In Atlanta, Tim Tucker noted the Braves "scored their highest local TV rating in more than five years" for Wednesday night’s win over the Marlins. The game averaged a 5.99 local rating in Atlanta on FS Southeast, the "best for a Braves game since opening night" of the '13 season. Many fans "may have tuned in because" of rookie LF Ronald Acuña’s home-run streak, but Acuña’s exit from the game in the second inning "didn’t cause a drop-off in viewership." The audience "peaked at a season-high 7.29 rating" from 9:45-10:00pm ET (AJC.com, 8/16).
WORK IT OUT: In Michigan, Graham Couch wrote "no one wins if Comcast and Big Ten Network don’t strike a deal before their 10-year contract expires on Aug. 31." Big Ten fans "might be a drop in the bucket to Comcast," but the cable company is "about to lose plenty of them ... if the two sides don’t come to an agreement." Couch: "If I can’t fire up BTN on my television, phone and laptop as part of my ridiculously overpriced but unbelievably convenient cable subscription, I’m out. I’ll either join the increasing mass of cord-cutters or go with another bundled cable or cable-like option." Comcast is "underestimating the worth of Big Ten football and basketball to consumers in Big Ten country" (LANSING STATE JOURNAL, 8/16).
NEW & IMPROVED: AWFUL ANNOUNCING's Joe Lucia noted ESPN has "made the decision to drastically revamp its bottom line for the first time" since '14. The new bottom line "seems to take up a bit more real estate on the bottom of the screen, which ESPN will use to provide more information" (AWFULANNOUNCING.com, 8/16).
STILL RELEVANT: In S.F., Ann Killion wrote scandals involving Ohio State and Maryland that have "rocked college football in the past month wouldn’t have come about without diligent reporting from journalists facing down a system that wants nothing more than to shut them out and shut them up." Observers can be "sure that the admission and the fallout" from those cases "would not have occurred without in-depth reporting" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 8/16).
