Watchdog

You can make a pretty good case for 2008 as the best sports year ever, and many already have.

You can make an even better case that it was the best sports TV year ever, which Nielsen did in a report it emailed recently, details of which I will not share lest readers storm the basement in protest against Too Many Numbers.

Instead, click below for a summary of highlights from the report. You're welcome.

Continue reading "Many people watched many sports events in 2008" »

Inspired by the item four posts down about Barry Horn's list of the markets with the lowest percentage of pay TV customers, I wondered about the top 10, figuring New York would be in it.

Sure enough . . . here's a list of the top markets, courtesy of a source close to Barry.

Percentages indicate the households that have only broadcast TV.

1. Palm Springs, Calif. 3.4%
2. West Palm Beach, Fla. 4.3%
3. New York 4.4%
4. Johnstown-Altoona Pa. 5.1%
5. Fort Myers-Naples 5.1%
6. Honolulu 5.3%
7. Boston 5.3%
8. Bluefield, Beckley, Oak Hill 5.6%
9. Hartford-New Haven 5.7%
10. Springfield, Mass. 6.1%
10. Atlanta 6.1%

Fine job by Max Kellerman just now on 1050 ESPN telling a caller concerned about cable TV bills that he should keep quiet and appreciate the relatively good deal he is getting.

How is that? Because sports is the most expensive programming on TV, yet the cost is spread over all customers, meaning people who don't care at all about it - a majority of the population, by the way - are subsidizing our fun and games.

Non-sports fans are the ones who should be in revolt, not those of you reading this blog or calling Max. But, shhh. Don't tell them.

As it turned out, the delay in an important FCC meeting that I wrote about Tuesday afternoon lasted only until Tuesday night.

The result was not so good for my soulmate, FCC chairman Kevin Martin, and not so good for the NFL Network (see the last paragraph of the linked story).

The NFL has been hoping to force big cable companies into binding arbitration, which it believes is one of its best chances for a resolution of the ongoing carriage dispute involving the NFL Network. Now it looks like that will be more difficult.

Sigh. In the long run, the NFL is going to win this war, because it controls the content. The question is how long the war will last, and how bloody the battles will be.

Not surprisingly, FCC chairman Kevin Martin - my pal as a fellow member of the radical, a la carte cable, lunatic fringe - postponed today's scheduled meeting with his fellow commissioners when it became obvious he lacked the votes to implement some of his plans.

That's good news for Big Cable and not so good for independent outlets such as the NFL Network and the Hallmark Channel.

Oh, well. It was too late to do anything about Thursday's Pack-Pokes game anyway. Speaking of which . . . for those of you out there who have Comcast, there is a short-term solution to this problem.

Comcast is the nation's largest cable operator and also the only one that has the NFL Network on a sports tier for an extra charge. (The NFL is fighting that situation in court.)

So Comcast customers simply can sign up for the sports package in time for the game, then cancel it soon thereafter if they are so inclined. Simple.

(Cablevision and Time Warner customers do not have this option. Sorry.)

I wrote about Frank Caliendo's new show on TBS in my newspaper column today, based on a phone chat we had last week.

I did not actually watch the first two episodes on my reviewer DVD, though, until Monday night, after my deadline. The show certainly illustrates Caliendo's remarkable talent as an impressionist and has some funny bits.

There also are some dead spots, where the level of writing is not up to the level of Caliendo's abilities.

It is worth a look, though, for anyone who enjoys Caliendo's work on Fox's pre-game show.

(That's turducken in the picture, by the way. John Madden will be cooking some up in the premiere episode.)

I checked out Dennis Miller's new comedy/talk show on Versus Tuesday night.

I did not find it appealing.

Sports-oriented stand-up comedy is extremely difficult to pull off, and Miller mostly doesn't. Political humor is funnier. Sports is serious stuff!

The highlight of the show was Miller's riffs on sports photos in the final segment.

The interviews are the most awkward element. The edgy, irreverent humor that is Miller's trademark in comedy routines melts into gushy, creepy, un-hip jock worship when athletic heroes such as Charles Barkley and Eddie George are kind enough to grace the show with their presence.

Someone settle the writers strike and get Jon Stewart back on TV, pronto!

As I was saying in today's newspaper column, the epic battle between the NFL Network and the cable companies is heading for an iceberg Nov. 29, when the Cowboys and Packers tussle on the network nearly 80 million American homes are without.

Which side will the announcing team of Bryant Gumbel and Cris Collinsworth be on? Neither, or both.

"You're looking at two guys who have two paychecks from the two warring parties,'' said Gumbel, referring to the fact he and Collinsworth work for HBO, which is owned by cable giant Time Warner, and the NFL Network, which is owned by the NFL.

Collinsworth said the dispute is "not even on our radar screen. I work for Time Warner, too, so it’s a subject much better avoided by us. What are we going to say? 'Good luck guys, I hope it all works out.'''

It's all part of a strange relationship between Gumbel/Collinsworth and the league. Given their outspoken natures, Collinsworth was surprised when he first learned of the plans for the announcing team.

"They don’t have to have Bryant and me on that show,'' he said. "There are about 400,000 broadcasters out there that would not have some of the opinions that we have. But I have great respect for the league and the network, the fact they were willing to have people that would challenge them occasionally.''

Continue reading "Gumbel, Collinsworth steer clear of NFL vs. cable war" »

Speaking of HBO's documentary Tuesday night . . . It's not the only sports show on at 10:30. Versus offers the second episode of "Sports Unfiltered with Dennis Miller.''

I missed the premiere and thus have nothing to say about this show one way or the other. But I do know that two of the three scheduled guests tonight - Charles Barkley and UFC president Dana White - are highly quotable.

So we'll see. The other guest is Eddie George. I saw him on Fox with Emmitt Smith before, during and after the BCS Championship Game on Fox in January.

Did Emmitt parlay that into his current ESPN analyst gig? That is not going so great. But I do enjoy ESPN's other new analysts, Keyshawn Johnson and Bill Parcells.

Versus is debuting a show called "Sports Unfiltered with Dennis Miller" Tuesday at 10 p.m.

I have no idea whether it will be any good, but the network seems excited about it based on the number of e-mails it has been sending me.

The latest news is that Al Michaels and Curt Schilling will be Miller's first guests.

Versus says Miller will "unleash his cerebral and acerbic wit on the world of sports through a variety of segments featured in the show each week, including his signature 'rant' about relevant sports news; his unvarnished take on the news using sports headlines and snapshots from the nation’s newspapers; and a combination of in-studio and remote interviews with the biggest newsmakers and celebrities from the sports community; among others."

(What's with all the semi-colons?)