The NFL dominates Thanksgiving weekend ratings

With families gathering all across the United States for Thanksgiving last weekend, one thing was evident, there was one thing that families could agree on watching and that was NFL football.

According to a Press Release from the NFL, the 3pm (CT) NFL matchup of Miami @ Dallas was the most-watched TV show this fall on TV, regardless if it's broadcast or cable and the Thanksgiving night "Harbowl" on NFL Network was cable TV's all-time most-watched primetime Thanksgiving telecast.  That's all in addition to the Green Bay/Detroit showdown being the most-watched Thanksgiving game since 1996 as well as NBC's Sunday Night telecast winning the night ratings.

For a full breakdown of the ratings, please visit the Web Site linked above.

TV Schedule, Thursday December 1

College Basketball:

Big 10: Miami, FL @ Michigan St. (women's) 7pm on BTN

Missouri Valley: Creighton @ Wyoming (women's) 8pm on The Mtn.

National Games:

Providence @ South Carolina 6pm on ESPNU
St. Johns @ Kentucky 6:30pm on ESPN2
Illinois-Chicago @ Wisconsin-Green Bay 7pm on Comcast SportsNet Chicago
LSU @ Houston 7pm on CBS Sports Network
Ole Miss @ DePaul 8pm on ESPNU
Georgetown @ Alabama 8:30pm on ESPN2

College Football: West Virginia @ South Florida 7pm on ESPN

Golf:

Nedbank Golf Challenge (First Round) 8am on Golf Channel (same day tape)
European PGA Tour: UBS Hong Kong Open (First Round) 11:30am on Golf Channel (same day tape)
Chevron World Challenge: First Round, 2pm on Golf Channel

NFL Football: Philadelphia @ Seattle 7pm on NFL Network

NHL Hockey: Pittsburgh @ Washington 6pm on NHL Network

Sports Radio on TV:

Mike & Mike in the Morning: 5am on ESPN2
Dan Patrick: 8am on Comcast SportsNet Chicago, FS Midwest, & FS North
The Herd: 9am on ESPNews
Tim Brando: 9am on CBS Sports Network
Scott Van Pelt Show: 12pm on ESPNews

Disclaimer: All times are Central.

TV Schedule, Wednesday November 30

College Basketball:

Big 10:

North Carolina @ Penn St. (women's) 5:30pm on BTN
Florida St. @ Michigan St. 6:30pm on ESPN
Indiana @ North Carolina St. 6:15pm on ESPN2
Penn St. @ Boston College 6:15pm on ESPNU
Florida St. @ Ohio St. (women's) 7:30pm on BTN
Virginia Tech @ Minnesota 8:15pm on ESPN2
Wake Forest @ Nebraska 8:15pm on ESPNU
Wisconsin @ North Carolina 8:30pm on ESPN

Big 12: Northern Iowa @ Iowa St. 7pm on Mediacom Channel 22

Missouri Valley:

Missouri St. @ Oral Roberts 7pm on Fox College Sports Central
Creighton @ San Diego St. 9:30pm on The Mtn.

National Games:

Duquesne vs Pitt 6pm on CBS Sports Network
BYU vs Northern Arizona 8pm on BYUtv
Notre Dame @ Gonzaga 10:15pm on ESPN2

NHL Hockey:

Tampa Bay @ Detroit 6:30pm on VERSUS
Colorado @ Colorado St. 7pm on The Mtn.
Minnesota @ Edmonton 8:30pm on FS North

Soccer:

International Friendly: Newcastle vs Los Angeles 6am on FOX Soccer
U-17 Friendly: United States vs France 4pm on FOX Soccer

Sports Radio on TV:

Mike & Mike in the Morning: 5am on ESPN2
Dan Patrick: 8am on Comcast SportsNet Chicago, FS Midwest, & FS North
The Herd: 9am on ESPNews
Tim Brando: 9am on CBS Sports Network
Scott Van Pelt Show: 12pm on ESPNews

Disclaimer: All times are Central and blackouts are likely for regional NHL telecasts outside of Iowa.

ESPN wraps up the college football regular season this week

The 2011 college football regular season comes to an end this weekend with several conference championship and key regular season games being broadcast across multiple ESPN platforms.

According to a Press Release from ESPN, the following are the marquee games, all times are Central:

Thursday:  West Virigina @ South Florida 7pm on ESPN

Friday:


MAC Championship Game:  Northern Illinois vs Ohio 6pm on ESPN2
Pac 12 Championship Game:  UCLA @ Oregon 7pm on ESPN Radio

Saturday:


Conference USA Championship Game:  Southern Miss @ Houston 11am on ABC
Texas @ Baylor 2:30pm on ABC
ACC Championship:  Clemson vs Virginia Tech 7pm on ESPN
Oklahoma @ Oklahoma St. 7pm on ABC

CSN Chicago to air a weekly Hot Stove League show

It's been a busy start to the start of the Hot Stove League for both Cubs & White Sox fans and now, they have a weekly show on Comcast SportsNet Chicago ("CSN Chicago").

According to a Press Release from CSN Chicago, Chicago Baseball Hot Stove will air every Tuesday afternoon at 5pm (CT) and will be dedicated to the off-season moves of both the Cubs & White Sox.  Chicago Baseball Hot Stove will be hosted by and will be hosted by several Cubs & White Sox CSN Chicago analysts.

CSN  Chicago is available across Iowa in the basic programing packages of both Dish Network & DirecTV and also available on cable in Eastern Iowa.

TV Schedule, Tuesday November 29

College Basketball:

Northwestern @ Georgia Tech 6:15pm on ESPNU
Michigan @ Virginia 6pm on ESPN2
Illinois @ Maryland 6:30pm on ESPN
LSU @ Houston 7pm on CBS Sports Network
Miami, FL @ Purdue 8pm on ESPN2
Clemson @ Iowa 8:15ppm on ESPNU
Duke @ Ohio St. 8:30pm on ESPN

Italian Serie A Soccer: Napoli vs Juventus 1:30pm on FOX Soccer

NHL Hockey:

St. Louis @ Washington 6pm on FS Midwest
Pittsburgh @ NY Rangers 6:30pm on VERSUS
Phoenix @ Chicgo 7:30pm on Comcast SportsNet Chicago

Sports Radio on TV:

Mike & Mike in the Morning: 5am on ESPN2
Dan Patrick: 8am on Comcast SportsNet Chicago, FS Midwest, & FS North
The Herd: 9am on ESPNews
Tim Brando: 9am on CBS Sports Network
Scott Van Pelt Show: 12pm on ESPNews

Disclaimer: All times are Central and blackouts are likely for regional NHL telecasts outside of Iowa.

Last night's Sunday Night Football was a ratings winner

As expected, last night's Sunday Night Football telecast on NBC between Kansas City & Pittsburgh easily won the Sunday night ratings competition.

According to a Press Release from NBC, last night's game generated an overnight rating of 12.5 and a 19 share.  Even though last night's rating were down from last year's week 12, last night marked the 39th time out of the last 40 telecasts that NFL football on NBC won the ratings for it's respective night (either Thursday or Sunday).

Too much of a good thing for ESPN?

This past September, the NFL & ESPN announced a contract extension valued at just under two billion dollars per year that will keep Monday Night Football on ESPN through the 2021 season.  Included in the contract extension was the right for ESPN to televise several NFL-themed studio shows throughout the week.

As the 2011 NFL regular season enters the stretch drive, The Sports Business Daily came out with an article last week that those NFL-themed studio shows are not bringing in the viewers, with October viewership in the 3pm (CT) window dropping 38% from the same time last year while on ESPN2, NFL-themed studio shows in the 5pm (CT) window saw a decrease of 45% in October in the same 5pm (CT) window last year.

You can read the entire article at the link above, but several staff writers for The Sports Business Daily all agree that the NFL-themed studio programming on ESPN has hit the saturation point.

Back from a hiatus

After taking a nearly two week hiatus, i've decided to start up the blog again. The sickening situation at Penn St. and Joe Paterno's downfall as a coaching legend really zapped all interest I had for sports and to be honest, other than live games, i've been tuned out to what's been going on. I've always treated this blog as a hobby and resuming the blog will give me something to do. So enjoy and Merry Christmas to one and all!

TV Schedule, Monday November 28

College Basketball:

Long Beach St. @ Louisville 6pm on ESPNU
Xavier @ Vanderbilt 6pm on ESPN2
Georgia @ Colorado 7:30pm on Comcast SportsNet Chicago, FS Midwest, & FS North
Tennessee @ Oakland 8pm on ESPNU
Pepperdine @ UCLA 10pm on Fox College Sports Pacific

NFL Football: NY Giants @ New Orleans 7:30pm on ESPN

NHL Hockey: Tampa Bay @ Minnesota 6:30pm on VERSUS

Disclaimer: All times are Central.