Media Notes

Florida State-Miami Pulls In Big Numbers For ESPN

ESPN earned a 6.1 overnight cable Nielsen rating for its coverage of Monday night’s Florida State-Miami game. If the rating holds, it will be the net’s highest-rated regular-season college football game since a 7.7 for Florida State-Miami on October 8, 1994. ESPN offered “Full Circle” coverage of Monday night’s game, with special content on ESPN2 and ESPNU, as well as several other media platforms. ESPN2’s multi-screen telecast earned a 0.6 (THE DAILY).

CALLING IN: Trevor Denman, the voice of Santa Anita Park and Del Mar, will call Breeders’ Cup races for ESPN, when the network carries the event for the first time November 4 from Churchill Downs (ESPN). Tom Durkin signed an exclusive deal with NBC in February, meaning he cannot call the Breeders’ Cup for the first time since the event’s inception in ’84 (BLOODHORSE.com, 9/5).

BE HOME BLYLEVEN, AND WATCH YOUR CUSSING! Twins TV analyst Bert Blyleven was “suspended for two telecasts for accidentally using [an] obscenity on the air” before Twins-Yankees on Sunday. Blyleven “thought the pregame portion of the telecast was being taped” when he swore (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 9/4).


NEW DEFINITION: In an e-mail interview with CNET NEWS.com, Mavericks Owner and HDNet co-Owner Mark Cuban wrote, “The sports that gain the most [in HD] are hockey and soccer, which is why HDNet pursued these sports. ... Their ratings suffered in the past because the sports aren’t suited for 4-by-3 standard-definition coverage” (CNET NEWS.com, 9/5).