NFL Television shake-ups

[Mel]

1) NBC is back in Football broadcasting after an 8 year absence with "Sunday Night Football". The Sunday night nationally televised game previously broadcast by ESPN.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/7558497/


2) Monday Night Football, an institution on ABC for the past 35 years is moving to ESPN. This move really surprises me as ESPN is cable-only, less available then ABC. And they are both owned by the same conglomerate.... so why the move to ESPN?

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/sports/11430567.htm

[KB in Kelowna]

NBC is now the #3 if not lower network. Prime time football on Sunday evenings may be a step towards getting back on track.
As for Monday night on ESPN, well if it is Joe Theisman calling games, bring back Frank Gifford and Don Merideth please :laughing:

[leaferfan87]

I don't agree with this at all. I think that ABC Monday Night Football has been such an American tradition for so long and it is sad to think that many people will not be able to watch it anymore.

[Leafs_Fa_Life]

CHUM gets rights for Monday Night Football (http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ap-nfl-canadiantv&prov=ap&type=lgns)

[J.R.]

CHUM gets rights for Monday Night Football (http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ap-nfl-canadiantv&prov=ap&type=lgns)Good to hear.

FYI:

CHUM's local television stations include Citytv (Toronto), Citytv (Vancouver), The New VR (Barrie), The New RO (Ottawa and the National Capital Region), The New PL (London), The New NX (Wingham), The New WI (Windsor), The New VI (Victoria and Vancouver Island), A-Channel (Calgary), A-Channel (Edmonton), A-Channel (Manitoba) and CKX Television (Brandon).

So basically regardless of where you live in Canada, you should be able to get MNF on a local station.

[KB in Kelowna]

Good to hear.

FYI:

CHUM's local television stations include Citytv (Toronto), Citytv (Vancouver), The New VR (Barrie), The New RO (Ottawa and the National Capital Region), The New PL (London), The New NX (Wingham), The New WI (Windsor), The New VI (Victoria and Vancouver Island), A-Channel (Calgary), A-Channel (Edmonton), A-Channel (Manitoba) and CKX Television (Brandon).

So basically regardless of where you live in Canada, you should be able to get MNF on a local station.
Actually JR not here. Kelowna has three Canwest Global owned stations as part of our Basic Cable. CHBC the local CBC afilliate, though that is changing next fall and will reemble CH from Hamilton and Victoria, Global BC (the old BCTV) and Global Edomoton (the former ITV). Personally I would like to see the Edmonton station replaced by CITY out of Vancouver, just to get some different programming, but I am not holding my breath. We will be getting CBC Vancouver who will now finally be province wide.

[Amoroq]

NBC is now the #3 if not lower network. Prime time football on Sunday evenings may be a step towards getting back on track.
As for Monday night on ESPN, well if it is Joe Theisman calling games, bring back Frank Gifford and Don Merideth please :laughing:From the movie about MNF. The opening game on ABC Welcome to Monday Night Football at Mile High....and I amLOL :laughing: :nod: Hey it was the 70's ;)

[J.R.]

Actually JR not here.I'm surprised that all of B.C. doesn't get Vancouver's CityTV. I know the majority of Ontario (west of Kingston, I believe) gets Toronto's CityTV on basic cable.

[Matt Cooke]

God damn Shaw Cable.

[J.R.]

God damn Shaw Cable.Time to get with the 21st century Matt and get Bell Expressvu.

[Matt Cooke]

Time to get with the 21st century Matt and get Bell Expressvu.

Well, we have five televisions in my home, so satellite would be an issue. Digital cable is alright, but the channel selection is thin. All I really care about is NFL Sunday Ticket.

[J.R.]

This is definitely good news. :thumb:

Read the whole article, because it gives some information as to what ESPN and NBC's telecast will look like.

Michaels to stay with football telecast

Tue Jul 26, 4:46 PM ET

NEW YORK - Al Michaels is staying with Monday Night Football when it moves from ABC to ESPN for the 2006 NFL season, parting with John Madden after four seasons in the booth together.

Michaels has been the play-by-play man on Monday Night Football since 1986, the last three with Madden as analyst. After this season, Madden is moving to NBC, which is taking over the Sunday night time slot in 2006 for what the NFL considers its main prime-time package.

"I feel like I'm a creature of Monday night. I'm home and I'm staying home," said Michaels, who had been heavily pursued by NBC, but said he wanted to stay where he has worked for 29 years ? ABC and ESPN are both owned by the Disney Co.

"The three words 'Monday Night Football' resonate like no other," he said during a news conference Tuesday to announce the lineup.

Michaels will be joined in the booth by Joe Theismann, who had teamed with play-by-play man Mike Patrick and Paul Maguire on ABC's Sunday night games.

Michelle Tafoya and Suzy Kolber will be the sideline reporters.

ESPN executive vice president Mark Shapiro said Maguire and Patrick are both expected to stay with the all-sports network. He said Maguire will be part of a two-hour Monday night pregame show to be hosted by Chris Berman, who has hosted the network's Sunday night "NFL Primetime."

NBC, which had been without NFL football since losing its contract to CBS in 1997, announced Tuesday that Bob Costas will host its Sunday night pregame show.

Via: Yahoo Sports (http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050726/ap_on_sp_fo_ne/fbn_michaels_mnf).

[J.R.]

In case you've missed the networks' NFL checkerboard moves, here are the almost-completed lineups:

? ESPN Monday Night Football: Michaels and Theismann, with Suzy Kolber (ESPN) and Michele Tafoya (ABC Monday Night Football) as sideline reporters. The ousted Paul Maguire is a candidate for studio work.

? NBC Sunday Night Football: Madden and a play-by- play man to be announced. Candidates include Tom Hammond and Marv Albert. Studio hosts are Costas and Collinsworth.

? Fox: Sunday telecasts will feature the two-man booth of Joe Buck and Troy Aikman starting this season. Aikman recently signed a seven-year deal with Fox after reports circulated he was being courted by NBC Sports and ESPN.

? CBS: No major changes with Jim Nantz and Phil Simms as the No. 1 team and Dick Enberg and Dan Dierdorf working as No. 2. A new hire is retired quarterback Rich Gannon, who'll work as an analyst with Craig Bolerjack.

Via: Rocky Mountain News (http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/entertainment_columnists/article/0,1299,DRMN_84_3968845,00.html).


Great rest of the article if you're interested. Personally I would love to see Marv Albert calling the Sunday night game on NBC in two years. He already does Monday Night Football on Westwood One radio and many a night I have fallen asleep listening to him calling the games.

[J.R.]

Okay, more changes and shuffling, so I'll just keep adding to this thread.

Al Michaels is done with ABC. He'll be joining John Madden for Sunday Night Football on NBC starting in September. Bob Costas and Chris Collinsworth are the studio hosts.

ESPN now promotes Mike Tirico to do play-by-play on Monday Night Football, with the colour being done by Joe "that's gotta hurt" Thiesman. The biggest news from today is that Tony Kornheiser will also be entering the MNF booth to add a spark to the broadcast.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2323121

Very interesting. I'm not a fan of Tirico's voice or style, so hopefully Kornheiser will be able to stay awake and entertain us (at least more than Dennis Miller).

[Leafs_Fa_Life]

YES!!!!!!!

T.K. is gonna be great :)

[Amoroq]

NBC is now the #3 if not lower network. Prime time football on Sunday evenings may be a step towards getting back on track.
As for Monday night on ESPN, well if it is Joe Theisman calling games, bring back Frank Gifford and Don Merideth please :laughing:From the movie about Monday Night Football, Monday Night Mayhem. The first opened sort of like this. "Welcome to Monday night football, We're in Mile High and I am" Don Merideth :laughing: That and Cosells "Look at that little monkey go" are 2 things I'll never forget about the early days.

[leaferfan87]

Kornheisier is on!!

WE NEED WILBON WE NEED WILBON that would make it complete!!

Then throw in stat boy as the sideline reporter. They'd probably spend most of the time arguing rather than calling the game.

[J.R.]

WE NEED WILBON WE NEED WILBON that would make it complete!!Michael Wilbon is about as entertaining as a deodorant stick. No thanks.

From the movie about Monday Night Football, Monday Night Mayhem. The first opened sort of like this. "Welcome to Monday night football, We're in Mile High and I am" Don Merideth That and Cosells "Look at that little monkey go" are 2 things I'll never forget about the early days.You wrote the same thing in reply to KB's same post just nine months ago. :wave:

[Amoroq]

Michael Wilbon is about as entertaining as a deodorant stick. No thanks.

You wrote the same thing in reply to KB's same post just nine months ago. :wave:Sorry, I do try to be perfect like Jake Plumber and the Broncos but thats impossible. :thumb:

[J.R.]

Sorry, I do try to be perfect like Jake Plumber and the Broncos but thats impossible. :thumb:
Joe Gibbs is how old? Mark Brunell is how old? Yeah, that's what I thought. :thumb: