Thoughts on 9/20 CFB TV selections & a couple MBK items

* I really didn't see any out of the ordinary items on the 9/20 TV selections.

• FOX did move their late evening window up by 30 minutes to keep some buffer for the 7pm ET MLB window.  
• In the end I wasn't really surprised to see the Virginia-BYU game in mid-afternoon.  The Cougars are playing well.
• I understand there was a few things out there re: Oklahoma-WVU being a mid-afternoon game, but once the Pac-12 Networks listed three telecast windows and Auburn-Kansas St. being picked up by ESPN, it kinda pushed OU-WVU to FOX.

* If Virginia-BYU airs on ESPN, it fulfills a requirement for at least three BYU controlled games to air on ABC, ESPN or ESPN2.  If it airs on ESPNU, it hits the requirement for at least one controlled game to air on that network.  The network that this game airs on will have some bearing as to where either the Nevada or UNLV games will air.

* FAU at Marshall was moved from FOX College Sports to FOX Sports 1 on 10/25.  FS1 has a NASCAR truck race preceding the game & UFC PPV prelims are expected to follow it with a second CFB game in the late evening.  This window was not on FS1's original list.  They may have been waiting to have their MLB postseason schedule confirmed, though "Big" FOX's CFB window is also at 3:30pm ET, presumably due to the World Series.

It also may have been FOX working with their Big 12 and Pac-12 partners to determine what their possible selection order would be that week.  FS1 has a Pac-12 game on Friday night (Oregon vs. Cal), so their late evening window may be another Pac-12 game.  The Pac-12 Networks also have two windows tentatively scheduled, so ESPN may have two selections to use.  That would seem to indicate FOX's broadcast window is a Big 12 game with ESPN taking the other two Big 12 games.

* Several Big East schools noted that their men's basketball schedule, presumably with TV details,  would be released tomorrow afternoon.  FOX Sports 1 now gets to do the shuffling of MBK games alongside commitments for NASCAR.  Three Saturdays will have Xfinity Series races on FS1 and one of those Saturdays (2/28 from Atlanta) will have both the Xfinity & truck series.

An article on Pac-12 scheduling by Jon Wilner from earlier this year noted that FOX likes to use Sundays as a destination for basketball because of the sheer number of games being played on Saturdays.  A year ago, C-USA moved to a Thursday-Saturday scheduling rotation with Sundays allowed for TV.  Now that FS1 has its own additional conflicts, provided that FS2 is not allowed to take these games on and I don't think they can take the Pac-12 ones, FS1 might be heavy on men's basketball on Sundays late in the season.

FOX could also use Saturdays on their broadcast network for Big East basketball, if they so desire.  I do not know if their Pac-12 selections are restricted to FS1 or not.

* With the Big East schedule's release, that should also free up CBS Sports Network to put some tip times around their Atlantic 10 and Mountain West games that do not have a tip time set.   This would then allow the network to slot in their C-USA and Patriot League schedule, along with any other games they may sublicense.  Last year, they sublicensed a few OVC and NEC games, presumably from ESPN.