Fang's Bites

NBC’s Sure-Fire Ratings Hit, The NFL Returns on Wednesday

NBC can certainly crow about its ratings over the Olympics, but they happened during the dead month of August when network fare is as original as a Jason Blair article. It took me ten minutes to think of that. Anyway, the top-rated primetime series of 2011-12, Sunday Night Football returns to NBC this week and it all begins on Wednesday with the NFL Kickoff game between the defending Super Bowl Champions the New York Giants and the Dallas Cowboys live from MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.

It begins with NFL Kickoff 2012 at 7:30 p.m. ET live from 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York with Michelle Beadle hosting the concert portion of the program. Musical acts include Mariah Carey and No Doubt.

Then on Sunday, it’s the season premiere of Sunday Night Football with the Denver Broncos taking on the Pittsburgh Steelers live from the Mile High City.

Al Michaels, Cris Collinsworth and Michele Tafoya will be at both games. Bob Costas will recite inane commentary from high above the field at MetLife Stadium and at the new Mile High.

The Football Night in America crew of Dan Patrick, Tony Dungy and Rodney Harrison will be live at MetLife, then return to its normal digs at 30 Rock on Sunday.

NBC also announces the return of NFL Turning Point and the premiere of Pro Football Talk to be co-hosted by Mr. Know It All, Erik Kuselias and ultimate multi-tasker Mike Florio.

Here’s the NBC press release.

NBC SPORTS GETS “BACK TO FOOTBALL”

New York Giants Host Dallas Cowboys on Wednesday, September 5. Coverage of NFL Kickoff 2012 Begins at 7:30 p.m. ET on NBC
Denver Broncos Host Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, September 9. Coverage Begins at 7:00 p.m. ET on NBC
Michele Tafoya to Provide Live Video Tweets During Each SNF Game
Sunday Night Football Extra to Live Stream NBC NFL Games for Fifth Consecutive Year on NBCSports.com
NFL Turning Point Season Premiere on Wednesday, September 12 at 10 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network
Pro Football Talk with Mike Florio Airs Weeknights at 5 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network

NEW YORK – September 4, 2012 – The NFL will open the regular season tomorrow, Wednesday, Sept. 5, with NFL Kickoff 2012 on NBC. The defending Super Bowl champion New York Giants will host their division rival Dallas Cowboys from MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. A pre-game concert will feature performances by Grammy Award-winning artists Mariah Carey and No Doubt, from a specially constructed stage in front of 30 Rockefeller Plaza. Coverage begins on NBC at 7:30 p.m. ET.

Sunday Night Football, the No. 1 primetime show on television, kicks off on Sunday, Sept. 9, with Peyton Manning making his first regular-season appearance as the quarterback for the Denver Broncos as they host the Pittsburgh Steelers from Sports Authority Field at Mile High in Denver, Colo. Coverage begins with Football Night in America at 7 p.m. ET

Calling both games is six-time Emmy Award-winner Al Michaels (play-by-play), in his 27^th season as the voice of the NFL’s premier primetime package; 13-time Emmy Award-winner Cris Collinsworth, who has won the Emmy for outstanding event analyst in each of his three seasons in the Sunday Night Football booth; and sideline reporter Michele Tafoya, who, last year in her first season with SNF, won the inaugural Emmy Award for Outstanding Sports Reporter.

Football Night in America is hosted by 23-time Emmy Award-winner Bob Costas, who will report from MetLife Stadium on Wednesday and Sports Authority Field at Mile High on Sunday. Costas is joined on site by Al Michaels, Cris Collinsworth, and two-time Super Bowl winner Hines Ward.

Dan Patrick co-hosts Football Night from MetLife Stadium on Wednesday night, and from NBC’s Studio 8G at 30 Rockefeller Plaza on Sunday night. Patrick is joined by Super Bowl-winning head coach Tony Dungy, two-time Super Bowl winner Rodney Harrison, Peter King of Sports Illustrated, and Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk on NBC Sports Network and NBCSports.com.

Michelle Beadle will host the concert portion of NFL Kickoff 2012 on NBC, featuring performances by Mariah Carey and No Doubt, from a specially constructed stage in front of 30 Rockefeller Plaza.

In addition to the weekly Sunday Night Football and Football Night in America broadcasts, NBC Sports Group’s NFL coverage also includes digital content and social media extensions that are available online, as well as NFL-related shoulder programming available on NBC Sports Network.

PREVIEW VIDEO: Michaels and Collinsworth on Cowboys vs. Giants.
http://www.tinyb.it/503CF0128C287

SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL EXTRA

SNF EXTRA: For the fifth consecutive season, the entire Sunday Night Football schedule will be streamed live on NBCSports.com. The video stream will come directly from NBC’s broadcast of SNF, and will include additional camera angles and interactive features.

Sunday Night Football Extra employs a full HD-quality player, which includes a draggable picture-in-picture feature for any of the online-only cameras, plus full DVR functionality allowing the user to pause, scroll back-and-forth, and review plays in slo-motion.

SNF Extra includes expert analysis, including fantasy tips from Rotoworld fantasy experts as well as in-game chats and analysis from Mike Florio. Additionally SNF Extra employs online-only in-game analysis from the Sunday Night Football and Football Night in America teams.

SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL EXPANDS DIGITAL COVERAGE

SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL ALL-ACCESS. ALL SEASON LONG: For the third straight season, NBCSports.com is providing a destination for fans dedicated to behind-the-scenes content of Sunday Night Football. SNF All-Access includes exclusive photos of the Sunday Night Football production, look-ins on SNF production meetings, Michele Tafoya interviews with key NFL players and a weekly notebook and conversations with SNF talent.

Visit SNF All-Access at: http://snfallaccess.nbcsports.com/

“THE SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL”: This season NBC Sports will introduce “The Sunday Night Football”, a custom made football from Wilson, which will travel with the SNF crew all season long. Fans of SNF on Facebook and Twitter will be able to keep up with “The Sunday Night Football” on the SNF Facebook page, follow its path through each city and recommend where it should visit while in town. At the end of each SNF game, “The Sunday Night Football” will be signed by the player of the game. Photos, video and stories around “The Sunday Night Football” and its travels will live on Facebook, Twitter and SNFAllAccess.com all season long.

SNF ON FACEBOOK: Facebook.com/SNFonNBC – The Sunday Night Football Facebook page provides links, photos and videos exclusive to behind-the-scenes at SNF every week. The page aggregates all SNF-related content found within the NBC Sports digital network, including NBCSports.com, SNF Extra, ProFootballTalk.com, and Rotoworld.com.

SNF ON TWITTER: twitter.com/SNFonNBC – For the first time ever, Michele Tafoya will be doing live video tweets from @SNFonNBC on the sideline exclusively for the SNF social media platforms, providing fans extended real-time content from Michele’s unique sideline perspective. Using tweets, twitpics and twitvids @SNFonNBC provides unique content with SNF talent, production crew and NFL players.

Each week @SNFonNBC will promote a guest player who will live tweet during the Sunday Night Football broadcast. On Wednesday, September 5, Super Bowl winner and retired New York Giant David Tyree will be the guest player. On Sunday, September 9, Super Bowl winner and retired Pittsburgh Steeler Willie Parker will be the guest player. The tweets from the guest player will automatically be pulled into the SNF Extra Player.

SNF ON INSTAGRAM: Going into its second season, Sunday Night Football gives the SNF fan a look at photos through the filters of Instagram. Fans get a look inside the production trucks, the locker rooms, on the field and around the city. Fans also have the opportunity to submit photos through Instagram using #SNF that will automatically be curated into a special Instagram tab on the Sunday Night Football Facebook page..

SNF ON GETGLUE: For the second season in a row, fans can check into each SNF game on GetGlue. Fans watching Sunday Night Football at home have the opportunity to win weekly SNF themed stickers and chances at real-world prizes by checking into SNF on GetGlue every Sunday night.

NFL TURNING POINT SEASON PREMIERE WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 12, 10 p.m. ET on NBC SPORTS NETWORK

The second season of Emmy-nominated NFL Turning Point, NBC Sports Network’s weekly show co-produced by NFL Films, will premiere Wednesday, Sept. 12^th at 10 p.m. ET and will be hosted by Football Night in America’s Dan Patrick. The hour-long program will air throughout the NFL regular season and will focus on the crucial ‘turning point’ moment in several games for football fans each week by utilizing NFL Films’ unmatched cinematography and sideline and on-field audio.

Click here for more details on this week’s show: http://www.nbcuniversal.presscentre.com

PRO FOOTBALL TALK ON NBC SPORTS NETWORK WEEKNIGHTS, 5 p.m. ET

Mike Florio, who created the innovative, NFL-focused web destination ProFootballTalk.com, hosts the new NBC Sports Network television program Pro Football Talk. The one-hour show airs at 5 p.m. ET every Monday through Friday. Pro Football Talk will be co-hosted by Erik Kuselias.

Pro Football Talk features concentrated NFL insight from Florio and other experts from around the league. Florio and Kuselias will regularly welcome a roster of NBC Sports football commentators, including Rodney Harrison, Hines Ward, Doug Flutie, Ross Tucker, Amani Toomer, and Peter King, among others. In addition to deep diving on the most topical NFL stories of the day, Pro Football Talk will also touch on injuries, fantasy football and officiating.

There you go. Good night.

Versus To Air New Original Programming With Liam McHugh, Russ Thaler, Mike Florio and Darren Rovell As Hosts

This just in from the NBC Sports Group and I thank the fine people at its PR department for sending this press release to me. We’ve been hearing drips and drabs about Versus’ new original programming that will premiere in September. We heard about Liam McHugh hosting a college football studio show on Monday afternoons, a show headed by Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio and a Sports Business show to be helmed by CNBC’s Darren Rovell, plus last week, it was announced the first NFL Films-produced show, NFL Turning Point would premiere after Week 1 of the regular season.

Now, we have the official announcement of the lineups and the daily schedules of the programming. This is a huge upgrade from Versus’ other attempts to get a signature show. Under the “SportsTalk” banner, Versus will have College Football Talk and Pro Football Talk, hosted by Liam McHugh and Mike Florio, respectively, airing back to back Mondays starting at 5 p.m. Eastern.

Then from Tuesday through Thursday at 6 p.m. Eastern, you’ll have NBC SportsTalk hosted by Russ Thaler, formerly of Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic, discussing various topics utilizing the men and women working under the NBC Sports Group. Wednesdays will be devoted to hockey in the second half of the NHL season.

Friday’s edition of NBC SportsTalk will be devoted to football and Florio and Sports Illustrated’s Peter King will join Thaler to talk about all things NFL.

And following NBC SportsTalk on Friday evenings will be the Darren Rovell-hosted show, CNBC SportsBiz: Game On. You got all that? Don’t worry, I have everything listed below.

NBC SPORTS GROUP ANNOUNCES NEW NIGHTLY STUDIO SHOWS FOR VERSUS

NBC SportsTalk Airs Weeknights Live at 6 p.m. ET
CNBC Sports Biz: Game On with Darren Rovell Airs Fridays at 7 p.m.
Friday Night’s Live Football Show Features Peter King and Mike Florio
NBC SportsTalk to be Hosted by Comcast SportsNet’s Russ Thaler and Include Talent from all NBC Sports Group Platforms

NEW YORK (August 31, 2011) — The NBC Sports Group today announced a block of new live studio shows for VERSUS airing on weeknights from 6-7 p.m. ET under the banner of NBC SportsTalk, NBC’s successful digital franchise on NBCSports.com that includes ProFootballTalk, HardballTalk, ProBasketballTalk, ProHockeyTalk, CollegeFootballTalk, InsidetheIrish and ProGolfTalk.

In addition to the new 6 p.m. shows, VERSUS, which will be re-branded the NBC Sports Network on January 2, will also launch a sports-business show with CNBC’s Darren Rovell, titled CNBC Sports Biz: Game On, on Friday nights at 7 p.m. ET. VERSUS’ weeknight studio block launches on Thursday, September 8, leading into NBC’s NFL Kickoff coverage, featuring the first NFL game of the season between the New Orleans Saints and Green Bay Packers.

“NBC SportsTalk is the type of nightly, relevant programming that viewers can expect to see as we continue the re-branding process from VERSUS to the NBC Sports Network,” said Jon Miller, president of programming for NBC Sports and VERSUS. “The live nightly shows also give us the opportunity to tap into our stable of top talent across all of our platforms to provide a unique perspective for sports fans.”

The live block of shows will focus on the sports world’s most relevant topics each night and will include NBC Sports Group talent who will not only report on sports news, but will break down the significance of that news for viewers. Mondays (ProFootballTalk with Mike Florio) and Fridays at 6 p.m. will be devoted to football, while the rest of the shows during the week will focus on the most topical sports stories.

NBC SportsTalk will be hosted by former Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic anchor Russ Thaler. He will be joined by talent from across all NBC Sports Group platforms, including Peter King of Sports Illustrated and Football Night in America and Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk on NBCSports.com for the special NFL-themed show on Friday nights.

CNBC Sports Biz: Game On – Rovell’s sports business show on Friday nights will focus on the $200 billion business of professional sports, including ownership, labor, media, sponsorship, marketing, merchandise, facilities and executives.  The 30-minute show will feature segments such as: “Power Player,” where Rovell interviews sports business newsmakers; “The Scoreboard,” in which Rovell and his sideline reporter, Erin Sharoni, review the sports business winners and losers of the week; “Heavy Hitters,” in which Rovell calls up insiders to break down how one aspect of the business works.  Rovell’s more than 115,000 Twitter followers will also play an active role in the show. 

NBC SportsTalk – The 6 p.m. nightly shows will focus on various topics throughout the week with certain nights and times devoted to a single sport:

• MONDAY: Immediately following VERSUS’ newly announced College Football Talk show from 5-6 p.m. ET, the network begins the week with ProFootballTalk with Mike Florio. One of the NFL’s most influential voices, Florio will join Thaler in the studio for the hour to break down all the football news from the weekend. Once the NHL season begins, NBC SportsTalk will air from 6-6:30 p.m. ET, making way for NHL Live, the new half-hour pre-game show which begins at 6:30 p.m. ET.

• TUESDAY-THURSDAY: On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights, NBC SportsTalk will break down the topics that are dominating the sports world and will enlist talent from all NBC Sports Group platforms to join Thaler, including commentators and reporters from NBC Sports, NBCSports.com, VERSUS, Golf Channel and NBC Sports Group’s 11 regional sports networks. On select Wednesday nights throughout the NHL season, the second half of the show will be dedicated solely to hockey.

• FRIDAY: NBC SportsTalk will wrap up the week with in-depth coverage of NFL news and will welcome one of sports’ most knowledgeable and respected NFL insiders, Peter King of Sports Illustrated and “Football Night in America,” to join Florio and Thaler. Additionally, Gregg Rosenthal of Rotoworld and ProFootballTalk on NBCSports.com will contribute a fantasy segment each Friday.

NEW VERSUS ORIGINAL PROGRAMMING THIS FALL (all times ET):

Monday, 5-6 p.m.: College Football Talk hosted by Liam McHugh with Ross Tucker and Roland Williams
Monday, 6-7 p.m.: NBC SportsTalk/ProFootballTalk with Mike Florio (6-6:30 p.m. beginning October 10)
Monday, 6:30-7 p.m.: NHL Live (beginning October 10)
Tuesday, 6-7 p.m.: NBC SportsTalk hosted by Russ Thaler
Wednesday, 6-7 p.m.: NBC SportsTalk hosted by Russ Thaler
Thursday, 6-7 p.m.: NBC SportsTalk hosted by Russ Thaler
Thursday, 10-11 p.m.: NFL Turning Point
Friday, 6-7 p.m.: NBC SportsTalk hosted by Russ Thaler with Mike Florio and Peter King
Friday, 7-7:30 p.m.: CNBC Sports Biz: Game On hosted by Darren Rovell

There you have it.

Giving You A Monday Linkfest

Let’s do the Monday links. I can’t believe my work productivity since I stopped interacting on Twitter during the workday. I’m now ahead of my work after being a month and a half behind. Who knew? Anyway, let’s do the linkage.

Leading off with the Sports Business Journal and a story from John Ourand that absolutely bears watching. It appears DirecTV after dropping Comcast-owned G4 earlier this year, is targeting another one of its networks, Golf Channel. John says Golf Channel could be removed as early as next Friday.

John also reports that Major League Soccer is seeking $20 million a year from Fox Soccer Channel, a seven-fold increase from what it’s currently receiving. MLS has to be realistic here.

Sports Business Daily’s Austin Karp looks at the overnight ratings for the NFL’s TV partners for Week 15. 

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand says Donovan McNabb provided plenty of fodder for the NFL pregame shows and he notes that tennis analyst Mary Carillo is no longer with ESPN.

At Pro Football Talk, Mike Florio talks about his new deal with NBC.

To the Nieman Journalism Lab where Jason Fry predicts what lies ahead for journalism in 2011.

Lindsay Powers from the Hollywood Reporter writes that fantasy football is helping to spur the NFL’s ratings renaissance.

George Winslow at Broadcasting & Cable notes that Turner Sports has relaunched NCAA.com as of today.

Anthony Crupi of Mediaweek writes that ESPN is making so much money off college football that it can run the games commercial-free and still make a profit. Interesting.

At SportsNewser, Noah Davis writes that American Express is back as an NBA sponsor after a five year absence.

Dan Fogarty of SportsGrid has today’s cover of the New York Post.

Mark J. Miller at Yahoo’s Scoop du Jour notes that CBS’ Bill Cowher may be looking at three teams to coach next season. 

Bill Carter of the New York Times explores the rapid rise in ratings for the NFL. 

Ken Schott of the Schenectady Gazette writes that Fox Sports Radio is making a change in its morning show. 

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union complains that ESPN is making too much out of UConn’s attempt to break UCLA’s college basketball consecutive win streak.

David Zurawik of the Baltimore Sun reviews Fox’s production of yesterday’s Saints-Ravens game. 

To the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog and Dan Steinberg who looks at the rather playful feud between DC Mayor-elect Vincent Gray and DC NFL team radio voice Larry Michael.

Dan says Washington Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau asked HBO’s cameras to leave before his now-infamous 15 F-bomb barrage that was captured on 24/7 Capitals/Penguins. 

Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times has a review of the weekend in sports television.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer says MLB Network looks back at the 1975 season tonight which has special meaning for Reds fans.

At the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Bob Wolfley tells us that he enjoys watching NBC’s Football Night in America.

Bob talks about the overnight ratings for last night’s Sunday Night Football game.

Bob says ESPN’s Trent Dilfer has diagnosed what’s wrong with the Green Bay Packers.

In Crain’s Chicago Business, Ed Sherman handicaps the possible replacements for the late Ron Santo on Cubs games on WGN-AM.

The Chicago Tribune reports that Cubs radio voice Pat Hughes has signed a new contract to remain with the team. 

Sean Jensen of the Chicago Sun-Times goes behind the scenes with ESPN’s Monday Night Football.

Dusty Saunders from the Denver Post feels Tim Tebow’s debut with the Broncos should lead to high ratings in the Rocky Mountain region.

John Meyer from the Post says a local triathlete found many friends wanting to watch NBC’s feature on her during its coverage of the Ironman Triathlon this past Saturday.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News has this week’s SoCal sports calendar.

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail says CBC’s Ron MacLean practically held new NHL Players’ Association Executive Director Donald Fehr’s hand during a rather referential interview on Saturday.

Ty Duffy at The Big Lead has a very good post on how some colleges stand to lose a lot of money over bad mandatory ticket deals for bowl games.

Crossing Broad has the Eagles radio call of yesterday’s Miracle at the Meadowlands II or III, whatever it’s being called.

Awful Announcing has the calls from legendary Eagles voice Merrill Reese of at least three Miracles at the Meadowlands. I’ve been informed there could be as many as four. Do Eagles fans want to give me five?

Over to Sox & Dawgs where Ian Bethune has the video of Patriots offensive lineman Dan Connolly rumbling 71 yards for a kickoff return that changed the complexion of last night’s game with the Packers.

And I’m being rushed by my boss to do something so this will do it for now.

NBC Sports and Pro Football Talk Extend Agreement

If you saw the Sunday Night Football postgame, Bob Costas made mention of this. We now have the official announcement from NBC Sports. Pro Football Talk which came on board with NBC Sports last year, has agreed to extend its partnership with the network and this will include a daily on-line show on NBCSports.com. Just as the original agreement, it does not mean NBC Sports is buying Pro Football Talk, it allows NBC to use the name and its content on its website. For Mike Florio who’s been heading the site for years, it means more exposure with the on-line show.

Let’s take a look at the press release.

NBC SPORTS AND MIKE FLORIO AGREE TO EXTEND WIDE-RANGING PARTNERSHIP

“ProFootballTalk Live With Mike Florio,” a Daily Web Show on NBCSports.com, to Debut in January

NEW YORK – December 20, 2010 – NBC Sports and ProFootballTalk’s Mike Florio have reached a multi-year agreement to extend the growing partnership between the two parties.  As part of the agreement, NBCSports.com will continue to host Florio’s wildly-successful ProFootballTalk.com and Florio will continue to provide on-air commentary to NBC Sports.  Additionally, Florio will host a live daily show “ProFootballTalk Live with Mike Florio” on NBCSports.com starting Tuesday, January 4. The partnership extension was announced today by Dick Ebersol, Chairman, NBC Universal Sports and Olympics and Mike Florio, Founder and Editor of ProFootballTalk.com. 

“Mike Florio is a one-of-a-kind talent, and his ProFootballTalk is a must-read in NFL circles.  It makes me very happy to have Mike sign on with us for many more years to come,” said Ebersol. “The growth of PFT on NBCSports.com, which has kicked off our very successful ‘NBC Sports Talk’ strategy, in addition to Mike’s development into an emerging on-air contributor has been very exciting for all of us to see and I am looking forward to seeing Mike even more with our new ’ProFootballTalk Live Show’ starting in January.”

“NBC Sports has welcomed PFT into the family, even though we may at times behave like the uncle who poured himself too much eggnog,” said Florio. “We have received continuous support and promotion; more importantly, we have developed many strong relationships, at virtually every level of the organization. 30 Rock is a special place, and Dick Ebersol and Sam Flood have assembled a team of special people. Rick Cordella and Kevin Monaghan, once again, were instrumental in working out the details that extends this great partnership between NBC and PFT, and we hope it will last for many years to come…with or without the eggnog.” 

Florio joined NBCSports.com in June 2009 with NBCSports.com hosting, selling and promoting Florio’s innovative ProFootballTalk.com. Since that time, ProFootballTalk.com’s traffic has increased 450 percent and NBCSports.com traffic has increased by 115 percent, becoming the fastest-growing major sports media site on the Internet, according to ComScore.

Florio has been a regular contributor to NBC Sports’ acclaimed Sunday night NFL studio show “Football Night in America” this season and appears in every “Sunday Night Football” post-game show to break down the NFL’s top stories of the day with Bob Costas. Additionally, he has appeared with NBC Sports/Sports Illustrated’s Peter King during halftime of NBC’s coverage of Notre Dame football the last two seasons to discuss timely NFL topics.   

Well respected in NFL circles, the New York Times called Florio, “A leading source of information,” while Fox Sports’ Jay Glazer says of him, “He’s tireless.  He’s been our watchdog.” And “Sunday Night Football” play-by-play voice Al Michaels told the Los Angeles Times that Florio is, “As wired into the NFL as anyone.”

More later.

NBC Sports Puts Its "Talk" Sites on One iPad App

NBC Sports has decided to embrace the iPad in one huge way by putting all of its “Talk” sites, led by Mike Florio’s Pro Football Talk, into one nice app. I’ve downloaded it, but have yet to use it. The other sides including Hardball Talk, Pro Hockey Talk and others are included so it’s a nice one stop shopping for the fan.

We have the press release.

“NBC SPORTS TALK” iPad APP DEBUTS

Mike Florio’s Pro Football Talk is Centerpiece of New App

NEW YORK – November 22, 2010 – The NBC Sports Talk App for iPad has launched and is available now for free at the App Store, it was announced today by Rick Cordella, Vice President/General Manager, NBC Sports Digital. The new App features Mike Florio’s Pro Football Talk as its centerpiece and includes all of the NBC Sports Talk platforms: Hardball Talk, Pro Basketball Talk, Pro Hockey Talk, College Football Talk, Inside the Irish and, coming soon, Pro Golf Talk.

On Sunday night, the NBC Sports Talk app was the No. 1 free sports app at the iTunes store.

“We are committed to delivering NBC Sports Talk to fans regardless of where they consume content,” said Cordella. “NBC Sports Talk is unique and represents a majority of the visits to NBCSports.com, so we felt it was vital to offer it to the powerful, ever-growing platform of the iPad.”

Said Pro Football Talk’s Florio: “Using the NBC Sports Talk iPad App makes me want to read PFT content more than write it.”

For October 2010, the NBC Sports Talk sections represented 45% of all page views on NBCSports.com, an increased of 57 percent over October 2009.

The NBC Sports Talk franchise was developed in July 2008 when NBC Sports Digital reached an agreement with Mike Florio to move his highly-trafficked and well-respected ProFootballTalk.com to NBCSports.com. Recognizing that fans value quick, frequently updated news and information with a unique perspective, NBC Sports Digital followed up on the wildly successful launch of PFT on NBCSports.com by forming the NBC Sports Talk franchise to include the aforementioned sports. Since that time, NBCSports.com has jumped No. 19 to a consistent place in the top 10 among sports websites (according to ComScore).

The NBC Sports Talk App is available for free from the App Store on iPad or at http://www.itunes.com/appstore.

That is it.

Links for Your Saturday

Doing the links for you today. Just relaxing after having a late lunch.

Starting with Newsday’s Neil Best who talks with a Golf Channel official about the Bethpage Black course. Neil writes that with Golf Channel unable to show go live during the U.S. Open, it does what it can before and after NBC’s coverage.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times goes inside NBC’s main production truck at Bethpage Black.

Jack Bell of the Times wonders what happens to some of Setanta Sports’ programming with the demise of its English Premier League package.

ESPN has reportedly put in a substantial bid for English Premier League games.

David Goetzl of Mediapost reports that ESPN Radio will pick up some of next year’s World Cup tournament and may do them from the network’s headquarters in Bristol, CT.

Jon McGrath of the Westborough (MA) News does not miss having Jerry Remy on NESN’s Red Sox broadcasts. Wow.

Ken Schott of the Schenectady Gazette writes about the local New York-Penn League team having its games streamed online on the net.

Alan Pergament of the Buffalo News says this year, viewers are guaranteed to get a live match from Wimbledon every day of the Fortnight.

Ellen Gray and Christine Olley of the Philadelphia Daily News say Gary Papa fought very hard against the prostate cancer that eventually took his life.

Ray Parillo of the Philadelphia Inquirer talks to a Phillies PR official about the death of his friend, the late sports anchor Gary Papa.

The Philadelphia Daily News’ Eagletarian blog picks up Iggles’ QB Donovan McNabb’s thoughts on Papa’s untimely passing.

Gary’s station, WPVI-TV, has a special section on his life, career and an area to leave your thoughts.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner writes that Interleague baseball has some intriguing matchups this weekend. Jim says ESPN Classic will have live coverage of a heavyweight championship boxing match tonight.

Tim Lemke from the Washington Times says Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic plans to expand its web presence.

Mike Casazza of the Charleston (WV) Daily Mail says Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio is ready for his closeup with NBC.

If you want to see how the opening of Monday Night Football is shot, head to Nashville on Monday and Tuesday to see Hank Williams, Jr. do his famous “All My Rowdy Friends” video.

The Sun-Sentinel out of South Florida catches up with Fox Sports’ Chris Rose who will host a Hooters swimsuit competition tonight. Interesting.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News says rain will be the star during the U.S. Open this weekend.

Lewis Lazare of the Chicago Sun-Times writes that the Cubs are not helping WGN-AM’s ratings.

The Vancouver Sun picks up a Reuters story from Paul Thomasch that NBC plans to crack down on piracy for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

The Pac10 conference has announced its TV schedule for the football season.

Joe Favorito writes that MLB has two important messages this weekend.

Steve Lepore of Puck The Media has a good essay on whether the aging hockey writing corps is getting too old for the game.

Dave Hughes of DCRTV writes in Press Box that there will be plenty of NFL games to listen to on Baltimore radio this fall.

The 38Cliches blog which was originally founded to blast all things Glenn Geffner when he was a Red Sox announcing hack, tries to ignore the fact that Goofner returned to Fenway this week with the Florida Marlins.

California Golden Blogs had someone attend Blogs With Balls last week.

Famed HBO boxing judge Harold Lederman (“Heh, heh! O.K., Jim!”) celebrates 23 years with the network.

That does it for today. If there’s anything new on NBC’s start time for the U.S. Open on Sunday and further scheduling changes, I’ll have it here. So far, it appears NBC will begin at 1:30 p.m. Sunday as scheduled.

Tuesday’s Regular Links

Ok, now that I have the Joe Buck Live links out of the way, let’s get to the other sports media links of the day.

Ray Glier of USA Today has a very nice story on a sightless announcer who does the Spanish language broadcasts for the Tampa Bay Rays.

Paul Sanford of the Sports Business Daily measures how ESPN covered the Stanley Cup Finals.

Ben Klayman of Reuters says NBC Sports has extended its agreement to televise the New York City Marathon.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell wonders whether the University of Minnesota will allow beer to be served in its in new stadium. Darren looks at the sale of Tiger Woods’ worn shirts from last year’s U.S. Open. Darren feels it’s ok for company CEO’s to show their faces at the U.S. Open.

T.J. Donegan of the Sports Media Journal looks at NBC’s partnership with Pro Football Talk.

Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News gets on the SNY crew for getting on Yankees pitcher Joba Chamberlain.

Keith Groller from the Allentown (PA) Morning Call likes Phillies manager Charlie Manuel, but not his TV show.

Thom Loverro of the Washington Times says MASN’s Rob Dibble takes a different approach to broadcasting Nationals games than his predecessor, Don Sutton.

Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times goes over some NHL stuff as well as some TV and radio news over the weekend.

Kevin Price of the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer says the local Fox affiliate has signed up to air ESPN Regional Television’s SEC package.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer says a local station is misleading viewers when it says it will have “complete coverage” of the Reds-White Sox Civil Rights game this Saturday.

Ed Sherman of Crain’s Chicago Business says the Windy City’s internet sports radio station is shutting down today. Ed talks with the station’s program director who has no regrets about leaving his old job.

Ameet Sachdev and Becky Yerak of the Chicago Tribune write that the founder of the station is being charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission with fraud.

Teddy Greenstein of the Tribune talks with NBC’s Dan Hicks as he gets ready to call this week’s U.S. Open.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says Matt Millen has bounced back on TV with a vengeance (scroll down).

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News recaps last night’s 4th and Long episode.

Chris Dufrense of the Los Angeles Times talks with retiring Pac 10 Conference Commissioner Tom Hansen about his long tenure and the future of its TV rights.

John Ryan of the San Jose Mercury News says the NBA may have garnered higher ratings than the NHL for their respective league finals, but John notes that the NHL has to be happy.

Chris Zelkovich of the Toronto Star has has random thoughts about sports TV coverage from the last few days. Chris also looks at the sports TV ratings in Canada.

James Hibberd of the Hollywood Reporter says this year’s NBA Finals were the second most watched finals series on ABC.

The Sports Media Watch says Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals received 8 million viewers, the highest for an NHL game in three and a half decades. SMW says thanks to a short series and lower ratings for Game 5, the NBA Finals’ ratings finished down.

Real Clear Sports counts down the Top 10 Moments on Sports Blog History.

Ryan Lawler of Contentinople.com says NBC Sports will use Microsoft’s Silverlight technology to stream Wimbledon next week.

Puck the Media says Versus will carry the NHL Entry Draft and the annual NHL Awards later this month.

And that does it for now. Back later with another post.

Our Monday Links

After hemming and hawing over how to organize the links today, I’ve decided I’m going to do a post based on just sports media links, then one on reaction to Blogs With Balls. I know many of the readers are probably sick of my posts on the conference, but it was a good event to attend and there was a lot of good things that came out of it. But if you want to skip over the upcoming BWB post, then go right ahead.

Let’s do the regular sports media links there and there are a lot of them as usual on Monday.

Starting with USA Today’s Michael Hiestand, he writes about the Dan Patrick Show moving to DirecTV and not necessarily being a simulcast of his radio show.

Michael also has a profile of Joe Buck in anticipation of the premiere of his new HBO show tonight.

Tripp Mickle of Sports Business Journal says ESPN is sending SportsCenter to South Africa to cover the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell notes that Kobe Bryant is the NBA’s most marketable player again after almost five and a half years.

The Sports Media Journal’s Ray Frager talks about Matt Millen getting his second TV gig in just a few short months.

Newsday’s Neil Best who will spend the week at the Bethpage Black course covering the U.S. Open has a rare interview with ESPN’s Chris Berman who will be in the 18th tower to the chagrin of many golf enthusiasts. In his blog, Neil has the entire transcript of his interview with Berman. Fascinating stuff.

Apparently the real Phil Mushnick has returned to today’s New York Post. Yesterday, he wrote a preview piece on the U.S. Open that turned out to be quite well done. Today, the mean Phil is back and he’s after ESPN for not recognizing a pitching performance from Friday. Let it go, Phil.

In the ever-changing world of the Chicago internet sports radio station, Ed Sherman of Crain’s Chicago Business reports that Mike North was back on this morning, but the financial backer was not. Ed writes the station is still on the air today, but it’s not known for how long. Apparently North wrote his own personal checks to cover those that bounced last week.

Armeet Sachdev of the Chicago Tribune’s Breaking News Center says the owner of the internet station has been charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission for running a Ponzi scheme. Wow.

Dusty Saunders from the Denver Post says a weekend TV sports anchor is the victim of a numbers game by the parent company.

The Los Angeles Times’ Sam Farmer who broke the Pro Football Talk/NBC story yesterday has more on their partnership.

Philip Hersh of the Times writes that MLB officials making the pitch to the Olympics are willing to make major concessions in its TV schedule to help reinstate the sport to the 2016 Summer Games.

Maury Brown of the Biz of Baseball also has highlights of MLB’s and the International Basebal Federation’s presentation to the International Olympic Committee in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail feels CBC focused too much on Sidney Crosby while not picking up that Evgeny Malkin on the Conn Smythe Trophy in the Stanley Cup Finals.

Chris Zelkovich of the Toronto Star asks Blue Jays announcers Rod Black and Pat Tabler to take it easy during the games.

Rick Kissell of Variety says the NBA Finals Game 5 won the primetime ratings last night, but will most likely be one of the lower rated games of the series.

Steve Clark of Vareity writes that the English Premier League has given cash-strapped Setanta Sports until Friday to meet its payments or have its TV rights sold off to competitors. Look for ESPN to try to swoop in here.

R. Thomas Umstead of Multichannel News says HBO has had to postpone the Floyd Mayweather-Juan Manuel Marquez fight due to an injury to one of the boxers.

Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life Magazine says the Lakers are steering ABC to higher ratings in the NBA Finals than last year’s series.

Chris Byrne of Eye on Sports Media says the Pro Football Talk/NBC Sports partnership is evidence that new media and mainstream media can co-exist.

I’ll end it here for now. I’ll have a post with links from various blogs wrapping up the Blogs With Balls conference.

NBC Announces Partnership with Pro Football Talk

I have a lot of links today and I have to figure out how to organize them. I have plenty of links about Blogs With Balls and various sports media links, plus you have the announcement of Matt Millen joining NFL Network for Thursday Night Football. Lots of stuff today.

Before I do any links, I’ll give you this release from NBC Sports announcing the partnership with Mike Florio’s Pro Football Talk website.

PROFOOTBALLTALK.COM MOVES TO NBCSPORTS.COM

NEW YORK – June 15, 2009 - ProFootballTalk.com (PFT) and its founder Mike Florio are joining NBCSports.com as part of a wide-ranging partnership. Mike Florio, who created the innovative, NFL-focused football blog, and Rick Cordella, General Manager, NBC Sports Digital, made the announcement today about the creation of "ProFootballTalk on NBCSports.com."

The cornerstone of this multi-media alliance shifts ProFootballTalk.com to NBCSports.com, which will now be charged with PFT's hosting, sales and promotion. And NBCSports.com and NBC Sports will utilize and rely on PFT's ground breaking, 365-day/year-round coverage of the NFL.

Generally regarded as the best and most popular, independent NFL news and information site, PFT consists of 30-50, daily "News and Rumors" blog items written largely by Florio and dealing with the issues surrounding the NFL players, coaches, owners & general managers. PFT's innovative coverage summarizes news from around the NFL but it is Florio's opinionated, provocative and often humorous accounts drawn from a wide network of NFL sources that are the driving force of the blog's popularity. As part of the NBC Sports alliance, NBCSports.com's Tom Curran and Gregg Rosenthal will make editorial contributions to "PFT on NBCSports.com."

"Frequent, succinct, and immediate news and analysis, driven by rich personalities is the editorial strategy of NBCSports.com and ProFootballtalk.com is the cornerstone of that plan," said Cordella, who recently added a popular "Circling The Bases" blog on NBCSports.com that focuses on Major League Baseball.  "PFT will receive significant promotion from various NBC Sports broadcast properties and also on NBCSports.com, the sports section of MSNBC.com, and NBC's Rotoworld.com, the largest pure-play fantasy sports site on the Internet."

"We have had other opportunities over the years to partner with established businesses but the fit was never perfect," said Florio. "With NBC Sports, it is. A strong sense of unity flows from everyone we've encountered there.  Rick Cordella rolled out the welcome mat for us, and Dick Ebersol opened the front door. We hope our shoes are clean."

ProFootballTalk.com, which last year was recognized by Time Magazine as one of the 50 Best Websites, has an unusual background and an unlikely career path for its founder and chief writer, Mike Florio. After earning two engineering degrees from Carnegie Mellon and later graduating from the West Virginia University School of Law, Florio founded PFT in 2001 and operates the site from his office in Clarksburg, West Virginia, his home in Bridgeport, West Virginia, and anywhere else that he can get an Internet connection.

NBC Sports is expected to utilize PFT to help supplement its NFL news and information surrounding its "NBC Sunday Night Football" coverage including "Football Night in America" pre-game show, the NBC Sports Update and Notre Dame halftime reports.

If you head over to PFT, you’ll notice two small ads one for NBC Sports in the left hand side and another for Sprint to signify the partnership. Florio explains that his site is not being bought by NBC, it’s obtained the rights to exclusive content. But Mike can now give up his law practice.

Late Night Sunday Links

Let’s give you a few more links before shutting things down for the night.

USA Today’s Michael McCarthy says the BCS’ transition to cable is complete with the Rose Bowl going to ESPN in 2011.

My new best friend, Neil Best of Newsday writes that Brett Favre will be one of the first guests on Joe Buck’s new HBO show on Monday. Neil is amazed at the new partnership between NBC and Pro Football Talk.

Ben Grossman of Broadcasting & Cable says Favre was on top of Buck’s wishlist for the first show.

The Arena blog had the patience to transcribe the normally boring Bill Simmons podcast which this past week had an interview with the very stunning Erin Andrews.

Another new friend, Jerod Morris of Midwest Sports Fans has a very good post on what he learned over the Raul Ibanez controversy. By the way, my best to Jerod. His dog is at vet this weekend for an obstruction of the gall bladder. He should be ok. The dog, that is. Jerod is fine.

Jonathan Tannenwald of Philly.com has the first of two parts on recapping the Blogs With Balls conference.

David Carr of the New York Times looks at what the Boston Globe sale could fetch for the NYT.

Jeff Z. Klein of the Times looks at NBC’s ratings for Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals.

Maury Brown of the Biz of Hockey says Game 7 of the NHL Stanley Cup Finals on Friday garnered good viewership numbers.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union says both the Yankees and Mets broadcasts of Friday’s choke by the Metropolitans missed something at the end.

Phil Rosenthal of the Chicago Tribune says the FBI searched the offices of a local sports web radio station over accusations of faulty business practices.

Becky Yerak of the Tribune says the fate of that internet station is totally up in the air.

Rick Brown of the Des Moines Register was on hand to watch ESPN’s taping of Homecoming with Kurt Warner.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News previews Monday’s 4th and Long episode on Spike.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News writes that Universal Sports has seen gigantic growth in one year under the NBC Universal umbrella. Let’s bring it over to DirecTV, ok?

Michael Bamberger of Sports Illustrated writes in Golf.com that putting the LPGA Championship on Golf Channel at the expense of CBS and NBC was the right move.

I’m beginning to see some stories I can give you for Monday’s links so I’ll end this here for tonight.

BREAKING NEWS: Pro Football Talk Bought by NBC

Developing story. The Pro Football Talk site headed up by Mike Florio has been purchased by NBC. Yes, that NBC.

Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times says terms of the deal have not been announced.

No official word from either party. When they do, I’ll have it for you.

UPDATE, 8:15 p.m. – NBCSports.com has the official word saying PFT will become part of NBC’s site on July 1.

According to the story, an official announcement will be made on Monday. In addition, NBCSports.com NFL insiders Tom Curran (formerly of the Providence Journal) and Gregg Rosenthal will make occasional contributions to Pro Football Talk.

Also, expect to see Pro Football Talk on Football Night in America. One could say Mike Florio has hit the lottery.