This morning, my office building had its annual Christmas breakfast, catering a party for every tenant here. It was very impressive to say the least. When you get a free breakfast, are you gonna turn it down? When a blind man gets his sight, does he close his eyes to go back to being blind? So needless to say, I ate enough for breakfast and lunch. So thus, it’s a Fat Thursday.
Let’s do the links. You don’t care about my gluttony.
Dave Kindred writing for the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center says the New York Times did Tiger Woods some damage by linking him to a doctor accused of using illegal Human Growth Hormones.
CNBC’s Darren Rovell talks about MLB and UFC fighting online streaming piracy especially at sites like justin.tv.
Michael K. Ozanian of Forbes is already calling the 2010 Winter Olympics a financial bust for NBC.
In the Sporting News, Dan Levy of On The DL wonders if the airing of two undefeated teams on NFL Network this week will finally pressure Time Warner to pick up the channel.
Karen Guregian and Ian R. Rapoport of the Boston Herald write that ESPN’s Merril Hoge is coming to the defense of Patriots wide receiver Randy Moss on allegations that he takes plays off.
The New York Times’ Richard Sandomir visits John Madden’s extensive video compound where he can watch every NFL game on Sunday. It’s rather impressive.
Nancy Dillon of the New York Daily News writes about Erin Andrews calling for the maximum sentence for her stalker.
Will Leitch of New York Magazine says this is a bad week for those (like Time Warner and Cablevision subscribers) who don’t have NFL Network.
Ken Schott of the Schenectady Gazette has the NHL Network’s college hockey schedule.
Bob Fernandez of the Philadelphia Inquirer says the FCC is trying to force Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia to be placed on DirecTV and Dish Network. Currently, Comcast is keeping the RSN off the satellite providers.
Peter Van Allen in the Philadelphia Business Journal says Comcast SportsNet Philly has hired an ABC division to handle its ad sales. Are you kidding? Why not NBC? You’re buying NBC? Why go outside the family? Strange.
Walt Frank in the Altoona (PA) Mirror says a local cable TV company is moving ESPN Classic on its lineup to make way for the Big Ten Network.
Dan Majors of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says some Tiger Woods fans are disappointed in his behavior.
Dustin Long of the Virginian-Pilot looks at ESPN’s NASCAR TV moves.
Sheldon Mickles of The Advocate (LA) writes that the NFL has denied a request by the New Orleans Saints to have Saturday’s Cowboys-Saints game air on free TV in Baton Rouge. NFL rules dictate that NFL Network games can be seen on free TV stations in the home markets, but not in the surrounding areas.
Mel Bracht in the Daily Oklahoman discusses Erin Andrews’ appearance in federal court for the plea of her stalker.
Ed Sherman of Crain’s Chicago Business has PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem’s first words since the Tiger Woods story surfaced.
Teddy Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune says football conference championship game ratings may be dictating the Big Ten’s possible expansion to 12 teams.
Paul Coro in the Arizona Republic says the Phoenix Suns hope to break a 16 game TNT losing streak tonight.
Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News is dreading a new Golf Channel reality show starring Donald Trump. I kid you not. I have the press release and I’ll be posting it later.
Tom has the NFL TV schedule for Week 15.
William Houston in Truth & Rumours notes one NHL TV analyst who’s alone on an island about hitting in the league.
Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News says NFL Network is going all out to try to get its two big games this week involving undefeated teams carried on more cable systems.
In Mediaweek, Anthony Crupi says ESPN rode the Heisman Trophy Presentation and Monday Night Football to a cable primetime ratings win.
Diego Vasquez in Media Life Magazine says whether it’s the recession or another factor, sports was big on TV in 2009.
TV Broadcast.com says the International Olympic Committee is seeking $2 billion in rights fees from the US networks for the 2014/2016 Olympics.
From across the Atlantic Ocean, Campaign.co.uk says the Tiger Woods scandal could cost the PGA Tour’s sponors and TV partners somewhere in the neighborhood of $220 million.
To the Sports Media Watch, some ratings news and notes.
First, ABC suffered a slight ratings drop for college football this season.
And CBS picked up ratings for the SEC as a result.
SMW apologizes for jumping the gun on reporting Chris Henry dying last night. A fake Twitter account said Henry died after he fell off a truck yesterday. That ended up being false. Henry died today, but that Tweet was picked up by several media outlets and posted on several websites including SMW and SportsbyBrooks.
Dave Kohl of the Major League Programs blog has his weekly sports media post.
Comcast has hired two veteran newspaper reporters for its Comcast SportsNet Bay Area and California websites.
The always lovely Kristine Leahy gives us The Five on WEEI.com.
And we’re done today.
