I owe you some megalinks from last week so let’s get this done.
Don’t forget the Weekend Viewing Picks.
National
USA Today’s Michael Hiestand and Mike McCarthy square off over whether viewers should care what announcers do off the air and away from the camera.
USA Today’s Sean Leahy has NFL Network analyst Brian Baldinger saying the New York Jets did nothing wrong in the Ines Sainz controversy. For some reason, this story is just not going away.
At Sports Illustrated, Richard Deitsch has his Media Power Rankings for August and September.
Chris Gentilviso of Time notes that 2010 may be the Year of the Blackout for the NFL.
At Pro Football Talk, Michael David Smith says all 32 NFL teams will undergo a training program in the wake of the Ines Sainz incident.
Mike says the Lions just barely avoided a blackout in Detroit.
Jason Lisk at The Big Lead feels the NFL blackout policy needs to change.
Ryan Wilson at Fanhouse tells us which athletes are going to “appear” in this year’s “Body” issue for ESPN The Magazine.
Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News says Fox Soccer Channel has signed a rights deal to air French’s top soccer league in the US.
Mike writes that some Comcast subscribers had trouble accessing NFL Network’s RedZone last week.
George Winslow of Multichannel notes that Verizon Fios is adding Syracuse University sports for fans in the upstate New York area.
Paul Thomasch at Reuters notes that Fox is over 90% sold for the Super Bowl in February.
CNBC’s Darren Rovell says Michigan football jerseys are a hot seller once again.
Marcus Vanderberg at SportsNewser reports that Jay Mariotti’s arraignment on domestic violence charges was postponed until October 1.
Sports Media Watch notes that the NFL had its most watched opening week since 1987.
Even with that good news, SMW discovers that the early NFL window for Fox actually experienced a ratings decline from the year before.
SMW has some various ratings news and notes.
SMW says the delayed men’s final at the US Open hit another ratings low.
And SMW tells us that the US Open women’s final also delivered low ratings.
At Puck The Media, Steve Lepore looks at the early plans for NHL Network and NHL Radio.
Dave Dahlquist at Macworld says CBS is streaming its entire SEC football schedule on its iPhone app.
David Brown at Yahoo’s Big League Stew blog has a very good interview with Los Angeles Dodgers voice Vin Scully.
East and Mid-Atlantic
Chad Finn of the Boston Globe looks inside the radio ratings between 98.5 The Sports Hub and WEEI.
At the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, Bill Doyle talks about the tremendous Week 1 TV ratings for the NFL.
The New York Times’ Richard Sandomir says Fox failed to follow up after the Philadelphia Eagles’ Stewart Bradley returned to the field after seemingly suffering a concussion.
Newsday’s Neil Best notes that MSG Network has signed a rights agreement with the New York Giants.
Kimberly A. Martin of Newsday says the Jets will not be penalized for its behavior last week against Ines Sainz.
Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News has NBC’s Andrea Kremer’s take on the Ines Sainz
situation.
Dr. Doom and Gloom in the New York Post continues to harp on points that only he cares about.
Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union profiles the new program director/midday host of the local sports radio station.
Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Ashley Fox says Ines Sainz brought on the Jets behavior by her improper attire.
Dave Hughes at Press Box talks about the new partnership between the Baltimore Ravens and Comcast SportsNet’s Baltimore website.
Jim Williams at the Washington Examiner notes that football fans are opting to stay home and watch games in HD rather than go to the stadium and pay expensive ticket prices.
And Jim likes listening to the Sirius Playboy Morning Show not just to hear about women, but for the NFL picks.
South
Carolyn Shapiro at the Virginian-Pilot notes that CBS College Sports is being picked up by a local cable company.
Barry Jackson at the Miami Herald looks at the tremendous TV ratings for the NFL.
Katherine Kington of WTVM in Columbus, GA speaks with ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit.
Ray Buck at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram hears from the CBS college football crew on the state of the game today.
David Barron from the Houston Chronicle talks with one of the hosts of Sporting News Radio who made the move to H-Town when the operations moved from California.
Mel Bracht in the Daily Oklahoman says Saturday’s Air Force-Oklahoma game will be picked up for troops stationed overseas.
Midwest
John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer says the Bengals avoided a local blackout on Sunday.
John notes a Chicago sports TV anchor who got some bad advice from her boss when she was working in Dayton.
Tim Twentyman of the Detroit News says the Motor City will not be blacked out this Sunday for the Eagles-Lions game.
Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports on the very short leave that Shannon Sharpe took from CBS due to a legal problem that was quickly dropped.
Ed Sherman in Crain’s Chicago Business has his winners and losers in sports business and media this week.
David Haugh of the Chicago Tribune says the Ines Sainz controversy is an example of a woman being unprofessional.
Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes with Cardinals returning to KMOX, it completes sports teams going full circle in the Gateway City.
Dan notes that there’s some late season juggling going on with the Cardinals TV schedule.
West
Brian Murphy of the Idaho Statesman says a local cable system will not pick up CBS College Sports for tomorrow’s Boise State-Wyoming game.
Jay Posner at the San Diego Union-Tribune wonders what’s going on at one local sports radio station.
John Maffei of the North County Times says fans who want to watch San Diego State play this weekend will have to shell out some extra bucks.
Jim Carlisle of the Ventura County Star wants CBS to stop sending the Oakland Raiders to the local airwaves.
Jim also has the NBC crew previewing Sunday’s Manning Bowl II.
At the Los Angeles Daily News, Tom Hoffarth inquires about the local ESPN Radio affiliate.
Tom speaks with a former Sports Illustrated editor who authored a damaging book on the USC football program.
Tom looks back at a crazy week in sports media in his blog.
The San Jose Mercury News has video of a rather testy exchange between KPIX sports anchor Dennis O’Donnell and 49ers coach Mike Singletary.
Canada
Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail writes that two cable companies are picking up the controversial Rogers Sportsnet One in time for NHL season.
Chris Zelkovich of the Toronto Star wonders if it’s time for a rights charter for sports fans.
The Star’s Rosie DiManno heard from former NHL coach Pat Burns after CTV Ottawa erroneously tweeted today that he had died.
TSN’s Bob McKenzie received the first phone call from Burns.
And we’re done for the night.
