This is what I’m thinking:
Fox is sending its No. 1 NFL team of play-by-play announcer Kevin Burkhardt, analyst Greg Olsen and reporters Erin Andrews and Tom Rinaldi to cover the Buffalo Bills game Sunday against the streaking Dallas Cowboys at 4:25 p.m. on WUTV.
Bills fans have been spoiled this season by listening to the top announcer teams on all the networks multiple times.
CBS’ Jim Nantz and Tony Romo have called the last three Bills games against Kansas City, Philadelphia and the New York Jets and previously called the Bills win at home against Miami.
ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” crew of Joe Buck and Troy Aikman called the Nov. 13 game against the Denver Broncos and previously called the season-opening loss to the Jets.
NBC’s "Sunday Night Football" crew of Mike Tirico and Cris Collinsworth called the Nov. 5 game loss to Cincinnati and the Oct. 15 victory over the New York Giants.
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Prime Video’s crew of Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit called the Bills victory over Tampa Bay.
It is a smart move by Nexstar Media to have WNLO-TV (CW 23), the sister station of WIVB-TV (Channel 4), carry 14 games featuring the defending champion Buffalo Bandits this National Lacrosse League season.
After all, WNLO’s ratings are very low except for some of Channel 4’s newscasts. The Bandits should bring a decent sized audience for their games.
The season-opening 17-13 loss to the Albany Firewolves Saturday night had a 1.1 rating here that equals 7,209 households.
The only WNLO program Saturday to get higher ratings was the 6 p.m. newscast from Channel 4.
WIVB, the local CBS affiliate, and WKBW-TV, the local ABC affiliate, were the only local stations to average a higher rating than the Bandits game during the time it was played Saturday night.
The game had higher ratings than all the programs on WGRZ-TV, the local NBC affiliate, before 10 p.m. and all the programs on Fox affiliate WUTV and its sister station WNYO.
The Buffalo Sabres' 3-2 shootout loss to the Montreal Canadiens Saturday that aired opposite the Bandits game had a 4.8 rating on cable's MSG.
WNLO doesn’t have exclusivity for the Bandits games. They are simulcast from ESPN+, which requires a subscription. But WNLO has the advantage of being on a free over the air channel.
Joe Abouzeid, the general manager of WIVB and WNLO, declined to comment when asked if the station had to pay a license fee.
The deal is being called a “partnership,” which suggests any advertising revenue will be shared.
The next TV game is Saturday on “Banner Raising Night” against the San Diego Seals.
“Last year’s broadcast of the NLL championship game featuring the Bandits was such as success that we couldn’t wait to bring more Bandits games to viewers in Buffalo and the surrounding area,” said Abouzeid in the same release. “We are thrilled to expand our partnership with the Bandits.”
The city and Mayor Byron Brown should be applauded for the partnership with Spectrum News 1 in Buffalo to air public service announcements in case of a blizzard or major snowstorm.
But there is one notable issue with the TV choice: Spectrum is available to cable subscribers only.
I’m told that about 48% of the market receives cable and that includes Verizon Fios and a very small number of Comcast households.
Unless the Spectrum-produced PSAs find their way on a broadcast channel, that means half of WNYers won’t see the 30-second spots. The News has reported the PSAs are “part of a larger city effort to beef up communications with residents after multiple post-blizzard reports noted failures in communication leading up to and during the December 2022 storm that dumped more than 4 feet of snow in parts of Buffalo and led to the deaths of 44 city residents.”
Charter Communications, Spectrum’s owner, agreed to produce and air the PSAs after participating in the city’s Storm Response Task Force meetings earlier this year. They air on the cable newscast and Spectrum’s livestreams throughout the winter months.
By the way, Spectrum News premieres an hourlong special, “The Blizzard of ’22: Lessons in Preparedness,” at 8 p.m. Wednesday. Spectrum News is available to Spectrum subscribers on Channel 1, or in the Spectrum News app. The special looks back at the storm that paralyzed Western New York.
The premiere date of the next series from Buffalo native Tom Fontana (“St. Elsewhere,” “Homicide,” “Oz”) is set.
“Monsieur Spade” premieres at 9 p.m. Jan. 14 on AMC+ and Acorn TV. It stars and is executive produced by Clive Owen as hard-boiled private detective Sam Spade. Here is a summary of the series:
“The year is 1963 and the legendary detective is enjoying his retirement in the South of France. Six beloved nuns have been brutally murdered at the local convent. Spade learns that the murders are somehow connected to a mysterious child who is believed to possess great powers.”
The West Herr advertisement featuring Bills quarterback Josh Allen is a Christmas classic. In the ad, Allen gives the keys to expensive cars as a present for teammates Dawson Knox and Dion Dawkins and the quarterback is thrilled when Steve Tasker gives him self-made golf club holders. It ends with Allen and Tasker hugging.
As CBS’ Nantz said a few weeks ago when the quarterback drew a questionable roughing the passer penalty, Allen is quite an actor. Tasker is, too. West Herr has gotten a lot of mileage of signing Allen to deals before he became the big star he is now.
The arrest of Bills pass rusher Von Miller for domestic abuse almost certainly means we won’t be seeing the humorous ad for a car insurance company that Miller does with Bills receiver Stefon Diggs in which both are wearing matching outfits. Advertisers take risks teaming with celebrities in the hope they don’t get involved in controversies or legal situations.
The tantrum by Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and coach Andy Reid about the offsides penalty that negated the incredible 49-yard touchdown play in which tight end Travis Kelce threw a lateral to Kadarius Toney in the Bills’ 20-17 victory Sunday received extra attention from several members of ESPN’s panelists on its Monday morning shows.
Ryan Clark, Rex Ryan, Stephen A. Smith and Shannon Sharpe all said it was the correct call. Smith said Mahomes, whom he admires greatly, embarrassed himself.
The ESPN panelists on “Around the Horn” and “Pardon the Interruption” also blasted the Chiefs.
Dan Orlovsky did make one good point for the Chiefs. He said Toney was similarly offsides on several other plays during the game and it wasn’t called.
To be clear, on the CBS broadcast the penalty flag could be seen being thrown before Mahomes’ pass downfield to Kelce and Kelce’s lateral to Toney, who Smith noted was pouting a few seconds before receiving the lateral.
The official didn’t know or care that it would have been one of the greatest plays of this or any other season before he threw the flag. He was just doing his job.