Time for some linkage today. Back after being away at a jobsite yesterday so let’s catch up on the linkage.
USA Today’s Michael Hiestand writes about Versus’ disappearing act on DirecTV this week.
John Eggerton of Broadcasting & Cable says Dish Network is hoping to capitalize on the Versus/DirecTV dispute.
Greg Wyshynski of Yahoo’s Puck Daddy NHL blog says the war of words between DirecTV and Versus is mushrooming.
Wayne Friedman of Mediapost also has a story on the Versus/DirecTV split.
Stuart Levine of Variety says the dispute is over which tier DirecTV wants to position Versus, causing the channel to lose subscribers.
David Barron of the Houston Chronicle says the DirecTV decision will affect University of Texas fans.
Tom Hoffarth from the Los Angeles Daily News looks at the Versus/DirecTV fight as well as the Tennis Channel/Cablevision dispute.
Joe Flint of the Los Angeles Times says the fight has gotten very ugly.
To other stories now.
Back to Michael Hiestand of USA Today, he writes how Arnold Palmer helped to change the way golf was seen on TV.
Richard Sandomir of the New York Times says local blackouts of home games could be the norm for the NFL this season.
Jay Posner of the San Diego Union-Tribune says blackouts may be prevalent for Chargers fans this season as the team’s exhibition finale won’t be seen live this Friday.
However, Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life Magazine says based on the August numbers, the NFL is expecting strong ratings for the regular season.
John Koblin of the New York Observer has his early observations of ESPN2’s coverage of the US Open.
CNBC’s Darren Rovell has August’s Sports Twitter rankings.
Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union says a local pro football show returns to the airwaves next week.
Pete says MLB has moved the September 27 Yankees-Red Sox from the traditional Sunday Night slot to early afternoon so as not to conflict with Yom Kippur.
Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette reports that MLB is adding games to the MLB Network and TBS’ schedules this month.
Ken says local high school football games can be seen and heard over the next two months.
Keith Groller of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call has comments from Fox’s NFL analysts regarding the Philadelphia Eagles.
To Laura Nachman who covers the Philadelphia TV and radio scene so well. She has news about Comcast SportsNet adding to its Eagles presence.
Laura tells us that the 76ers have a new TV analyst.
Tim Lemke of the Washington Times says Proctor & Gamble will be an official sponsor of the US Olympic team in 2010 and 2012.
Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman says ESPN Radio’s version of College Gameday will be in Arlington, TX on Saturday.
In the Orlando Sentinel, Josh Robbins says Fox Sports Florida and Sun Sports will combine for 70 Magic games this season.
Barry Horn from the Dallas Morning News says Mavericks announcer Chuck Cooperstein will be calling some college football games before NBA season begins.
Barry says the Dallas-Fort Worth area will have a total of 26 college football games to watch from Thursday through Monday.
Barry has some various tidbits from Fox Sports Southwest.
Barry talks about a lineup shift at one of the local sports radio stations.
And Barry wonders who will pick up the 2 Dallas Stars games that aren’t slated for TV.
Bob Wolfley from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has the Fox NFL analysts’ quotes about the Green Bay Packers.
Ed Sherman in Crain’s Chicago Business says the Bears-Broncos exhibition game on NBC did well nationally and locally.
Ed asks college football teams not to schedule cupcakes.
Bob Shallit of the Sacramento Bee writes that a new series of NFL Network ads have been produced in the local area.
Zennie Abraham of the San Francisco Chronicle says a “confused” Erin Andrews will return to ESPN this week.
Luke DeCock of the Raleigh News & Observer says security will not be tightene
d when Erin makes her return to ESPN on Thursday for the South Carolina-NC State game.
Ken Tysiac of the Charlotte Observer says NC State appreciates the early national exposure on ESPN.
Chris Zelkovich of the Toronto Star has the TV ratings in Canada from the weekend.
Leigh Holmwood of the Guardian says ESPN UK has secured the rights to the UEFA Europa League, continuing its shopping spree of soccer rights in England.
Michael Bush of Ad Age writes that Wendy’s will be sponsoring “Football Fridays” on ESPN.
Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News writes that YES will have exclusive replays of Notre Dame home football games this season.
Mike says Verizon Fios subscribers will receive the NFL Network’s RedZone channel this fall.
And Mike has more on the Tennis Channel-Cablevision dispute that has left tennis fans without some US Open coverage.
Maury Brown in the Biz of Baseball wonders if the new in-market streaming by some MLB teams will change the archaic blackout rules across the country.
Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk has renewed his content agreement with the Sporting News.
The Sports Media Watch has the entire MLB Postseason schedule.
SMW has the weekend ratings.
SMW tells us that the ratings for the PGA Tour’s The Barclays increased big time from last year.
And SMW has some ratings odds and ends.
Chris Byrne in the Eye on Sports Media looks at the NFL blacking out in-game tweets from its players.
Kristine Leahy has today’s edition of The Five at WEEI.com.
And that will do it for today. Lots of linkage.
