Fang's Bites

Your Monday Night Links

As I’m watching the BCS Championship Game and burning a DVD so I can do the Amazing Race Asia Episode 7 recap, I’ll give you some links this evening.

First, the Sports Media Watch blog tells us that there were some slight declines in the ratings for the NFL Wild Card playoff games. Paulsen says it appears that Paul McNamee may appear on 60 Minutes next week to rebut Roger Clemens. And the NFL playoff overrun combined with the Clemens interview on 60 Minutes helped CBS to win the night.

John Consoli of Mediaweek says the Tennessee-San Diego Wild Card playoff game’s ratings were up 8% for CBS over last year. And Consoli says the playoff doubleheader on NBC did well also.

Randy Covitz of the Kansas City Star says Chiefs defensive end Jared Allen is doing some reporting work for the NFL Network during the playoffs. And Les Bowen of the Philadelphia Daily News says the Eagles’ Brian Westbrook is doing some work for the NFL Network as well.

The NFL has announced it will make game highlights and various NFL Network programming available for download through Amazon.com’s Unbox.

NFL PLAYOFF HIGHLIGHTS NOW AVAILABLE ON AMAZON UNBOX

Critically Acclaimed “America’s Game” Series, “Follow Your Team” Game Highlights &

NFL Network Shows including NFL GameDay & NFL Replay Also Available

Want to re-live this past weekend’s exciting Wild Card Playoffs? Fans can now visit www.amazon.com/unbox to download highlights and more NFL video content from Amazon Unbox, Amazon’s digital video download service, including the critically acclaimed America’s Game: The Super Bowl Champions series, “Follow Your Team” game highlights and select NFL Network shows, the NFL announced today.

“We are committed to bringing more NFL action to our fans,” said Brian Rolapp, NFL senior vice president of media strategy and digital media. “Amazon provides an easy way for fans to download their favorite NFL content.”

The day after each NFL postseason game, NFL and Amazon Unbox will offer fans a chance to download highlights from the playoffs and Super Bowl XLII.

From dynasties to one-shot wonders, from the undefeated to the unexpected, America’s Game tells the stories behind the story of all 41 Super Bowl champions. Each episode is a 60-minute documentary featuring key members of the winning team telling behind-the-scenes accounts from their championship season. With classic NFL Films action combined with news clips and photos, highlights from team radio broadcasts, footage from inside team meeting rooms, sideline audio and other exclusive features, America’s Game provides an epic and intimate portrait of 41 distinct championship teams, in one groundbreaking series. Episodes are available to download for $1.99.

Also available on Amazon Unbox: NFL Network programs including NFL GameDay, the ultimate Sunday night NFL highlights and recap show ($1.99 per episode), and NFL Replay, featuring the five most exciting games from the weekend presented in a fast-paced 90-minute format with exclusive audio and video extras from the sidelines and postgame ($2.99 per episode); and a “Follow Your Team” offering which allows fans to track their team on a weekly basis ($1.99 per game).

NFL video content is part of a growing selection on Amazon Unbox that now includes over 10,000 television shows, movies and other videos for rent or purchase. Customers can view their favorite movies and television shows by watching them on their PC, on portable video players, or on their TV through the Amazon Unbox on TiVo service.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union writes in his Best Seat in My House blog that Fox Sports is not stepping up in the BCS Championship Game (at least in the first half).

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Jeff D’Alessio talks with ESPN Radio’s Colin Cowherd about the five sports personalities he wishes would go away.

Kirk Bohls of the Austin (TX) American-Statesman says the University of Texas will play one of its football games next season on a Thursday night to accommodate ESPN. Chip Brown of the Dallas Morning News says that game is the annual Texas-Texas A&M rivalry and ESPN wants that to be played on Thanksgiving night. And one more story from Bohls who writes that ESPN is interested in bidding for the BCS when the contract is back up for bid. Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports.com says ESPN/ABC will work with the Rose Bowl to work on a possible “Plus One” model to get a real college football national champion. Right now, the Rose Bowl along with the Big Ten and Pac 10 are the holdouts to a BCS Plus One championship.

Fox Soccer Channel will team up with an online streaming company to offer games from the English Premier League and other international games on its website.

The Canadian Press reports that the Gold Medal game of the World Junior Hockey Championships was a ratings winner for TSN.

Some late breaking news, Philadelphia news anchor Alycia Lane has been fired by KYW-TV. Michael Malone of Broadcasting & Cable has the story. KYW has released a tersely worded statement. Dan Gross of the Philadelphia Daily News is also on top of the story. And Michael Klein of the Philadelphia Inquirer also reports on Lane’s firing.

Lots of stuff on this Monday night. Keep it here for more stuff tomorrow.

Tuesday Night Linkage

Time to give you a few links tonight before heading to bed.

It appears that the NFL’s TV partners will not have to deal with the silly 45 seconds of online video rule for their websites. The Sports Business Journal’s Eric Fisher, Dan Kaplan and John Ourand report that the 45 second rule does not apply CBS, ESPN, Fox and NBC, but other sites such as newspaper and TV station websites still must adhere to the rule. According to the article, the networks feel that their exorbitant rights fees should buy them rights to online video. The 45 second rule is of course, supposed to direct fans to NFL.com. We’ll see if the league eventually relaxes this silly rule down the road.

Michael David Smith of the AOL Fanhouse blog reports that ESPN will lower the amount of silly guests in the booth on Monday Night Football. Kamau High of AdWeek says ESPN has begun a new promotional campaign for MNF and I have to say it’s actually not as obnoxious as other ESPN campaigns. TV Week’s Chris Pursell in his Pressbox blog talks with Keyshawn Johnson who begins his first season as an NFL analyst for ESPN. Advertising Age’s Andrew Hampp has a story on the networks scoring profitable ad deals on the NFL.

The great Gregg Easterbrook has the latest edition of Tuesday Morning Quarterback which includes railing against the Preposterous Punt, his all-haiku predictions and a look at the Appalachian State-Michigan game.

The Sports Media Watch blog has the announcing teams for college football on the Disney Sports Networks.

Kira Bindrim of Crain’s New York Business writes that ratings for the US Open are down compared to last year while attendance at the National Tennis Center is up.

Randy Petersen of the Des Moines Register reports that Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz doesn’t have the Big Ten Network at home meaning his family can’t watch his games through Mediacom. Centre (PA) Daily Times’s editor Bob Heisse in his “Back in Happy Valley” blog wonders what if Comcast decided to settle up with BTN? And Heisse adds one more post regarding overflow games. Michael Zuidema of the Grands Rapids Press says the Appalachian State upset is the first shot from BTN in its battle with Comcast.

The Appalachian State athletics department says ESPN is in town to tape a segment on the upset for College Gameday.

Last Friday, NBC Universal announced it would no longer sell shows for download on iTunes saying prices were too low. Tonight, it’s announced a deal with Amazon.com to sell downloads on that site and for higher prices.

That’s a lot of links for a Tuesday night and I like it. I’ll have more Wednesday morning.