NFL: Last night's Jags-Cowboys exhibition on CBS earned
a 6.6/11 overnight rating (THE DAILY)....Bill Walsh has
joined The Sporting News as an analyst. His commentary is
currently on sportingnews.com, and his magazine content
debuts in the September 7 pro football preview issue (TSN).
...The Patriots will produce a 45-60 minute online post-game
show that will debut following the team's Monday night
regular-season opener against the Broncos on patriots.com.
WBZ-TV's Gary Tanguay will host the show, which will include
the post-game press conferences. Patriots.com Dir Fred
Kirsch: "We saw an opportunity to do something big with that
game, especially with the television networks having to pass
their stations on to the local news" (BOSTON GLOBE, 8/28).
NOTES: In N.Y., Phil Mushnick reports that the Isles
"are putting the final touches" on a deal to have their
games broadcast on One-On-One Sports-620 AM, the net's local
NYC affil. The team is also putting together a network of
Long Island stations, as 620's signal does not reach all of
LI (N.Y. POST, 8/28)....NBA lockout rules prohibit Heat
broadcast rightsholder WYHS-TV from showing any NBA
highlights during a work stoppage, and as a club employee,
WYHS broadcaster Eric Reed "is not allowed to talk about the
lockout publicly" or the team could be fined $1M (MIAMI
HERALD, 8/28)....In Canada, TSN is carrying every Mark
McGwire at-bat, but in Toronto, William Houston notes that
the net, "given its Canadian audience," gave the "short
shrift" to Roger Clemens by moving him to a small screen
during his three-hit, 18-strikeout game on for the Blue Jays
on Tuesday. Houston adds that the "right move" would have
been to put McGwire in a small box insert (GLOBE & MAIL,
8/28)....Former CBC "Hockey Night In Canada" analyst John
Garrett signed a four-year deal with Molstar to work Flames
and Oilers games, both on CTV Sports Net and on local
affils. In other news, the Raptors announced an 11-game
regional cable deal with TSN (TORONTO SUN, 8/28).
