The N.Y. POST's Page Six wonders if ABC's Robin Roberts agreed "not to throw hardball questions at Tiger Woods" during an interview on "Good Morning America" Thursday. NBC's Jimmy Fallon "mercilessly ripped into" Woods on "Late Night" Wednesday night, but Roberts "handled Woods with kid gloves." However, an ABC official said, "There were no ground rules. We set out to talk to Tiger about where he is currently in his life, and topics we felt our audience was curious about -- from his golf game to his family life and being a divorced dad to his new golf game" (N.Y. POST, 3/18). Meanwhile, in N.Y., Phil Mushnick notes after Woods "shot 66 but finished eight behind winner Nick Watney" during the final round of last weekend's WGC-Cadillac Championship at Doral, NBC's Roger Maltbie said to Woods, "Thank you for playing well today. That always makes these things more fun and easier to do." Mushnick: "Ugh" (N.Y. POST, 3/18).
EYEING NFL DEAL: National CineMedia Chair & CEO Kurt Hall, whose company "sells in-theater advertising and distributes pre-show programming and live events," Thursday at the Gabelli & Co. Movie & Entertainment Conference indicated that he "would love to do" a deal with the NFL. Hall said that his company "can have 'more meaningful' conversations with big names like the NFL, but he didn't provide a possible time line." Hall "cited success with last year's offer of soccer World Cup games." He also "predicted it will take viewing without 3D glasses to make 3D TV take off, and that could be five to 10 years away" (HOLLYWOODREPORTER.com, 3/17).
WE'RE GOING STREAMING: DIGITALSPY.com's Andrew Laughlin reports ESPN "has announced the launch of a new live streaming service providing post-match coverage of football matches in England and Scotland." The service, called ESPN Extra Time, "will immediately follow TV coverage of all ESPN's live matches from the Premier League, FA Cup and Scottish Premier League" (DIGITALSPY.com, 3/18).
