In L.A., Michael Hiltzik writes you "can't blame Comcast for acting like a pirate" in its carriage dispute with the Tennis Channel. Hiltzik: "The fault lies with the regulators, which endowed a cable operator that already controlled 1 in 4 American pay-TV households with NBC, a major provider of sports and other programming, and failed to impose ironclad measures to prevent abuse. Instead of handling this problem themselves, they dumped it in the lap of a judge.” He added nobody can say the FCC "wasn't warned." In its "own order approving the Comcast/NBC Universal merger, the commission acknowledged that Comcast routinely discriminated against unaffiliated channels in favor of its own and that it was likely to continue to do so after the merger." Hiltzik: "This might be one of the rare cases, therefore, of an agency being in a position to say 'I told you so' to itself" (L.A. TIMES, 11/9).
PRIME NUMBERS: The NFL yesterday announced its final Week 11 schedule, in which the Eagles-Giants game will remain in place as NBC's "SNF" game on Nov. 20. The Titans-Falcons game will move from 1:00 p.m. ET to 4:15 p.m. on CBS (NFL). PRO FOOTBALL TALK’s Michael David Smith noted the NFL “has decided to move the Week 13 Colts-Patriots game out of prime time.” The game “had been set for the Week 13 Sunday night NBC slot, but with this year’s transformation of the Colts into the worst team in the league, it came as no surprise that the league moved the game down to Sunday afternoon” at 1 p.m. on CBS. The NFL “will announce in a couple of weeks which game is moving” into that prime-time slot, which falls on Sunday, Dec. 4 (PROFOOTBALLTALK.com, 11/8).
GETTING MORE FACE TIME: The Jockey Club yesterday announced a deal with NBC Sports Group and CNBC for TV coverage of six "major Kentucky Derby preps next year" in a four-part “Road to the Kentucky Derby” series. The deal is "similar to an effort in 2010 where Churchill Downs Inc. worked with NBC to televise Derby preps." Churchill "did not renew the effort" (COURIER-JOURNAL.com, 11/8). The series will be "highlighted by a 90-minute live broadcast" April 7 on NBC featuring races at Aqueduct and Santa Anita (BLOODHORSE.com, 11/8). In N.Y., Joe Drape noted last August the Jockey Club said that it “would look to increase television coverage and create a racing series to be accompanied by a free-to-play Web site for picking races as well as a social-network game.” Drape notes it is a “five-year $10 million effort at a time when the sport needs a boost” (NYTIMES.com, 11/8).
BACK IN THE GAME: Sirius XM Radio yesterday announced that former college basketball coach Bruce Pearl has joined the roster of expert hosts on the company's College Sports Nation channel (Sirius XM Radio). A source said that the satellite radio provider later this week is expected to announce that Pearl "will host a show on the basketball channel once a week beginning soon, and then do the show twice a week as the season progresses" (THEBIGLEAD.com, 11/8).
