The Day After Christmas Links

Time to give you some links on the second busiest shopping day of the year. I have to say when I went out shopping on Sunday, there weren’t many people at the malls or grocery stores as it was late and the Patriots were on so traffic was down. I expect the malls to be practically empty on Saturday when the Pats take on the Giants as fans scramble to try to watch the game.

Now we know that WCVB in Boston and WMUR in New Hampshire have been given permission from the NFL to carry the game. WJAR-TV (NBC10) is now petitioning the NFL to also pick up Saturday’s game saying Providence is 33 miles from Foxboro. In addition, the station says the NFL has considered stations with a 75 mile radius of the team’s stadium to be home team TV stations, so WJAR should be considered as such. The station says it has cleared its primetime schedule on Saturday in case the NFL agrees to Channel 10’s request. As they say in the broadcast business, stay tuned.

Don Kaplan of the New York Post reports that WFSB-TV in Hartford is also using the 75 mile rule being in proximity to both Giants Stadium in New Jersey and Gillette Stadium in Hartford to try to carry the game.

Caroline Roberts of the Bostonist website says it’s not fair for the entire New England region not to have access to the Pats-Giants game.

USA Today’s Michael McCarthy talks about the NFL’s Super Bowl ad contest in which fans will decide which player’s story they want to see.

Phil Swann of TV Predictions.com wonders if big cable will actually decide to carry the NFL Network in time for Saturday’s game.

Newsday’s Neil Best says despite having the worst record among the New York NFL teams, the Jets have the better postgame show. And Best gives best wishes to Fox Sports Director of Communications Tim Buckman who’s leaving the network.

Bruce Allen of Boston Sports Media Watch has the Top Five Boston Sports Media Stories of 2007.

Dave Goetzl of Mediapost Publications says Verizon is becoming a major mobile sports hub. Wayne Friedman from Mediapost has a story on NBC winning Sunday night’s ratings in the 18-49 demographic thanks to Sunday Night Football.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reviews the Fox telecast of the Packers-Bears game from Sunday.

Ed Sherman in the Chicago Tribune profiles the Voice of Illinois football and basketball, Brian Barnhart, who will call the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day. From last week, Sherman reports that former Cubs TV analyst Steve Stone will now work on radio for White Sox home games on Fridays during the regular season.

Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel says after the broadcast of the Liberty Bowl on Saturday, local radio station WQTM will switch from all-sports to a Latin-based format.

Mike Dougherty of the Lohud (NY) Journal News says MSG Network’s Jimmy Cavallo has carved out a nice niche covering high school sports.

I missed this from last week, but hockey fans will be happy to know that the NHL Network will pick up coverage of the entire medal round of the World Junior Hockey Championships starting January 2. George Sipple has the story from the Detroit Free Press. And William Houston of the Toronto Globe and Mail writes that the tournament is a big deal to TSN.

That’s it for now.

About Ken Fang

Ken has been covering the sports media in earnest at his own site, Fang's Bites since May 2007 and at Awful Announcing since March 2013. He provides a unique perspective having been an award-winning radio news reporter in Providence and having worked in local television. Fang celebrates the three Boston Red Sox World Championships in the 21st Century, but continues to be a long-suffering Cleveland Browns fan.

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