54 (7.4)
• P18-34 (5.7)
• P18-49 (5.7)
• P25-54 (5.9)

ABC’s five Finals broadcasts averaged an 8.4 HH rating representing 9,642,000 households and 14,347,000 viewers (P2+).

Record-Setting NBA Playoffs for ESPN

ESPN’s coverage of the 2009 NBA Playoffs was record-setting including:

• the highest-rated (3.7 HH rating) and most-viewed (3,594,000 households; 4,893,000 viewers) postseason ever for the network;

• ESPN’s six most-viewed basketball games (college or pro) of all time;

• the network’s highest-rated (6.2 HH rating) and most-viewed (6,057,000 households; 8,712,000 viewers) Conference Finals ever;

• the network’s highest-rated (3.5 HH rating) and most-viewed (3,459,000 households; 4,576,000 viewers) Conference Semifinals ever.

ESPN picks up its second heavyweight boxing championship fight, this one involving Wladimir Klitschko. My problem is that it’s being dumped to ESPN Classic. Show it on the mothership or don’t show it all all.

Live Coverage of Klitschko/Chagaev on ESPN Classic and ESPN360.com

ESPN Classic and ESPN360.com will present live coverage of the June 20 Wladimir Klitschko/Ruslan Chagaev bout from Gelsenkirchen, Germany, beginning at 5 p.m. ET. This marks the second time in three months that ESPN networks have aired a heavyweight championship boxing match. ESPN International will also air the fight on ESPN Brasil and ESPN Dos (Mexico and the northern cone).

In March, ESPN Classic aired Vitali Klitschko’s WBC title defense against Juan Carlos Gomez. Vitali is the older brother of Wladimir Klitschko.

“We continually seek boxing content that serves fans across multiple platforms,” said Doug Loughrey, director of programming & acquisitions at ESPN. “We are pleased to offer up another championship bout.”

The winner of the bout will receive the vacant Ring Magazine Heavyweight Championship belt, which was held by Vitali Klitschko until he retired in 2005. Wladimir Klitschko, 33, is a three-time heavyweight champion and holds a 52-3-0 record with 46 KOs. He defeated Hasim Rahman by TKO in seven rounds December. Klitschko has not lost since April 10, 2004.

“I’m very proud that ESPN, the No. 1 sports channel worldwide, will cover my upcoming fight,” Klitschko said. “Now all the fans in the United States can watch this fight between two champions.”

Chagaev, 30, is 25-0-1. In February, he beat then-undefeated Carl Davis Drumond in six rounds. Klitschko has the physical advantage. The Ukrainian is 6-foot-6 with an 81-inch reach, while Chagaev, a southpaw, is 6-foot-1 with a 74” reach.

BJ Flores will provide analysis. Flores, a world-ranked cruiserweight, has worked in studio with ESPN’s Brian Kenny on select ESPN Friday Night Fights telecasts and will continue to do so through the 2009 season.

The Big Ten Network will air its second annual awards show later this month.

Second Annual Big Ten Network Awards Show to Air Live on June 19

Winners of the Suzy Favor and Jesse Owens Awards to be announced

CHICAGO – The Big Ten Network will recognize the best of Big Ten sports in 2008-09 with the second annual Big Ten Network Awards live at 10 PM ET on Friday, June 19. Mike Hall, Rick Pizzo and Dave Revsine will host the one-hour show.

The announcement of two prestigious Big Ten Conference awards, the Suzy Favor Award, for the conference’s best female student-athlete, and the Jesse Owens Award, for the best male student-athlete, will highlight the evening’s festivities.

The network also will have interviews with selected award winners, both coaches and players.

Fan voting on www.BigTenNetwork.com will determine the winners in three categories, including Best Finish of the Year, Men’s Coach of the Year and Women’s Coach of the Year. Voting ended June 14.

Nominees for the Men’s Coach of the Year award are Penn State football coach Joe Paterno, Michigan State men’s basketball coach Tom Izzo, Michigan State men’s soccer coach Joe Baum, Iowa wrestling coach Tom Brands and Iowa football coach Kirk Ferentz. Nominees for Women’s Coach of the Year are Penn State women’s volleyball coach Russ Rose, Illinois women’s gymnastics coach Bob Starkell, Northwestern women’s lacrosse coach Kelly Amonte Hiller, Northwestern women’s tennis coach Claire Pollard and Ohio State women’s basketball coach Jim Foster.

The other award categories and nominees are as follows:

Breakout Performance of the Year

Darryl Clark – Penn State football

Shonn Greene – Iowa football

Samantha Prahalis – Ohio State basketball

Monica Perry – Illinois softball

Terrelle Pryor – Ohio State football

Evan Turner – Ohio State basketball

Most Dominating Performance

Megan Hodge – Penn State volleyball (Final Four, 12/18 and 12/20/08)

Deshawn Sims – Michigan basketball (Big Ten Tournament, 3/12/09)

Brittany Weil – Iowa softball (10/4/08)

Derrick Williams – Penn State football (9/27/08)

Juice Williams – Illinois football (10/4/08)

Alex Wimmers – Ohio State baseball (4/1/09)

Most Courageous Performance

Jamelle Cornley – Penn State basketball

Robbie Hummel – Purdue basketball

Jaevery McFadden – Wisconsin football

Mark Mitera – Michigan hockey

Joe Paterno – Penn State football

Allie Southard – Penn State gymnastics

Best Finish of the Year

Illinois vs. Northwestern – men’s basketball (2/12/09)

Illinois vs. Penn State – men’s basketball (3/5/09)

Michigan vs. Purdue – football (11/1/08)

Michigan State vs. Purdue – women’s basketball (3/1/09)

Minnesota vs. Michigan – women’s basketball (2/15/09)

Northwestern vs. Minnesota – football (11/1/08)

Ohio State vs. Iowa – Big Ten Field Hockey Tournament Championship (11/9/08)

Ohio State vs. Northwestern – men’s basketball (2/18/09)

Penn State vs. Iowa – football (11/8/08)

Purdue vs. Central Michigan – football (9/20/08)

Purdue vs. Ohio State – Big Ten Women’s Basketball Tournament Championship (3/8/09)

Wisconsin vs. Michigan State – football (11/1/08)

Men’s Team of the Year

Iowa football

Iowa wrestling

Michigan State basketball

Michigan State soccer

Ohio State tennis

Penn State football

Women’s Team of the Year

Indiana swimming & diving

Iowa field hockey

Michigan gymnastics

Northwestern lacrosse

Northwestern tennis

Penn State volleyball

Game of the Year

Kansas vs. Michigan State – men’s basketball (3/27/09)

Michigan vs. Duke – men’s basketball (11/21/09)

Michigan vs. Purdue – football (11/1/08)

Michigan State vs. Connecticut – men’s basketball (4/4/09)

Michigan State vs. Penn State – men’s basketball (2/1/09)

Minnesota vs. Wisconsin – men’s basketball (1/15/09)

Northwestern vs. Michigan State – men’s basketball (1/21/09)

Penn State vs. Iowa – men’s basketball (3/7/09)

Penn State vs. Iowa – football (11/8/08)

Penn State vs. Nebraska – women’s volleyball Final Four (12/18/08)

Penn State vs. Ohio State – football (10/25/08)

Ohio State vs. Wisconsin – football (10/4/08)

Wisconsin vs. Michigan – football (9/27/09)

And we get this wrap up of Monday’s episode of Big Break: Prince Edward Island from Golf Channel.

Mendoza Eliminated From Big Break Prince Edward Island

Final Three Contestants Compete for $100,000

ORLANDO, Fla. (June 16, 2009) – Gerina Mendoza was eliminated in the ninth episode of Big Break Prince Edward Island, leaving Derek Gillespie (Oshawa, Ontario, Canada), Brenda McLarnon (Charleston, S.C.) and Blair O’Neal (Scottsdale, Ariz.) to compete for the $100,000 winner’s paycheck in the series’ remaining two shows.

In the episode’s opening challenge, McLarnon defeated Mendoza in a two-hole stroke play match while O’Neal pulled off an upset by defeating the favored Gillespie. The winners earned immunity and the losers faced off in an elimination challenge.

Competing in the same format, Gillespie overcame faulty driving to eliminate Mendoza, who he called the greatest threat to winning the series.

“I definitely would get some grief from my friends if I lose to a girl,” a relieved Gillespie said.

Elimination by Episode: Show 1: Robert Read Show 2: William Thompson Show 3: Kim Kouwabunpat Show 4: Caroline Larsson Show 5: Nicole Sikora Show 6: Brian Skatell Show 7: Eugene Smith Show 8: Aaron Wright Show 9: Gerina Mendoza

With two-thirds of the remaining field female, and each gaining momentum, he is far from escaping ridicule. Gillespie’s two victories on the Canadian Tour give him the best credentials, but he has a challenge ahead.

O’Neal proved she could beat him, something that was in question. A four-year starter at Arizona State University, she twice won the NCAA Long Drive Championship but has been out of professional golf since 2006 pursuing a modeling career. Before leaving the fairway for the runway, she competed on numerous Tours around the world. However, other competitors in Big Break Prince Edward Island quickly learned that she is someone to watch instead of merely look at. “She comes in a beautiful package but she is not just a pretty face,” said Nicole Sikora (Valley Cottage, N.Y.), who was eliminated in episode five. “That girl can stripe it.”

McLarnon is brutally honest and outspoken, and brings humor and conflict to everything she does. Having played the Duramed FUTURES Tour the last three years, she learned the sacrifice it takes to play professional golf and is ready to capitalize on the hard-earned experience. In the series, she has earned respect as a gritty competitor who has been tested in elimination challenges.

The 10^th episode of Big Break Prince Edward Island will air Monday at 9 p.m. ET.

Past Big Break champions won tournament exemptions to compete on some of the world’s top professional circuits, such as the PGA TOUR, Champions Tour, European Tour, LPGA Tour, Nationwide Tour and Canadian Tour. Former Big Breakers Tommy Gainey and James Nitties compete on the PGA TOUR in 2009 while four previous female contestants currently play on the LPGA Tour, including Kristy McPherson, who finished tied for second at the Kraft Nabisco Championship earlier this year.

Adding insight to Big Break Prince Edward Island as co-hosts are former PGA TOUR professional Charlie Rymer and Golf Digest Senior Editor Stina Sternberg.

Shot at Mill River Golf Course in Prince Edward Island, it marks the first time a Canadian location has hosted Big Break. Located in the Gulf of St. Lawrence on Canada’s east coast, Prince Edward Island boasts more than 32 courses that span from one end of the Island to the other. One of Canada’s top golf destinations, Prince Edward Island offers other recreational activities, including kayaking and cycling.

Coming, one last post on the NHL.

Quick Saturday Linkage

I’ve finished some unpacking, sent some reports and invoices out. Now I can do some links before I leave and enjoy the rest of the day.

Breaking news from the Sports Business Journal’s John Ourand and Eric Fisher… They report that the Yankees will become the first team to stream its games into its home market thanks to a deal with Cablevision, MLB and MLB Advanced Media. Other teams will be watching to see how successful this test will be. Expect many fans to sign up. And thanks to the SBJ for opening this page for public consumption today. Much appreciated. It pays to be on Twitter at 4:15 p.m. If you follow John on Twitter, you were tipped off to this big story.

For some reason, Neil Best was up early on a Saturday and caught the Jonas Brothers doing something on the late West Coast SportsCenter. You’re a better man than me to get up early, Neil.

On this Belmont Stakes day, Richard Sandomir of the New York Times looks at the interesting strategy of The Daily Racing Form which still survives as a newspaper and an online publication.

Ken Schott of the Schenectady Gazette feels there’s no way the NBA and NHL Finals should be on head-to-head against each other.

Alan Pergament of the Buffalo News enjoyed Jeff Van Gundy’s commentary in Game 1 of the NBA Finals.

Jack Ireland of the Delaware News-Journal talks with ESPN’s Jeannine Edwards about her covering the Belmont Stakes today.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner writes that Calvin Borel will be the story of this year’s Belmont Stakes.

Jim wonders if Pittsburgh is the new Hockeytown.

And Jim says while NBC is poised to broadcast tennis history on Sunday, the French Open truly belonged to the Tennis Channel and ESPN2 for the last two weeks.

The Sports Media Journal’s Ray Frager doesn’t think it’s a bad thing for the media to be involved in college football polls.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News chronicles Texas Rangers radio voice Eric Nadel’s quick diagnosis of floaters in his eye. In his blog, Barry is attempting to blackmail Rangers president Nolan Ryan for a Texas-sized suite at the Ballpark at Arlington.

R. Thomas Umstead of Multichannel News says the NBA Playoffs were ratings magic for the league’s cable partners.

Greg Wyshynski of the Puck Daddy blog on Yahoo! Sports wonders if the NHL can do better than its no-rights deal with NBC.

That will do it for now. I’ll see you Sunday morning.

Nuggets-Lakers Sets A Ratings Record Again!

The NBA Western Conference Finals seems to have struck a chord with sports fans. Here’s ESPN’s press release.

Nuggets/Lakers Game 4 – Most-Viewed NBA Game Ever on Cable

Most-Viewed Cable Telecast of the Year; ESPN’s Most-Viewed Basketball Telecast

ESPN’s exclusive telecast of the NBA Western Conference Finals Game 4 between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Denver Nuggets Monday, May 25, at 9 p.m. ET earned a 6.9 rating, representing an average of 6,746,000 households and 9,883,000 viewers (P2+) to become the most-viewed NBA game ever on cable (among viewers). The telecast was the most-viewed program this year on cable. It also became ESPN’s most-viewed basketball game ever (college or pro), surpassing last week’s mark (Game 1, May 19 – 7,352,000 viewers).

Additional highlights:

• Game 4 of the Nuggets/Lakers series outpaced last year’s Eastern Conference Finals Game 4 between Boston/Detroit by 62 percent in viewers (6,086,000), 51 percent in households (4,469,000) and 50 percent in rating (4.6);
• ESPN’s 17 NBA Playoff telecasts are averaging 4,426,000 viewers, an increase of 16 percent over last season’s 19 telecasts to date (3,819,000). The corresponding 3,299,000 households are up 12 percent (2,949,000), and the 3.4 rating is up 10 percent (3.1 rating);
• The Nuggets/Lakers game delivered a 21.3 rating in Denver, the highest-rated NBA game on ESPN or ABC ever locally (records date back to 2003). In L.A., the game posted a 16.1 rating, the highest-rated NBA Playoff game on ESPN (with records going back to 2003).

Western Conference Finals Game 3 Ratings Recap

The Western Conference Finals Game 3 (which aired Saturday, May 23, at 8:30 p.m. on ABC), garnered a final 5.4 rating representing 6,164,000 households and 8,731,000 viewers. The Western Conference Finals Game 3 broadcast was ABC’s most-viewed Conference Finals game ever. The broadcast was ABC’s best Saturday performance in viewers and young adults in over five months (since Dec. 6, 2008).

Western Conference Finals Continue on ESPN

Following tonight’s Game 5 (May 27 at 9 p.m.), ESPN’s exclusive coverage of the Western Conference Finals will continue with Game 6 – an elimination game – when the Denver Nuggets host the Los Angeles Lakers Friday, May 29, at 9 p.m. The series is currently knotted at two games apiece. Mike Breen will call the game with analysts Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy and reporter Doris Burke. The game will also be available via ESPN HD, ESPN Radio, ESPN Deportes, ESPN360.com and ESPN Mobile TV. Jim Durham will describe the game on ESPN Radio with analyst Dr. Jack Ramsay. ESPN’s coverage will tip off with NBA Shootaround, hosted by Stuart Scott with analysts Jon Barry, Magic Johnson and Michael Wilbon, at 8 p.m.

If the Western Conference Finals extend to a decisive Game 7, ABC will broadcast the matchup Sunday, May 31, at 8:30 p.m., with NBA Countdown previewing the action at 8 p.m. The NBA Finals – exclusively on ABC – will begin Thursday, June 4, with coverage beginning at 8:30 p.m.

I’ll have links coming up.

Press Release Leftovers

I forgot to post these press releases last night as I was so focused on the 2 hour 24 finale. So I’ll post these now and free up some space in the Fang’s Bites inbox.

TNT says the ratings for Game 7 of Magic-Celtics was the most watched second round NBA playoffs game in cable television history. That’s pretty good.

TNT’s Magic/Celtics Game #7 is Most Watched Second Round NBA Playoffs Game in Cable History

Final Magic/Celtics matchup on TNT is highest rated game of the 2009 NBA Playoffs on broadcast or cable to date

TNT‘s exclusive coverage of Game 7 between the Orlando Magic @ Boston Celtics on Sunday, May 17, set a record as the most watched second round NBA Playoff game in cable television history in households (5,907,000), viewers (8,406,000) and key adult and male demos. The game scored a 5.2 US HH rating, based on Nielsen Fast Nationals, marking the highest rated game of the 2009 NBA Playoffs on broadcast or cable to date. The Orlando Magic overpowered the Boston Celtics, winning 101-82, to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

TNT continues to score with strong growth for its coverage of the 2009 NBA Playoffs including:

· Most watched Conference Semifinals round in cable television history in households (averaged 3,786,000) and total viewers (averaged 5,073,000), beating the previous high for the second round of the 2004 NBA Playoffs.

· TNT’s second round coverage averaged a 3.3 US HH rating for 13 games, up 14% over last year (14 games).

· Magic/Celtics Game #7 earned strong viewership in key demos including:

· A18-34 (2,558,000)

· A18-49 (4,770,000)

· A25-54 (4,565,000)

· M18-34 (1,800,000)

· M18-49 (3,322,000)

· M25-54 (3,156,000)

· To date, the NBA Playoffs on TNT are averaging a 2.6 US HH rating for 36 games, up 8% over last year (36 games).

· Key adult and male demos have seen strong growth across the board for TNT’s 2009 NBA Playoffs coverage versus last year (36 games):

· A18-34 +10% (1,248,000 vs. 1,134,000)

· A18-49 +10% (2,289,000 vs. 2,073,000)

· A25-54 +4% (2,140,000 vs. 1,876,000)

· M18-34 +4% (896,000 vs. 862,000)

· M18-49 +8% (1,627,000 vs. 1,510,000)

· M25-54 +13% (1,513,000 vs. 1,334,000)

TNT’s strong second round growth follows the network’s best first round ratings in cable television history, including the Game #7 showdown of the Chicago Bulls @ Boston Celtics that was the most watched Round One game in cable television history in households (5,017,000) and total viewers (6,987,000).

TNT’s exclusive coverage of the 2009 NBA Eastern Conference Finals will get underway on Wednesday, May 20 at 8 p.m. ET with 30-minute edition of NBA Tip-Off with Ernie Johnson (host), Charles Barkley (analyst), Reggie Miller (analyst) and Kenny Smith (analyst). At 8:30 p.m. ET, LeBron James and Cleveland Cavaliers will host the Orlando Magic in Game #1 of the best-of-seven series. Calling the action will be Marv Albert (play-by-play) and Doug Collins (analyst) with Craig Sager reporting courtside.

Next, ESPN tells us that the NBA Draft Lottery and Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals will be seen tonight.

NBA: Draft Lottery & Game One of Lakers/Nuggets in Western Conference Finals Tuesday

The Kobe Bryant-led L.A. Lakers host the Denver Nuggets, with Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups, in the first game of the Western Conference Finals Tuesday at 9 p.m. on ESPN. Leading into the game, ESPN will present the 2009 NBA Draft Lottery at 8:30 p.m.

The best-of-seven Western Conference Finals will be televised exclusively on ESPN and ABC. Mike Breen will call the games with analysts Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy and reporter Doris Burke. ESPN and ABC will offer pre-game studio shows at 8 p.m. throughout the series, including commentary from Hall of Famer Magic Johnson.

ESPN Radio will broadcast both the Eastern and Western Conference Finals, with Jim Durham and analyst Dr. Jack Ramsay on the Lakers/Nuggets (Games 1 and 2) and Mike Tirico and Hubie Brown calling Cleveland/Orlando Games 1 and 2.

Date	Time (ET)	Programming	Network/Platform
Tues., May 19	8 p.m.	NBA Shootaround Stuart Scott, Jon Barry, Magic Johnson, Michael Wilbon	ESPN, ESPN HD, ESPN360.com, ESPN Mobile TV
	8:30 p.m.	NBA Draft Lottery Bristol – Matt Winer, Avery Johnson, Tim Legler Secaucus – Mark Jones, Jay Bilas, Lisa Salters	ESPN, ESPN HD, ESPN360.com, ESPN Mobile TV
	9 p.m.	Denver at L.A., Game 1	ESPN, ESPN HD, ESPN360.com; ESPN Mobile TV, ESPN Deportes, ESPN Radio
Thurs., May 21	8 p.m.	NBA Shootaround	ESPN, ESPN HD, ESPN360.com; ESPN Mobile TV
	9 p.m.	Denver at L.A., Game 2	ESPN, ESPN HD, ESPN360.com; ESPN Mobile TV, ESPN Deportes, ESPN Radio
Sat., May 23	8 p.m.	NBA Countdown	ABC, ABC HD
	8:30 p.m.	L.A. at Denver, Game 3	ABC, ABC HD, ESPN Radio
Mon., May 25	8 p.m.	NBA Shootaround	ESPN, ESPN HD, ESPN360.com; ESPN Mobile TV
	9 p.m.	L.A. at Denver, Game 4	ESPN, ESPN HD, ESPN360.com; ESPN Mobile TV, ESPN Deportes, ESPN Radio
Wed., May 27	8 p.m.	NBA Shootaround	ESPN, ESPN HD, ESPN360.com; ESPN Mobile TV
	9 p.m.	Denver at L.A., Game 5*	ESPN, ESPN HD, ESPN360.com; ESPN Mobile TV, ESPN Deportes, ESPN Radio
Fri., May 29	8 p.m.	NBA Shootaround	ESPN, ESPN HD, ESPN360.com; ESPN Mobile TV
	9 p.m.	L.A. at Denver, Game 6*	ESPN, ESPN HD, ESPN360.com; ESPN Mobile TV, ESPN Deportes, ESPN Radio
Sun., May 31	8 p.m.	NBA Countdown	ABC, ABC HD
	8:30 p.m.	Denver at L.A., Game 7*	ABC, ABC HD, ESPN Radio

*If necessary

The Golf Channel has added Charlie Rymer to its on-air lineup.

Charlie Rymer Joins GOLF CHANNEL On-Air Team

ORLANDO, Fla. (May 18, 2009) – GOLF CHANNEL announced the addition of Charlie Rymer to the network’s on-air team as an analyst for Golf Central, Live From telecasts and live tournament coverage.

An accomplished player, Rymer spent more than 10 years playing professional golf, with a third place at the 1995 Shell Houston Open his best PGA TOUR finish. He also won the 1994 South Carolina Classic on the Nationwide Tour, and as an amateur, was a two-time All American at Georgia Tech.

Prior to joining GOLF CHANNEL in a full-time capacity, Rymer treated golf fans to his quick wit and “down home” humor as a sports commentator for ESPN since 1998. A native of Fort Mill, S.C., Rymer also contributed to GOLF CHANNEL projects such as Road Trip: Myrtle Beach and served as a co-host on Big Break Prince Edward Island.

Finally, Big Ten Network will have extensive coverage of the conference baseball tournament this week.

Big Ten Network to Air Baseball Tournament in its Entirety
Extensive coverage begins Wednesday from Columbus

CHICAGO – For the first time, the Big Ten Network will televise every game of the Big Ten Baseball Tournament from the first pitch on Wednesday, May 20, through the title game on Saturday, May 23. The tournament will be carried live from the new Huntington Park in Columbus, Ohio. An additional game will be played, if needed, at 12 PM ET on Sunday, May 24.*

The Big Ten Network will provide extensive tournament coverage, including post-game press conferences, expert analysis between games, and live interviews with coaches and players before, during and after the action.

“Between our live game and studio coverage, the Big Ten Network will give fans everything they need to follow the Big Ten Baseball Tournament,” said network President Mark Silverman.

Brian Barnhart will do the play-by-play, with Danan Hughes providing the analysis, for the tournament’s first two days. Barnhart, who for many seasons worked as an analyst in the minor leagues, and Hughes, a former Iowa baseball and football player, are both in their second year with the network. The second two days (and
Sunday, if needed) will be handled by Big Ten Network regular Brent Stover doing play-by-play and analysis from former New York Yankees player Scott Pose, also in his second baseball season with the network. Shireen Saski returns as the network’s reporter for all four days.

The Big Ten Network studio team of Dave Revsine, Rick Pizzo, and Mike Hall will provide extensive coverage between every game and on Big Ten Tonight, at 10 PM ET on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The Big Ten Tonight team welcomes a new studio analyst, Cal Eldred, for those four shows and the between-game coverage. Eldred is a 14-year Major League Baseball veteran who played with the Milwaukee Brewers, Chicago White Sox and St. Louis Cardinals after his days as pitcher at Iowa.

Wednesday’s games will pit #4 seed Illinois (33-18, 16-8) against #5 seed Michigan State (23-29, 13-11) at 12:05 PM ET and #3 seed Indiana (28-25, 16-7) against #6 seed Purdue (24-24, 11-12) at 3:35 PM ET. The top seeds, #1 Ohio State (39-15, 18-6) and #2 Minnesota (35-15, 17-6), will have a bye for the first day’s games and
will begin action on Thursday. Minnesota will play the higher-seeded winner of Wednesday’s matchups at 3:35 PM ET and Ohio State will play the lower-seeded winning team at 7:05 PM ET.

Finishing the regular season, the top four teams were clustered at the top of the conference standings. Ohio State was able to break away from the pack with the regular season title thanks to an 8-6 win over Iowa and a Minnesota loss to Penn State by a score of 10-8. Purdue beat Illinois this weekend, securing the tournament’s last spot and giving Indiana the #3 seed and a half-game lead over the Illini.

*Due to the nature of double-elimination tournaments, the second championship game would be necessary if the winner of the first championship game had lost one game previously.

Game Broadcast Schedule: The Big Ten Network will present exclusive live coverage of ten Big Ten Baseball Tournament games.

All times Eastern

Wednesday, May 20
Game 1: 12:05 PM: No. 4 Seed Illinois vs. No. 5 Seed Michigan State
Game 2: 3:35 PM: No. 3 Seed Indiana vs. No. 6 Seed Purdue

Thursday, May 21
Game 3: 12:05 PM: Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2
Game 4: 3:35 PM: Highest Seed of Games 1 & 2 Winners vs. No. 2 Seed Minnesota
Game 5: 7:05 PM: Lowest Seed of Games 1 & 2 Winners vs. No. 1 Seed Ohio State

Friday, May 22
Game 6: 12:05 PM: Winner Game 3 vs. Lowest Seed of Games 4 & 5 Losers**
Game 7: 3:35 PM: Winner Game 6 vs. Highest Seed of Games 4 & 5 Losers**
Semifinal – Game 8: 7:05 PM: Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 4

Saturday, May 23
Semifinal – Game 9: 3:35 PM: Winner Game 7 vs. Loser Game 8
Championship – Game 10: 7:05 PM: Winner Game 8 vs. Winner Game 9

Sunday, May 24 (If Necessary)***
Second Championship – Game 11: 12:05 PM: Winner Game 10 vs. Loser Game 10

**Exception: if either of the Games 4 or 5 losers has already had a bye, that team will play in Game 6, regardless of seed.
***If winner of Game 10 is also the winner of Game 9, Winner and Loser of Game 10 will play in an 11th game on Sunday.

That does it.

Game 6 of Lakers-Rockets Sets Ratings Record for ESPN

Thursday seemed to be a record setting day for sports TV ratings. Earlier today, I told you about NESN’s record ratings for the Game 7 of the Bruins-Carolina series. Now ESPN gives us this release about Lakers-Rockets Game 6.

Lakers/Rockets Game 6 – ESPN’s Most-Viewed Basketball Telecast Ever

Highest-Rated NBA Playoff Game in 2009; ESPN Conference Semifinal Audience Up 16 Percent

ESPN’s telecast of the NBA Conference Semifinal Game 6 between the Los Angeles Lakers and Houston Rockets Thursday, May 14, at 9:30 p.m. ET earned a 5.4 rating representing an average of 5,306,000 household impressions and 7,352,000 viewers (P2+) to become the network’s most-viewed basketball game ever. The previous record audience was 4,990,000 households and 6,602,000 viewers for Miami/Detroit, Game 6 of the 2006 Eastern Conference Finals (May 31).

Additional highlights:

• The telecast is the highest-rated and most-viewed NBA Playoff game on cable in 2009;
• The telecast was the network’s highest-rated and most-viewed program in the calendar year (since December 29, 2008), topping last week’s Game 3 from the series (Lakers/Houston, May 8 – 4.5 rating; 4,432,000 households; 5,952,000 viewers);
• The Lakers/Rockets game delivered a 16.0 rating in Houston, the highest-rated NBA game on ESPN ever locally. In L.A., the game posted a 13.0 rating.

ESPN’s six exclusive conference semifinal telecasts averaged a 3.5 rating representing an average of 3,459,000 household impressions and 4,576,000 viewers, increases of nine percent in rating (3.2), 12 percent in households (3,099,000) and 16 percent in viewers (3,950,000) over last year’s seven conference semifinal telecasts.

Coverage of the Lakers/Rockets series will continue with the decisive Game 7 Sunday, May 17, on ABC at 3:30 p.m. Mike Breen will call the game with analysts Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy and reporter Doris Burke. ESPN Radio will broadcast the game (coverage beginning at 2:45 p.m.), with Jim Durham and analyst Dr. Jack Ramsay providing commentary.

With a Game 7 on ABC, one would expect the ratings for the NBA to go up at least on Sunday.

Your Monday Links

I’ll have to give you some quick links as I have to leave the office momentarily.

Reid Cherner from USA Today’s Game On blog does the Sports media column today and he talks with CBS’ Clark Kellogg and Greg Anthony about the NCAA Tournament.

From the Sports Business Journal, Terry Lefton writes that Major League Baseball is launching its biggest marketing campaign ever.

Michael Smith of the SBJ says the SEC TV money from CBS and ESPN come just in time for the University of Kentucky and new basketball coach John Calipari.

John Ourand from the SBJ reports that cable is not welcoming the NFL’s Red Zone Channel with open arms.

The New York Post’s Phil Mushnick prefers the Mets’ Citi Field on TV over the new Yankee Stadiums.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell feels Citi Group’s executives should embrace Citi Field, not run away from it. Darren looks at the impact that Michigan State in the Final Four is having on Detroit. Darren says those who bought Tyler Hansbrough’s jersey made a good investment.

The Washington Examiner’s Jim Williams says baseball fans have plenty of options to watch games this season.

Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times says CBS’ Clark Kellogg stepped up his game during the Final Four.

Ed Sherman of Crain’s Chicago Business says former boxer Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini is joining Mike North’s new internet sports station.

Judd Zulgad from the Minneapolis Star Tribune writes about the MLB Network getting ready to bring fans closer to the game. And Judd writes that Fox Sports North is expanding its HD offerings for the Twins.

Dusty Saunders of the Denver Post says it’s time to play ball on FSN Rocky Mountain.

Diane Pucin of the Los Angeles Times writes about tonight’s debut of ESPN’s West Coast SportsCenter.

John Ryan from the San Jose Mercury News says it appears Comcast SportsNet California and DirecTV have come to an agreement on carrying Oakland A’s games this season. John feels Jim Nantz and Clark Kellogg were “see no evil” regarding UConn coach Jim Calhoun. John says Comcast SportsNet Bay Area gets ready for a local sports news rollout today.

Chris Zelkovich from the Toronto Star says baseball games are going to get longer thanks to the replay rule.

The Sports Media Watch says the Cleveland Cavaliers are helping to carry the NBA’s ratings. Paulsen has some ratings news and notes.

Maury Brown of the Biz of Baseball looks at the fight over digital rights between sports leagues and local regional sports networks.

That’s all for now.

Saturday Links, Finally

It sucks when your day is planned for you and you find that you keep getting interrupted for silly little things. I’m at work again, stuck in the home office and trying to actually get work done and hoping to get a link or two in, but I’m finding it extremely difficult today. As I mentioned in the press releases (scroll below or click here), it took me close to five hours to get that particular post up and now I’m trying to do this before another interruption comes in. I hate working on Saturdays.

Anyway, here are the links. I try to get to those that aren’t outdated, but the problem when doing Saturday links, I have to get them up before noon ET as the sporting day usually start around that time.

Starting with David Flores of the San Antonio Express-News who writes his last column for the paper, being one of the victims of a layoff due to budget cuts.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News writes the Texas Rangers radio broadcast team is a mutual admiration society. Barry tries to explain the sports radio ratings. Barry says Houston Texan running back Ryan Moats and his wife will be interviewed on Good Morning America on Monday. Moats was stopped by a policeman as he was speeding to see his dying mother-in-law. We’ve all seen the maddening video by now.

Alan Pergament of the Buffalo News writes that Western New York is mad about the NCAA Tournament this year.

Good friend Ken Schott (and fellow David Letterman fan) of the Schenectady Gazette has some issues with CBS’ switching during the NCAA Tournament.

Christopher Byrne of the Eye on Sports Media says CBS’ switching of games during the NCAA Tournament may not be in the best interest of fans.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times says the Mets made sellouts and fewer seats a priority in the new Citi Field.

Newsday’s Bobby Cassidy, Jr. of the paper’s Trading Paint NASCAR blog talks with ESPN pit reporter and NASCAR Now host Shannon Spake.

Jim Williams of the DC Examiner says CBS gets into the Madness early today … well, earlier today. And Jim says the NCAA Women’s Tournament is back underway today as well. Earlier today as well as a matter of fact.

Ferd Lewis of the Honolulu Advertiser says the Western Athletic Conference is waiting on ESPN so it can release its final football schedule for the fall.

Jennie Rees of the Louisville Courier-Journal reports that ESPN has dropped the Kentucky Derby post-position selection show, leaving HRTV and several local stations to pick it up.

Brandon McClure of the Montgomery (AL) Advertiser says an Alabama State alum has made it big as an online host for Turner Sports, similar to what Friend of Fang’s Bites Beau Estes does during baseball and NASCAR season.

R. Thomas Umstead of Multichannel News says HBO is looking at a multiplatform approach for its next 24/7 series.

Greg Sandoval of CNET says Disney’s ESPN could be part of a deal for ABC to join Hulu to share video clips and shows.

The Sports Media Watch says the NBA’s ratings fell hard again last Sunday. Paul Sen of the SMW writes that while the NHL is drawing consistent ratings every week on NBC, they’re still miniscule compared to other sports. And SMW says the NCAA Tournament slam dunked the primetime competition on Friday.

Wrap Around Curl over at Puck The Media has a SportsCenter clip of the Top Ten goaltender blowouts and that includes this week’s Tukka Rask meltdown at my hometown Providence Civic Center (I know it’s called something else, but if the donut company that bought naming rights wants to pay me to call it by its current name, I’ll be more than happy to write it next time, but it’s still the Civic Center to me).

The Sox & Dawgs blog previews another event in the Jerry Remy empire in April.

Ok, that’s going to end the links for today. I’m already seeing Sunday’s stories on various websites and I’d like to save those for Sunday, of course. See you later.

Wednesday Night Links

Just when you think it’s safe to be free from linkage, you get some more.

You know that game show Wipeout ABC was promoting during the NBA Finals? The show looks like a ripoff of Ninja Warrior on G4. Well, Awful Announcing has discovered who the host will be. The one good thing is the co-host will be Mercury-Lincoln chick, Jill Wagner.

As you well know by now, Tiger Woods has announced that he will miss the rest of the PGA Tour this season because of his bad knee and double stress fracture in his left tibia. CNBC’s Darren Rovell says Tiger’s absence will definitely hurt his sponsors who pay megabucks to be associated with him.

Robert Marich of Broadcasting & Cable says Tiger’s absence will have an adverse effect on the PGA Tour’s TV partners.

The Sports Media Watch says the NBA Finals averaged a 9.3 rating and 15 million viewers for the six game series. And the blog tells us that ratings for MLB on ESPN and Fox are down by double digits this season.

Justin Terranova writes in the New York Post’s TV Sports blog that last night’s Game 6 of the NBA Finals had the highest ratings of the series despite being a 39 point blowout.

Lisa Snedeker of Media Life Magazine writes that the spectacular one year turnaround of the Boston Celtics also led to a spectacular one year turnaround for the NBA Finals on ABC.

Andrew Krukowski of TV Week says Game 6 of the NBA Finals won the night for ABC.

Jemele Hill has apologized for her anti-Celtics column on ESPN.com last week.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News says the Dodgers are getting their own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

LC of the 38 Cliches blog enjoyed listening to Jon Rish calling today’s Red Sox game against the Phillies on the radio in place of Dave O’Brien today.

The Orbitcast blog on satellite radio reports that Sirius will be changing its lineup starting June 24 including the addition of more sports channels for live events.

Anthony Crupi of Mediaweek writes that Comcast will provide Versus and the Golf Channel with their own separate HD feeds instead of having to share one.

ESPN’s excellent Outside the Lines program will examine the poor air quality in Beijing which has many athletes concerned as the Olympics Games in Communist China fast approaches. Here’s a preview of Bob Holtzman’s report that will air this Sunday.

Nick Kappel of the Biz of Football blog says the Big Ten Network and Comcast are close to an “extended basic preview” deal meaning programming would be shown from August through the end of March.

That will do it for today.

The Monday Night Update

There’s a lot to get to including CBS naming the announcing team for the Elite XC mixed martial arts event it will carry later this month, plus a few other things. So let’s get to them now.

First, Phil Swann of the TV Predictions website says Fox Sports Net plans to broadcast its entire lineup in HD by this time next year.

Newsday’s Neil Best says NBC’s roundtable discussion on horse racing at the Preakness was kind of a makeup for its lack of coverage of the Eight Belles tragedy at the Kentucky Derby. Neil also has a summary of how the Yankees, Mets and ESPN broadcast teams called the Carlos Delgado non-home run on Sunday night. And the big news from CBS is that Screamin’ Gus Johnson will call the MMA event on May 31.

The Big Lead says it will live blog the event.

Let’s go to the Sports Media Watch for a few things. First, Game 7 of the Cavs-Celtics gave ABC an 82% boost in the NBA’s ratings from last year. That’s 82%!! NBC continues to see increased ratings for the NHL. And overnight ratings for the Preakness Stakes were down from last year despite having Big Brown as the winner.

Ken Schott of the Schenectady Gazette says NBC was a double winner with the NHL this weekend. John Consoli of Mediaweek tells us that NBC’s NHL ratings were 14% higher over this same weekend last year.

Marisa Guthrie of Broadcasting & Cable says WWE’s Smackdown will debut on MyNetworkTV in October. Also John Eggerton of B&C says that the Ski Channel plans to launch in August.

Larry Barrett of Multichannel News writes that ION network will show programming from NFL Films and Madison Square Garden Network.

Ian over at the Sox & Dawgs blog is smitten with NESN’s Heidi Watney as am I.

LC at the 38Cliches blog has a lecture for Celtics’ radio voice Sean Grande.

That’s going to do it for now.

Saturday Links

Sorry for the delay in fresh material. Last night, my computer shut down on me and I thought I would not get it back. And I had to leave my house early this morning and just returned so I give you some overdue links.

First, the Dallas Morning News’ Barry Horn writes that the NBC broadcast of Game 5 of the NHL Western Conference Finals marks the last game in which the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex will be able to have 100% access to the series. Versus, as you may know, is not totally accessible across the country and will have the rest of the series.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette says the NHL has recovered nicely after NBC slighted the league one year ago today.

Jerry Garcia of the San Antonio Express-News looks at last night’s edition of HBO Real Sports which was re-edited to include Andrea Kremer’s interview with former Patriots employee Matt Walsh.

Bruce Allen from Boston Sports Media Watch has the video of Bill Belichick’s comments on CBS in response to the Matt Walsh interview on HBO.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch takes a look at some sports radio talk lineup changes in the market.

Timothy McNulty of the Chicago Tribune in an editorial says the sale of the co-owned Cubs can’t come soon enough for the Trib, and he has a word of advice for sister paper Newsday as it’s being sold to Cablevision which owns the New York Knicks and Rangers.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says the new Speedo swimsuit is going to make a big splash the Summer Olympics in Communist China. By the way, just a word of warning, Darren is pictured in the swimsuit.

The Sports Media Watch has its weekly weekend ratings predictions. The SMW also says ABC’s ratings for the NBA playoffs are up 17% over last year.

Jim Williams of the DC/Baltimore Examiner looks at NBC’s coverage of the Preakness Stakes.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union says last week’s bowling event on CBS was a ratings disaster.

Christopher Byrne of the Eye on Sports Media blog says ESPN might do better with other programming in the mornings instead of nine hours of SportsCenter.

John Ryan of the San Jose Mercury News says it’s about time Dish Network added Comcast SportsNet Bay Area HD to its lineup.

And that will do it. I’ll be here with Sunday links in the morning.

It’s Your Monday Night Update

Time to give you an update this evening.

First, thanks to Neil Best, I give you the farewell column by Dan Le Batard as he leaves the Miami Herald. In his column, Le Batard mentions that he’s also leaving ESPN, but will return from time to time.

Speaking of Neil, he mentions that Sirius Satellite Radio will have a reunion of sorts as three members of the 1972-73 New York Knicks that won the NBA Championship will be heard on channel 127 tomorrow.

Some ratings news from the Sports Media Watch. First, the Players Championship’s ratings were down on NBC, but not by as much as you would expect with Tiger Woods not in the tournament. And the SMW says the overnights for the NBA on Sunday were pretty good.

Awful Announcing has the NBA Playoff announcing schedule for this week.

Here’s a piece of news for you. Fox Sports is reportedly trying to convince Brett Favre to be part of the Fox NFL Sunday pregame show to replace Barry Switzer.

Tim Lemke of the Washington Times looks at ESPN’s side of the new US Open cable deal.

Chris Casavant of the Connecticut Post laments the end of USA Network’s airing of the US Open.

A couple of posts by Friend of Fang’s Bites, Christopher Byrne of the Eye on Sports Media blog. He says former ESPN/ABC football analyst/sideline reporter Lynn Swann looked out of place on CBS’ bowling broadcast this weekend. And Christopher laments the end of the ABC era in figure skating.

Michael David Smith of the AOL Fanhouse blog has found video of some interesting comments former Sports Illustrated columnist Rick Reilly made about ESPN. Of course, Reilly is scheduled to start working for ESPN in June.

Mike Masuda of the Orlando Sentinel writes in his blog that ESPN needs to stop showing the Red Sox. Wait a minute!

Speaking of the Red Sox, the Providence Journal reports that NESN’s Red Sox Report will be re-edited and re-recorded in Spanish so it can appear on Telemundo stations in New England (scroll down to the bottom).

You want more Red Sox news? LC at the 38Cliches blog says Red Sox radio voice Uncle Joe Castiglione will be appearing at the Grand Opening of a new L.L. Bean store in Maine this week.

John Eggerton of Broadcasting & Cable writes that ESPN has tapped a new VP of ad-sales from NBC Universal.

Linda Moss of Multichannel News reports that DirecTV has moved the Outdoor Channel to its sports tier reducing its subscriber base.

That will do it tonight.

Quickie Thursday Night Links

I’m going to try to give you some links in between segments of Lost. Here we go.

Ted Hearn of Multichannel News reports that FCC Chairman Kevin Martin will not adopt any special rules to help the NFL Network in its fight against Comcast.

Newsday’s Neil Best says YES Yankees analyst John Flaherty is looking like a genius early in the season.

Awful Announcing has the MLB announcing schedule for this weekend.

Maury Brown has a follow-up on MLB.com’s Indiana Jones promotion in the Biz of Baseball blog.

Maury writes in the Biz of Basketball blog that the entire NBA on TNT studio crew will go barefoot on Sunday to raise awareness.

The Sports Media Watch says the NBA is scoring well for ESPN and ABC. And the SMW says the ratings for the NHL on Versus are up significantly this postseason.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell likes the Gillette Zamboni promotion at the TD Banknorth Garden in Boston.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News writes in his Farther Off the Wall blog that E! will have a True Hollywood Story on cheerleading. No word of a lie.

Ken Schott of the Schenectady Gazette says the Union College women’s lacrosse team will be heard locally this weekend.

The Boston Sports Media Watch’s daily approval ratings focuses on the man who tried to break the Super Bowl tape story only to see it blow up in his face, the Boston Herald’s John Tomase.

ESPN previews what it will show on Tuesday’s E:60 newsmagazine program.

I think that will do it for tonight. Friday megalinks will be up around midday. Watch for them.

A Few Monday Night Links

I’ll give you some linkage here as I watch the Red Sox-Tigers game.

Richard Deitsch of Sports Illustrated has his media power rankings for April and he has some thoughts on the Costas Now muscle-tuscle between author Buzz Bissinger and Deadspin’s Will Leitch.

Three links to the Sports Media Watch. First, the SMW says Game 7 of the Hawks-Celtics series drew decent ratings for ABC despite it being a blowout. Next, the blog reports that without Tiger Woods, the Wachovia Championship drew miniscule ratings for CBS. Finally, Paul Sen says the NHL is now red hot.

I saw this earlier and couldn’t believe it, but apparently it’s true. Awful Announcing says ESPN has hired former WWE “announcer” Jonathan “Coach” Coachman as an anchor. He’s also done some work at MSG Network.

Darren Rovell of CNBC says UPS was a big winner at the Kentucky Derby.

Ken Schott of the Schenectady Gazette says Time Warner Cable’s local channel will show AHL Calder Cup playoff action.

John Consoli of Mediaweek says ratings for 22 first round NBA playoff games on TNT are up 10% from last season.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News says the ratings for last night’s four overtime thriller between San Jose and Dallas were good even in the final quarter-hour from 1:15 a.m. – 1:30 a.m. CT. Chuck Carlton of the News says FSN Southwest will replay the game in a condensed version this Thursday.

Keith Reed of the Cincinnati Enquirer writes that the NFL is asking the Bengals to lobby to place the NFL Network on local cable systems.

The Biz of Baseball has the comments from Jim Kaat and Chip Carey from the TBS Sunday Afternoon Baseball game.

Multichannel News says CBS College Sports is undertaking a two month college baseball tour.

The Big Ten Network will televise the conference’s softball tournament this week.

Julianne Smolinski of TV Week writes that ESPN and MobiTV are teaming up for a promotion which will climax with a live event just for AT&T Wireless subscribers.

The Deseret Morning News reports a freelance producer for ESPN has pleaded guilty to child pornography possession charges.

Sarah Baldauf of US News & World Report talks with CBS Sports’ Jim Nantz about sports, his father who suffers from Alzheimer’s Disease and his new book.

That’s going to do it for tonight.

Media Odds and Ends

Here are a couple of items for you. The NBA and NHL postseason are causing some conflicts and programming conflicts.

First, the NHL has an advisory for Versus viewers in case tonight’s Pittsburgh-New York Rangers game goes over the 10 p.m. start time for Detroit-Colorado.

OVERTIME SCENARIO FOR VERSUS’ EXCLUSIVE STANLEY CUP CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS DOUBLEHEADER TONIGHT
In the event tonight’s New York Rangers vs. Pittsburgh Penguins game extends beyond the scheduled 10 p.m. ET starting time of the Detroit Red Wings vs. Colorado Avalanche game, VERSUS will adjust its exclusive coverage of the Stanley Cup Conference Semifinals.

– Cable viewers in the Detroit and Colorado markets will be switched automatically to the beginning of Detroit Red Wings vs. Colorado Avalanche semifinal Game 4.

– Cable viewers in the rest of the country will join the Detroit vs. Colorado game in progress at the conclusion of the New York vs. Pittsburgh game.

– Satellite viewers on DirecTV and Dish Network will be able to watch the Detroit vs. Colorado game in its entirety on an auxiliary channel. (DirecTV – Ch. 659, Dish Network – Ch. 452).

So you have the scenario in case the Penguins-Rangers game goes into overtime.

Now for the NBA, Comcast could not have asked for a better time to take over FSN New England and the rights to the Boston Celtics. The ratings for the regular season were the highest in five years. And the first round of the playoffs is also setting records. From Comcast SportsNet:

Comcast SportsNet Game 5 telecast earned a season high 7.7 rating and reached an estimated 354,000 households in New England. Game 5 achieved an 8.0 rating with men (25-54) and was the second most watched program by men trailing only American Idol. Celtics-Hawks Round 1 is averaging a 6.2 rating through the first five telecasts, up 82 percent over the regular season.

A 7.7 rating is approaching what the Red Sox get on NESN. Each playoff game has been trending up and if the series goes to a 7th game and carried on CSN, one can imagine that the ratings could reach the stratosphere. Of course, if ABC picks up the game, WCVB would reap the benefits and the ratings would be much higher.

For the regular season, the average rating for Celtics games on Comcast SportsNet was 3.4 so the interest going into the playoffs is peaking.

And tomorrow night, ESPN2 will have a scheduling conflict as it picks up Game 6 of the NBA’s Washington-Cleveland series. The game starts at 7 p.m. Friday. ESPN2 was originally scheduled to air a NASCAR Nationwide Series race, but that has been bumped to ESPN Classic and the Speed Channel. Friend of Fang’s Bites, Ken Schott of the Schenectady Gazette has more on the switch.

I’ll have an update later.

Late Thursday Links

I wasn’t planning on giving more links today, but there are enough stories for me to give you an update.

Two things from Darren Rovell’s Sports Business blog at CNBC.com. First, Darren looks into who bought the David Ortiz Red Sox jersey that had been buried in the new Yankee Stadium foundation. Next, Darren is amused by EA Sports’ decision to put recently retired Green Bay Packers QB Brett Favre on the cover of Madden ’09.

Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times writes in his Two Cents blog that having Favre on the cover ensures that the Madden Injury Jinx won’t continue this year.

Linda Moss of Multichanel News writes that Nielsen will measure the ratings for ESPN Deportes starting next week.

William Houston of the Toronto Globe and Mail writes that during tonight’s Coach’s Corner segment on CBC, Don Cherry denounced the violence in Montreal on Monday following the Canadiens’ win over the Boston Bruins.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News says ratings for Versus in the first round of the NHL playoffs are up 33% from last season.

Two things from the Sports Media Watch today. First, Paul Sen says the Washington Capitals’ first round playoff series with the Philadelphia Flyers paid off in good ratings for Versus. Next, ratings for the NBA playoffs are scoring for ESPN and TNT.

John Consoli of Mediaweek says through nine NBA playoff games, TNT’s ratings are up from last season.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News notes that the latest Time magazine cover looks a lot like the new NBA playoff ads. Tim Lemke of the Washington Times says Time outright stole the NBA ads for its split cover of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

Bruce Allen of Boston Sports Media Watch talks about the passing of legendary Boston sports anchor Don Gillis who called play-by-play for every team in the city. Michael Malone of Broadcasting & Cable reports that Gillis was the first sports anchor on Boston TV. The Boston Globe has an obituary.

Jon Lafayette of TV Week says CBS Sports Executive Producer Tony Petitti was formally introduced as President and CEO of the MLB Network on Thursday.

Paul J. Gough of the Hollywood Reporter says the NFL is still committed to the NFL Network despite limited distribution.

CBS Sports continues its coverage of the PGA Tour this weekend with the Byron Nelson Championship.

ESPN has the rundown for the latest edition of E:60 which will air next Tuesday.

NBC Sports will air the U.S. Olympic Women’s Marathon trials (run last weekend in Boston) on MSNBC this Sunday.

Be here sometime around midday Friday for the megalinks. Good night.

Some Monday Night Stuff

Ok, let’s give you some linkage as it appears the Montreal Canadiens will advance to the second round of the NHL playoffs.

Starting with Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch, he has his weekly Media Circus column.

Bruce Allen of the Boston Sports Media Watch has news from the Comcast SportsNet New England people stating that Game 1 of the Celtics-Hawks series pulled in some great numbers on Sunday.

Joseph Santoliquito of MLB.com says John Marzano’s legacy will live on in his native South Philly. And MLB.com has a nice tribute site for Marzano will really died too soon.

The Sports Media Watch says the NHL playoffs saw increased ratings this weekend for NBC. And despite making anti-Mormon comments, ESPN has assigned Ric Bucher to the sidelines for Game 4 of the Houston-Utah series this Saturday. Whoa, check that! ESPN has re-assigned Bucher to Atlanta. Good move.

Clare Farnsworth of the Seattle Post Intelligencer goes over the NFL Network’s schedule for Draft Weekend.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union writes that WTMM has solved its problems over conflicts between the New York Yankees and the Albany River Rats.

Friend of Fang’s Bites Christopher Byrne of the Eye on Sports Media (and thanks for the link, Chris) wonders how CBS and ESPN will replace its aging sportscasting corps (and I would include Mike Patrick in the group that Chris mentions).

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News says Day 1 of the NBA Playoffs scored big for ESPN.
Soccer-oriented Gol TV has obtained the rights to the Italy national soccer team according to Mike Reynolds.

Jeremy Speer of the Gaylord (MI) Herald Times feels E:60′s ambush interview of Miguel Tejada was a disservice.

Here’s an interesting press release from NBC Sports, it will air a one hour special this Sunday featuring footage from its archives of Hank Aaron, Muhammad Ali, Howard Cosell and Joe Namath. I think I’m going to record that.

Ed Bark of the Pegasus (TX) News writes that sports dominated the Dallas-Fort Worth TV landscape this past weekend.

The Hollywood Reporter says Golf Channel has a new vice president of programming.

The Orbitcast satellite radio blog says XM Satellite Radio will have Danica Patrick on as a guest on one of its channels on Tuesday (XM is one of her sponsors).

A bit light on the links this evening, but we’ll have more on Tuesday.

Patriots Day Holiday Links

As I’m in my office in Massachusetts, most of the building is empty as many businesses in the area took Patriots Day off. My office chose not to take it off and it’s actually nice not to have the other offices around today. And it also means the Boston Marathon is underway and the Red Sox play their traditional early morning game at Fenway Park, so lots of stuff to keep track this morning. But it also means one of my employees is here and won’t shut up slowing my blogging today. I’ll try to provide links in between his inane conversations.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today cleans up the weekend issues including ESPN/ABC NBA analysts Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy discussing the New York Knicks coaching job.

The Philadelphia Inquirer says funeral services for John Marzano will take place this Friday. Paul Hagen of the Philadelphia Daily News says Marzano is remembered for his passion for baseball and for his friends.

My employee just left. I’ve been trying to blog for two hours and also get some work done and haven’t been able to. Now that he’s gone, I think I can get today’s entry done. Man, he won’t shut up.

Boston Sports Media has its daily media approval ratings and today is WEEI Dictator Jason Wolfe.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell has a Danica Patrick-themed blog today. He first wonders what’s next for her after her first win in the Indy Racing circuit. And Darren talks to Danica about her win.

Evan Weiner of the New York Sun reports that the protests of the Olympic torch could have an economic impact on the Summer Games in Communist China for NBC and its sponsors down the road.

A couple of things from Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times-Union. First, he wonders why WTMM did not go to Albany River Rats playoff coverage during the Yankees-Orioles rain delay sooner than it did. And Pete talks about the NFL Draft moving to a later time, but having less time in-between picks.

Charles Bricker of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel says the NFL Network’s Mike Mayock is giving ESPN’s Mel Kiper, Jr. a run for his money as draft guru.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says despite paying a much lower rights fee than ESPN, NBC got the more attractive schedule from the NFL.

Dusty Saunders of the Rocky Mountain News enjoys listening to Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy debate basketball during ABC’s NBA telecasts.

The Sports Media Watch reports that the ratings for the NBA playoffs this weekend got off to a big bang.

Chris Zelkovich of the Toronto Star says perhaps one good thing for CBC with potentially no Canadian teams in the NHL playoffs will be the disappearance of perceived anti-US bias.

Maury Brown of the Biz of Baseball wants to hear your MLB Extra Innings blackout stories and I know there are many of them.

Dan O’Brien of the Daily Item of Lynn (MA) writes that contestants attempted to get a shot on NESN’s horrific reality dating series, “Sox Appeal.”

Joe Favorito wonders if a Joey Gathright vs. Kobe Bryant carjump-off could become a reality.

That’s it for now.