Media Notes
Last night's Steelers-Jaguars "Sunday Night Football" game on NBC earned a 10.2/16 overnight Nielsen rating from 8:30-11:30pm ET, down 17.1% from a 12.3/20 overnight rating for the comparable Bears-Packers game last year. At presstime, six Nielsen markets were not reporting ratings, including Detroit, DC, Houston, Providence, Ft. Myers (FL) and Dayton (THE DAILY)....The intro to Sunday’s edition of CBS’ “The NFL Today” featured scenes from Universal’s “The Express: The Ernie Davis Story” intermixed with NFL scenes and commentary from actor Dennis Quaid, who stars in the movie. CBS’ James Brown promoted the theatrical release of the movie and thanked Quaid for his participation (“The NFL Today,” CBS, 10/5).
NOW IT'S TIME FOR THE WEATHER: In Oklahoma City, Mel Bracht reported KSBI-IND will be the over-the-air broadcast partner for the Thunder, televising "all seven preseason and 17 regular-season games," including the franchise's first regular-season game at the Ford Center on October 29 against the Bucks. Additionally, KSBI "will be rebranded as Thunder TV." The station is "available across a large portion of the state -- either over the air, through cable, Dish Network and DirecTV" (DAILY OKLAHOMAN, 10/2). Bracht added KSBI will also air 30-minute pre- and postgame shows for each game, as well as a weekly magazine show. The station will rebroadcast each game twice. Thunder Senior VP & Exec Producer Ken Adelson said that "many of KSBI's games will be carried in HD, with plans to carry all of them in HD next season" (DAILY OKLAHOMAN, 10/3).
SETTING SAIL: In Pittsburgh, Rob Biertempfel noted Pirates play-by-play announcer Lanny Frattare, who served in the role since '76, retired Wednesday, "ending a 33-season career as the team's radio and television play-by-play announcer." Frattare was the longest-tenured announcer in team history. Pirates play-by-play announcer Greg Brown "will take over as the Pirates' senior announcer" (Pittsburgh TRIBUNE-REVIEW, 10/2). In Pittsburgh, Bob Smizik noted Frattare "had privately discussed with some people the possibility of working home games, but, in the end, decided to go into retirement" (PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE, 10/2).
NOTES: NASN will be re-branded ESPN America, effective on February 1, 2009, the same day as Super Bowl XLIII (ESPN)….FSN Midwest will televise 31 of its 51 Blues broadcasts this season in HD as part of an expansion of its overall HD coverage (Blues).
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