Notre Dame football's home game against Boston College at Fenway Park on Nov. 21 "will be the first Irish football telecast ever to be broadcast on NBCSN," according to Mike Vorel of the SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE. Meanwhile, NBC also announced that Doug Flutie "will serve as lead analyst for Notre Dame football telecasts" in '15, continuing a role he "adopted near the end of last season." Flutie will be "joined by play-by-play announcer Dan Hicks and sideline reporter Kathryn Tappen." Former NFLer Jonathan Vilma "will join the NBC team as a pregame and halftime analyst this season, working alongside Liam McHugh and Hines Ward" (SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE, 8/6). USA TODAY's Nate Scott noted analyst Mike Mayock "will no longer be a part of the broadcasts" (USATODAY.com, 8/5). In South Bend, Eric Hansen writes the decision to move the BC-Notre Dame game to NBCSN, which is in 85 million U.S. homes, "may rankle some viewers." Nielsen estimates there are 116 million TV homes, so 27% of them "won’t have access." The problem "is more acute in Canada, where there’s a large and avid Notre Dame football fan base and limited alternatives." NBC Sports Group "does offer a free live stream of all the Irish home games" in the U.S. (SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE, 8/6). In DC, Matt Bonesteel noted NBCSN "has a limited college football reach, with rights agreements in place only with the lower-level CAA and Ivy League." An NBC spokesperson in an e-mail wrote, "We’ve had the option to move a game to cable since 2006, but the right opportunity never presented itself. As NBCSN has gained more traction, we feel that the Shamrock Series game against Boston College from iconic Fenway Park is the right situation" (WASHINGTONPOST.com, 8/5).
CLASSIC MOVE: In Baton Rouge, Les East reported the annual football game between Southern Univ. and Grambling State "will move" to NBCSN after having been televised on NBC since '91. The Bayou Classic's move to cable comes "under terms of a one-year contract" (Baton Rouge ADVOCATE, 8/5).
