Media Notes

Cardinals Games Have Been Least-Viewed Broadcasts In Each Round Of NFL Playoffs

In N.Y., Richard Sandomir reports the NFL Cardinals' playoff games thus far "have been the least viewed in each round." Part of that is due to the fact the team has "rarely given the networks reason to carry their games much beyond Arizona and the interested markets of the teams they play," except when they play "much better and much better-known teams." The two Cardinals-Rams games this season were available only in 4% of the country, while the Cowboys-Cardinals game on Fox was available to 74% of the country. The club's games against the Giants and Patriots were available to 77% and 83% of the country, respectively. Fox Sports President Ed Goren: "If the NFC West has another year comparable to this year, how broadly do you network the Cardinals in those games?" Sandomir notes, "Working against Fox' broadly distributing Arizona's home games, which start at 4 p.m. Eastern, is when they compete against CBS's Sunday doubleheaders" (N.Y. TIMES, 1/22).

BAD TIMING: The SPORTING BLOG's Dave Larzelere wrote the Australian Open "struggles to connect with an American audience ... with no major network coverage and broadcast exclusively on ESPN2 at all hours of the night." This year, however, is "doubly difficult in that the tournament started on the night of the NFC and AFC Championship games and will conclude on the day of the Super Bowl." Larzelere compares the event to the '08 PGA Championship, which "occurred during the middle weekend of Beijing Olympic Fever. ... It was as if it never happened." Larzelere: "I fear that the Aussie Open is in the same boat right now as far as U.S. viewership is concerned" (SPORTINGNEWS.com, 1/21).

DON'T TURN OUT THE LIGHTS: NASCAR SCENE's Jeff Gluck reports ESPN yesterday "strongly refuted the idea" of SMI Chair & CEO Bruton Smith that NASCAR "should look at television blackouts to help attendance." ESPN/ABC Sports Senior Dir of Communications George McNeilly: "We all want to see growth in both attendance and television ratings, and we'll continue to work with NASCAR and the race tracks to find mutually beneficial solutions that do not involve blacking out our telecasts" (SCENEDAILY.com, 1/21).

NOTES: WCVB-ABC's "Patriots All Access" and "Totally Patriots" are "switching stations." "All Access" will air on WBZ-CBS on Fridays at 7:00pm ET and on WSBK-Ind on Sundays at 9:00am, while "Totally" will air Sundays at 10:00am on WSBK (BOSTON GLOBE, 1/22)....HorseRacing TV has "launched on Comcast Media Center's HITS Quantum service, which offers programming to more than 400" cable affiliates (CABLEFAX DAILY, 1/21).