Still waiting on word on whether there will be a primetime flex for NFL Week 15. As I chronicled yesterday, CBS and NBC are in a dispute over moving the New England-Denver game from 4:15 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
CBS wants to keep Pats-Broncos despite protecting the New York Jets-Philadelphia game. NBC wants it in place of the originally scheduled Baltimore-San Diego contest which isn’t as attractive and is in danger of not being sold out and hence, being blacked out in Southern California which includes the nation’s number two market of Los Angeles.
I’ve asked sources all over about this and every single one is tight-lipped. Apparently this dispute between CBS and NBC is running very deep. CBS is bitter over losing Denver-Minnesota to Fox in the Week 13 flex that gave it Indianapolis-New England while Fox received the Broncos in a rare switch of networks.
Now CBS wants to hold onto Pats-Broncos and receive the ratings from a Tom Brady-Tim Tebow matchup that would set up its primeime schedule very nicely from 60 Minutes all the way to CSI: Miami to the Survivor season finale and live reunion show. Having these shows opposite New England-Denver in primetime would kill CBS’ ratings.
NBC would love the game so it could reap the ratings benefits as Sunday Night Football as its only guaranteed primetime winner on its schedule.
The NFL has to rule and it can’t keep the four teams that could be effected by a potential flex waiting for too much longer. Baltimore and San Diego have to know if they’re playing at 1:15 p.m. or 5:30 p.m. Pacific time plus New England and Denver need to get plans in place whether they would play at 2:15 p.m. or 6:30 p.m. Mountain.
I asked one source before lunchtime on the East Coast if there was any indication of a primetime game for Week 15 and the answer I received was “nope.” The longer this continues the more likely that the Week 15 schedule will remain the same, but no matter what happens, one network will have a very bitter taste for a long time. And in TV circles, memories run deep.
