USA TODAY's Michael Hiestand notes Saturday's SEC championship game between Alabama and Georgia "likely will top the 9.4% of U.S. households for the highest-rated college game this season ... although even that is unlikely to compete with some of this weekend's NFL games." But CBS College Football Coordinating Producer Craig Silver said that the Alabama-Georgia game "can't be compared to the pros." Meanwhile, he added that CBS will "deploy a new extra-wide lens, which network staffers found in Ireland while there for the Notre Dame-Navy game, 'to cover the enormity of it all.'" Silver said that the "worst thing would be if CBS missed key shots" (USA TODAY, 11/30).
ROUND AND ROUND WE GO: Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott said of Pac-12 Network carriage negotiations, "I don’t know exactly what the sticking point is with DirecTV but based on what they say to their customers, they've used a number of different arguments and been a moving target. They've questioned whether our fans really want it and how passionate our fans really are, whether it’s fair to their non-sports customers, whether the price is too high; there’s been a panoply of different answers they've given. It’s been a bit of pin the tail on the donkey. I suspect the real reason is financial to a large extent. But obviously they've just picked up the Lakers’ network which is much, much more expensive than our networks so I suspect they can afford it and hope they choose to do it" (PAC-12.com, 11/28).
GOING TO GRACELAND: In Memphis, Michael Sheffield noted the Grizzlies announced a multiyear deal with Skyview Networks "to provide broadcast services for the team’s radio and television play-by-play." Skyview will provide satellite distribution, satellite receivers and web automation and inventory management software for the team (BIZJOURNALS.com, 11/29).
