CFB TV Selections for 10/8/16 (Week Six)

This post will be updated as announcements come out for start times for 10/8 from the twelve day selection process that most TV networks adhere to.  Please understand that games can be held until next Sunday if a broadcaster wants to wait on the results of the Week Five games.  Most conferences have the possibility of having all or part of their games held for a six day hold of the start time.

The list of available TV windows are based on media websites, TV listings and press releases.  They can change based on the needs of the broadcaster or the conference.

Here's what I guessed based on the available openings (they'll prove to be incorrect) and here is the current schedule for the week as several FBS games do have their time & television/webcast assignments already accounted for.  

All times Eastern.  

Six day holds

12pm ABC/ESPN2, 3:30pm ABC/ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU, 7pm ESPN2/ESPNU, 8pm ABC
Florida St. at Miami (FL) 
Virginia Tech at North Carolina
Notre Dame at NC State

3:30pm CBS, ESPN 7pm or 7:15pm
Alabama at Arkansas 
Tennessee at Texas A&M

ESPN2 7pm or ABC 8pm 
Michigan at Rutgers

12pm ABC and/or ESPN2: Iowa at Minnesota
12pm ESPN: LSU at Florida
12pm FS1: Oklahoma vs. Texas
12pm ESPNU: TCU at Kansas
12pm ESPNEWS: East Carolina at USF
12pm SEC: Auburn at Mississippi St.
12pm BTN: Maryland at Penn St.
12:30pm ACC Network: Georgia Tech at Pittsburgh
2pm ESPN3: Bowling Green at Ohio
3pm BCSN/Spectrum: Toledo at Eastern Michigan
3pm ESPN3: Miami (OH) at Akron
3:30pm ABC/ESPN/ESPN2: BYU at Michigan St.
3:30pm ABC/ESPN/ESPN2: Indiana at Ohio St.
3:30pm ABC/ESPN2/ESPNU: Iowa St. at Oklahoma St.
3:30pm BTN: Purdue at Illinois
3:30pm ACC RSN: Army at Duke
3:30pm ASN: Ball St. at Central Michigan
3:30pm ASN: Stephen F. Austin at Nicholls

3:30pm ESPN3: Kent St. at Buffalo
4pm SEC: Vanderbilt at Kentucky
4pm Pac-12: Colorado at USC
6:30pm CBSSN: Northern Illinois at Western Michigan
7pm ESPN2/ESPNU: Texas Tech at Kansas St.
7pm ACC RSN: Syracuse at Wake Forest
7pm CST: McNeese St. at Southeastern Louisiana
7pm ESPN3: Sam Houston St. at Incarnate Word
7pm ESPN3: Fresno St. at Nevada
7pm ESPN3: Idaho at UL-Monroe
7:30pm FOX: Washington at Oregon
7;30pm SEC: Georgia at South Carolina
9pm Pac-12: California at Oregon St.
10pm FS1: Arizona at Utah
10:30pm ESPN/ESPN2: UCLA at Arizona St.
10:30pm ESPN/ESPN2: Washington St. at Stanford
10:30pm ESPNU: UNLV at San Diego St.

CFB TV Guesses for 2016 Week Six (10/8/16)

Here are the games already set for television and/or webcast.  Here are the known available telecast windows.

* FOX Sports is scheduled to air one Big 12 game & two Pac-12 game.  With the Red River Rivalry (Oklahoma vs. Texas) scheduled to air on FS1 and the other FS1 window at 10pm ET, the FOX broadcast network game will be a Pac-12 game unless FOX pulls some wacky shenanigans.  The Pac-12 Networks windows are set up appropriately to allow a primetime game on FOX.
* The time of the Red River Rivalry is dependent on FOX Sports's NLDS telecast schedule and which games they'll give to MLB Network.  I discussed that in an earlier post and the main event  is set to start at 3am local time Sunday (10pm ET, and yes, you read that correctly.  3am), which sends my plan of a 3pm ET start possibly out the window & may mean FS1 is carrying a MLB game as well.  Listings for 10/8 that came out yesterday have the football game at 12pm ET, so lets go with that.
* Because FOX has only one Big 12 game & it is Oklahoma vs. Texas, everything else will be on an ESPN platform.
* If CBS wants the freedom of being able to select the Iron Bowl at the end of the year, they may pass on the Arkansas game.  Both Alabama (Kentucky) & Arkansas (Alcorn St.) should get past their opponents this week.  Where it could get dicey is this would Tennessee's third CBS game with a max of five, but Tennessee's remaining schedule isn't as attractive outside of the Alabama game which I would expect CBS to take a hard look at for 10/15 (which would conceivably be four in a row for Tennessee), where Alabama has games vs. Texas A&M, Tennessee, LSU plus the Iron Bowl and was already on CBS vs. Ole Miss.
* I could also see a reverse mirror scenario for ABC & ESPN2 with the Big Ten and ACC at 3:30pm, with either Virginia Tech at North Carolina or Notre Dame at NC State being mirrored with either Indiana at Ohio St. or Iowa at Minnesota
* The MAC has twelve day selections for 3:30pm on ASN, a TBD slot on BCSN/Spectrum and 6:30pm on CBSSN.
* The ACC's RSN package has a doubleheader at 3:30pm & 7pm.
* Michigan at Rutgers is confirmed for a night game on ABC at 8pm or ESPN at 7pm.  Maryland at Penn St. is set for 12pm as a homecoming game.
* As of this post being made available, Pac-12 selections for 10/1 have not yet been made and I think that could have some bearing on the selection for 10/8 by FOX.  A reasonable case could be made UCLA at Arizona St.  For the moment, I'm going with Washington at Oregon.  Oregon's loss yesterday complicates a lot of things and Washington has a tough home game vs. Stanford on Friday, while Arizona St. is currently 4-0 with USC upcoming.  Its also possible that FOX uses another six day selection here, though that would burn both of theirs for the season as its my understanding that both FOX and ESPN get two six day holds to use and I'm under the assumption FOX used theirs on 10/1 and not ESPN.
* Stephen F. Austin at Nicholls was listed by a couple RSNs at 3:30pm ET.  The Southland Conference has an ASN twelve day selection for that time, so that's my "guess".

12pm ABC: Florida St. at Miami (FL)
12pm ESPN: Iowa at Minnesota
12pm ESPN2: Texas Tech at Kansas St.
12pm FS1: Oklahoma vs. Texas
12pm ESPNU: Maryland at Penn St.
12pm ESPNEWS: East Carolina at USF
12pm SEC: Auburn at Mississippi St.
12pm BTN: BYU at Michigan St.
12:30pm ACC Network: Georgia Tech at Pittsburgh
3:30pm CBS: Tennessee at Texas A&M
3:30pm ABC/ESPN2: Virginia Tech at North Carolina
3:30pm ABC/ESPN2: Indiana at Ohio St.
3:30pm ESPN: Notre Dame at NC State
3:30pm ESPNU: Iowa St. at Oklahoma St.
3:30pm BTN: Purdue at Illinois
3:30pm ACC RSN: Army at Duke
3:30pm ASN: Toledo at Western Michigan
3:30pm ASN: Stephen F. Austin at Nicholls
4pm SEC: Vanderbilt at Kentucky
4pm Pac-12: Washington St. at Stanford
6:30pm CBSSN: Ball St. at Central Michigan
7pm ESPN: Alabama at Arkansas
7pm ESPN2: Florida at LSU
7pm ESPNU: TCU at Kansas
7pm ACC RSN: Syracuse at Wake Forest
7:30pm FOX: Washington at Oregon
7;30pm SEC: Georgia at South Carolina
8pm ABC: Michigan at Rutgers
9pm Pac-12: California at Oregon St.
10pm FS1: Arizona at Utah
10:30pm ESPN: Arizona St. at UCLA
10:30pm ESPN2: Colorado at USC
10:30pm ESPNU: UNLV at San Diego St.

TBA BCSN/Spectrum: Toledo at Eastern Michigan

ESPN3 Exclusives
Fresno St. at Nevada
Miami (OH) at Akron
Bowling Green at Ohio
Kent St. at Buffalo
Texas St. at Georgia St.
Idaho at UL-Monroe

CFB Selection Notes for 10/1/16

Full schedule for Week Five

* Regarding the Sun Belt, I have no idea it took so long to finalize their selections.  Most of them showed up around 9pm ET Monday, and that could have been for a number of reasons that the rest of us deal with in our daily lives.

ESPN had an open ESPNEWS slot that they moved to later in the day.  I'll admit to overthinking on the point I'm about to make: UAB used to like to try to have their home games not in conflict with Alabama & Auburn games due to the two SEC schools' wide appeal in the state.  I can't speak to the fanbase of South Alabama though and how their allegiances lie though.  But it did surprise me to see South Alabama play at the same time as Alabama, though if ESPNEWS at 4pm was the other choice, they would have conflicted with Auburn at 3:30pm.

I also wonder if ESPN and American Sports Network were haggling over either the selection order or if South Alabama really didn't want a pre-noon start.  San Diego St., current owners of the nation's longest winning streak, would have been a good get for ASN too.

* It doesn't surprise me much to see six games set for ABC, ESPN or ESPN2, three each at 12pm and 3:30pm ET, with the television outlet to be set after games on 9/24.  It is early in the season and there's a relative amount of unknown with several teams.  It also allows ESPN to preserve "real" six day holds for later in the year, when there may be a decision to be made about whether a game should air at 3:30pm or 8pm on ABC, for example.  In other words, when there's going to be a massive difference in the start time of the game.

* Interesting strategy that ESPN used to have a game on standby for ESPN2 in the event the World Cup of Hockey championship rounds ends in a 2-0 sweep.  I believe Memphis at Ole Miss & Cincinnati at USF are flexible between ESPN2 and ESPNU, but if there is a World Cup of Hockey deciding game, Cincinnati at USF will be on ESPNU and Memphis at Ole Miss on SEC Network's alternate.  To allow for the alternate channel to have some extra leeway for the potential of an extra game, UL-Monroe at Auburn starts at 3:30pm instead of the customary 4pm start for the middle window.

* For Pac-12 selections, the way I read it is that FOX requested the six day hold, which probably seems obvious as the broadcast network of the three Pac-12 openings available (8:30pm FOX, 9:30pm Pac-12, 10:30pm ESPN).  Since the Pac-12 Networks window starts after 6pm local time as all three options are on Pacific time, there's no concern I guess on the shorter overlap even though FOX's late window starts later than usual.  That could be where Pac-12 Networks changed the evening window's initially scheduled time of 9pm ET to 9:30pm ET, which allowed the early window to start an hour later (2:30pm ET instead of 1:30pm ET) with no gaps between games.

* The 7:30pm slot for the ACC RSNs made sense to be Marshall at Pittsburgh.  I consider the 7:30pm start time to be intentional because it allows for an MLB telecast window on a regional sports network at 4pm ET plus 30 minutes of postgame.   The Pirates have a telecast scheduled for ROOT Sports that day starting at 4pm and while ROOT does have an alternate channel that pops up on occasion, I'm unclear as to how many providers carry this extra feed, so it would have been tough for Marshall at Pittsburgh to be carried at 3:30pm ET.

As a side note - I'm a bit curious as to how weeknight selections are slotted on a given week vs. Saturday.  Stanford at Washington on Friday 9/30 on ESPN is arguably the best looking Pac-12 game if it were available as a Saturday selection, so I'm curious how that affects where ESPN selections are slotted on Saturday evening.  Would the Pac-12 Networks selection be ahead or behind them?  Guess we'll find out on Sunday.  Same goes for Kansas at Texas Tech on FS1, which isn't the same stature as the Pac-12 game mentioned above, but does it get "slotted" against Big 12 selections on Saturdays, or are those done independently?

Some Men's College Basketball TV Notes for the 2016-17 season

A few men's college basketball scheduling notes that were of interest to me that you might find fascinating as well

ESPN
* Surprise!  The first matchup between Duke and North Carolina isn't scheduled for a Wednesday.  Instead it is set for Thursday, February 9th.  The last time the first meeting of the season for the two schools wasn't set for a Wednesday was 2006 when they met on Tuesday, February 7th.  NOTE: The first meeting in 2014 ended up being on a Thursday due to a postponement from a Wednesday date.
* Instead of bumping the NBA for Duke-UNC with a solid undercard, the Wednesday with no NBA on ESPN in February will have a very solid ACC doubleheader of Duke at Syracuse followed by Louisville at North Carolina.  Still probably worth your time.
* Wake Forest at Notre Dame was scheduled for ESPNEWS on February 7th, the first time I can recall that the ACC has allowed a men's basketball game to be scheduled for ESPNEWS.

* ESPN Networks will carry just seven Pac-12 intraconference games on Wednesday nights, down from fourteen a season ago.  They'll carry three more intraconference games on Thursday nights with small increases on other nights.  To be fair, the Pac-12 TV partners, to my knowledge, do not have a set number of intraconference or non-conference games that they are required to carry (see FOX Sports note re: Pac-12).
* A nice rivalry doubleheader on February 17th on ESPN2, the Friday of the NBA All Star Break, with Valparaiso at Oakland & Richmond at VCU (the Capital City Classic).  Missing from that Friday right now: a college basketball game on ESPN.  No game is scheduled for the network on that date right now.  Might have NBA All Star Game festivities & programming instead.
* I think there's an opening on ESPNU for the North Carolina at Hawai'i MBK game to be shown at 11:30pm on Friday 11/18 after the last Charleston Classic game that evening.

FOX Sports
* Moving the date of the Big East marathon to the MLK Jr. holiday makes some sense as many schools do observe the holiday.  For some schools it may be the last day before the start of spring semester, so students should be back on campus.  The date is typically a big day for the NBA as well, with NBA TV carrying games in the afternoon and TNT in the evening.  Scheduling around the College Football Playoff, end of NFL season on New Years Day along with shared arenas with NBA and NHL teams isn't easy.  In fact, Marquette's game is in the evening due to a Bucks in the afternoon.
* Speaking of the College Football Playoff, interesting call for a Big East game on January 9th, the date of the championship game.   St. John's at Georgetown is starting at 6:30pm and should be done before the start of the football game.
* FOX Sports, being very judicious with their 22 Pac-12 choices, did not select any non-conference games, though they'll have games from Cal, Arizona and USC as part of the Pearl Harbor & Las Vegas events that they will televise.  Every Pac-12 controlled game will be an intraconference game.
* One of FOX's Pac-12 broadcast network games is on a Sunday this year, with a doubleheader on the Sunday before the Super Bowl of Virginia at Villanova followed by Washington at Arizona.  The other FOX broadcast network game, Colorado at Oregon, was originally listed by the Pac-12 for February 19th and would have followed Daytona 500 pole qualifying.  FOX's schedule release has the corrected date of February 18th, where it would be part of a doubleheader with Villanova at Seton Hall.
* The semifinal evening games of the Las Vegas Classic on December 22nd have had time adjustments that will allow them to air on FS1.  They were originally scheduled for FOX College Sports.  This season is the first time the semifinal games from this event have made it to television since FOX Sports has taken over the operations of the two Las Vegas events.
* The Orange Bowl Classic will be shown nationally on FS2 this season instead of one game being shown on FSN and the other on FS1 with a FOX Sports Florida simulcast.
* Besides C-USA, which has moved its basketball games to other networks, there are no Ivy League games on the schedule,  Curious to see where its conference tournament ends up.

ACC Regional
* Most non-conference games were set for ACC Network Extra, but don't be surprised if a handful end up on ESPNU or regional sports networks.  Only three non-conference games were set aside for ACC RSNs and they all involved Duke or North Carolina.  Last season there were fifteen non-conference games distributed to regional sports networks, so I think they've got some adjustments to make.

* Boston College at Clemson on March 4th is the only intraconference game without any television designation at this time.  This is typically when the ACC regional sports network would run into conflicts with the women's basketball tournament, but the tournament would be in semifinals on an ESPN platform that day (ESPNU in previous years).

Pac-12 Networks
* Pac-12 Networks will have just four games during conference play on Sunday nights, down from nine last season.  It appears those games have been shifted over to Saturdays.

BTN
* As has been standard practice, a few dates have flexible start times for BTN telecasts: December 3rd (conference football championship) and the first three Sundays of January (last Sunday of the NFL season and two playoff rounds).
* February 18-19th, February 25-26th and March 4th-5th are the dates where CBS will have Big Ten wildcard games.  BTN will be in on many of those games CBS doesn't select.  ESPN may be once their schedule is announced.

CFB TV Selections for 10/1/16 (Week Five)

This post will be updated as announcements come out for start times for 10/1 from the twelve day selection process that most TV networks adhere to.  Please understand that games can be held until next Sunday if a broadcaster wants to wait on the results of the Week Four games.  Most conferences have the possibility of having all or part of their games held for a six day hold of the start time.

The list of available TV windows are based on media websites, TV listings and press releases.  They can change based on the needs of the broadcaster or the conference.

Here's what I guessed based on the available openings (they'll prove to be incorrect) and here is the current schedule for the week as several FBS games do have their time & television/webcast assignments already accounted for.  

All times Eastern.  

Six day holds
Arizona St. at USC, Arizona at UCLA & Oregon at Washington St. - 8:30pm ET FOX, 9:30pm Pac-12 Network, 10:30pm ESPN.

12pm ABC/ESPN/ESPN2: Texas at Oklahoma St.
12pm ABC/ESPN/ESPN2: Miami (FL) at Georgia Tech
12pm ABC/ESPN/ESPN2: Notre Dame vs. Syracuse
12pm FS1: Baylor at Iowa St.
12pm ESPNU: Northwestern at Iowa
12pm ESPNEWS: SMU at Temple
12pm SEC: Florida at Vanderbilt
12pm SEC Alternate: Alcorn St. at Arkansas
12pm CBSSN: UCF at East Carolina
12pm BTN: Rutgers at Ohio St.
12pm ASN:
12:30pm ACC Network: Virginia at Duke
1pm ACC Network Extra: Buffalo at Boston College
2:30pm Pac-12: Oregon St. at Colorado
2:30pm BCSN/TWC: Ohio at Miami (OH)
3:30pm CBS: Tennessee at Georgia
3:30pm ABC/ESPN/ESPN2: Wisconsin at Michigan
3:30pm ABC/ESPN/ESPN2: North Carolina at Florida St.
3:30pm ABC/ESPN/ESPN2: Illinois at Nebraska
3:30pm ESPNU: Kansas St. at West Virginia
3:30pm SEC Alternate: UL-Monroe at Auburn
3:30pm BTN: Minnesota at Penn St.
3:30pm BTN: Purdue at Maryland
3:30pm ACC RSN: Wake Forest at NC State
3:30pm ASN: Northern Illinois at Ball St.
3:30pm ESPN3: Akron at Kent St.
4pm ESPNEWS:
4pm SEC: Texas A&M at South Carolina
5pm FOX: Oklahoma at TCU
6pm Pac-12: Utah at California
7pm ESPN: Kentucky at Alabama
7pm ESPN2 (if able)/ESPNU: Cincinnati at USF
7pm SEC Alternate/ESPNU/ESPN2 (if able): Memphis at Ole Miss
7pm CBSSN: Western Michigan at Central Michigan
7:30pm SEC: Missouri at LSU
7:30pm ACC RSNs: Marshall at Pittsburgh
8pm ABC: Louisville at Clemson
10:15pm ESPN2: Utah St. at Boise St.
10:15pm ESPNU: Wyoming at Colorado St.

CFB TV Guesses for 2016 Week Five (10/1/16)

Here are the games already set for television and/or webcast.  Here are the known available telecast windows.

* Several regional sports networks list an ACC RSN doubleheader with games at 3:30pm and 7:30pm.
* ESPN MediaZone lists five SEC Network games, with the 4pm and 7:30pm ET windows carrying two games each.
* Four Big Ten games are locked into their start times as homecoming games: Rutgers at Ohio St. & Northwestern at Iowa at 12pm ET and Purdue at Maryland & Illinois at Nebraska at 3:30pm ET.
* FOX's release lists two Big 12 games and one Pac-12 game to be chosen.  With just one FS1 window at 12pm likely for the Big 12, it is reasonably safe to assume that FOX will carry a Pac-12 game in a broadcast network telecast window, where they have two.  My expectation is that FOX and the Pac-12 network will carry concurrent games at 5pm ET /  2pm PT.  I do not believe there are any exclusivity rules in this telecast window where there would be at 8:30pm ET.
* The MAC and Sun Belt have ASN 12 day selections.  I believe the Sun Belt is at 12pm ET with the MAC at 3:30pm ET
* The 7pm window on ESPN2 is not available due to the potential for a 3rd game of the World Cup of Hockey finals.  I would not expect the time of the 10:15pm ESPN2 to be changed if there isn't a game since that would not be determined until the result of Game 2 on Thursday 9/29.
* Placement of Notre Dame vs. Syracuse is tough with other ACC games, especially with Miami (FL) at Georgia Tech between two 3-0 schools.  Notre Dame is a TV draw and Syracuse isn't very competitive on the field.
* As for Miami (FL) at Georgia Tech & North Carolina at Florida St., I think a case could be made to flip those games' time & TV assignments (again, Notre Dame vs. Syracuse, is a bit of a roadblock, I think its going to be on ESPN at some time).
* Louisville at Clemson seems to be the most likely game for ABC's primetime window.
* To not have SMU at Temple on ESPN3, a way to do that would be to double up on ACC Network games at 12:30pm with a split window to open up the 4pm ESPNEWS window.

All times Eastern.

12pm ABC: Rutgers at Ohio St.
12pm ESPN: Notre Dame vs. Syracuse
12pm ESPN2: Miami (FL) at Georgia Tech
12pm FS1: Kansas St. at West Virginia
12pm ESPNU: Baylor at Iowa St.
12pm ESPNEWS: UCF at East Carolina
12pm SEC: Florida at Vanderbilt
12pm CBSSN: Western Michigan at Central Michigan
12pm BTN: Northwestern at Iowa
12pm ASN: San Diego St. at South Alabama
12:30pm ACC Network: North Carolina at Florida St.
1:30pm Pac-12: Oregon St. at Colorado
3:30pm ABC: Wisconsin at Michigan
3:30pm CBS: Tennessee at Georgia
3:30pm ESPN: Texas at Oklahoma St.
3:30pm ESPN2: Minnesota at Penn St.
3:30pm ESPNU: Illinois at Nebraska
3:30pm BTN: Purdue at Maryland
3:30pm ACC RSN: Wake Forest at NC State
3:30pm ASN: Akron at Kent St.
4pm ESPNEWS: Virginia at Duke
4pm SEC: UL-Monroe at Auburn
4pm SEC: Memphis at Ole Miss
5pm FOX: Arizona at UCLA
5pm Pac-12: Oregon at Washington St.
7pm ESPN: Texas A&M at South Carolina
7pm ESPNU: Kentucky at Alabama
7pm CBSSN: USF at Cincinnati
7:30pm SEC: Missouri at LSU
7:30pm SEC: Alcorn St. at Arkansas
7:30pm ACC RSNs: Marshall at Pittsburgh
8pm ABC: Louisville at Clemson
8pm AggieVision: UL-Lafayette at New Mexico St.
8:30pm FOX: Oklahoma at TCU
9pm Pac-12: Utah at California
10:15pm ESPN2: Utah St. at Boise St.
10:15pm ESPNU: Wyoming at Colorado St.
10:30pm ESPN: Arizona St. at USC
TBA BCSN: Eastern Michigan at Bowling Green

ESPN3/ACC Network Extra
Buffalo at Boston College
Ohio at Miami (OH)
Northern Illinois at Ball St.
SMU at Temple
Incarnate Word at Texas St.
Georgia St. at Appalachian St.
Troy at Idaho

Some brief notes on CFB TV selections for 9/24

Full schedule for Week Four

* Florida St. at USF will air on ABC & Iowa at Rutgers will air on ESPN2.  What is in flux is whether Iowa at Rutgers will be upgraded to be a reverse mirror on ABC with Florida St. at USF and that will be decided after the Week Three results.  Florida St. at USF will not be pushed to air nationally on ESPN2.  It will be on ABC for either some or all of the country.  In either case, both games will be distributed nationally on TV somewhere.  This isn't a case where both could be split regional on ABC with ESPN3 the only other way to see the game not in your area.

* Either Penn St. at Michigan or Wisconsin at Michigan St. airing at 12pm ET on BTN shouldn't be too surprising at the end of the day.  BTN can leapfrog ahead of ESPN and/or ESPN2 a few times a year and it looks like this was one of those weeks they elected to do so.  This would be one of the Big Ten's six day holds being used.

* To allow Stanford at UCLA to air on ABC at 8pm ET / 5pm PT, an adjustment had to be made to the Pac-12 Networks initial TV windows for 9/24, which included a 3pm PT window.  The Pac-12 worked with their TV partners in the offseason to allow Pac-12 Networks telecast windows to overlap into broadcast network exclusive windows, which are loosely defined as evening telecast windows on ABC and FOX.  To do this, the early window could not start later than 2:30pm local time / 5:30pm ET, which is where Colorado at Oregon was placed.  Conversely, the Pac-12 and ESPN may have worked to move the later Pac-12 Networks windows (Washington at Arizona) thirty minutes back to 10:30pm ET / 7:30pm PT, which fans in Tuscon may not mind early in the season.

* Typically hockey games on TV fall into 2.5 hour telecast windows, so it makes sense to bump up the start time of California at Arizona St. by fifteen minutes where it will follow a World Cup of Hockey game that will start at 7pm ET.

* Blah, blah, blah, yap, yap, grumble, grumble: You'll probably need to watch the start of Arkansas vs. Texas A&M on a channel other than ESPN or online with it starting at 9pm and the LSU at Auburn game at 6pm on ESPN.

* The Sun Belt will have two of their conference controlled Saturday games on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU during in 2016 for the first since 2010.  In 2010 and 2006, both Saturday games aired on ESPNU.

CFB TV Selections for 9/24/16 (Week Four)

This post will be updated as announcements come out for start times for 9/24 from the twelve day selection process that most TV networks adhere to.  Please understand that games can be held until next Sunday if a broadcaster wants to wait on the results of the Week Three games.  Most conferences have the possibility of having all or part of their games held for a six day hold of the start time.

The list of available TV windows are based on media websites, TV listings and press releases.  They can change based on the needs of the broadcaster or the conference.

Here's what I guessed based on the available openings (they'll prove to be incorrect) and here is the current schedule as several FBS games do have their time & television/webcast assignments already accounted for.  

All times Eastern.  

Six day holds (12pm BTN or 3:30pm ABC, I think)

Wisconsin at Michigan St.
Penn St. at Michigan 

12pm ABC (and/or ESPN2 ??): Florida St. at USF
12pm ESPN: Georgia at Ole Miss
12pm ABC/ESPN2: Iowa at Rutgers
12pm ESPNU: Colorado St. at Minnesota
12pm ESPNEWS: Nevada at Purdue
12pm SEC: Kent St. at Alabama
12:30pm ACC Network: East Carolina at Virginia Tech
12:30pm ACC RSNs: Central Michigan at Virginia
1pm CBSSN: Syracuse at Connecticut
1pm ACC Extra: Wagner at Boston College
2pm ESPN3: Gardner-Webb at Ohio
3:30pm CBS: Florida at Tennessee
3:30pm ESPN2/ESPNU: BYU vs. West Virginia
3:30pm ESPN2/ESPNU: Pittsburgh at North Carolina
3:30pm FS1: Boise St. at Oregon St.
3:30pm BTN: Wake Forest at Indiana
3:30pm ESPNEWS: Miami (OH) at Cincinnati
3:30pm ESPN3: Western Illinois at Northern Illinois
4pm SEC: Delaware St. at Missouri
5:30pm Pac-12: Colorado at Oregon
6pm ESPN: LSU at Auburn
7pm ESPNU: Houston at Texas St.
7pm ESPN3: Army at Buffalo
7pm ESPN3: Georgia Southern at Western Michigan
7pm ESPN3: Central Arkansas at Arkansas St.
7pm ESPN3: Nicholls at South Alabama
7pm ESPN3: New Mexico St. at Troy
7:30pm FOX: Oklahoma St. at Baylor
7:30pm SEC: South Carolina at Kentucky
8pm ABC: Stanford at UCLA
8pm ESPNEWS: Bowling Green at Memphis
9pm ESPN: Arkansas vs. Texas A&M
10pm ESPN2: Calfornia at Arizona St.

10:15pm ESPNU: Air Force at Utah St.

10:30pm Pac-12: Washington at Arizona

CFB TV Guesses for 2016 Week Four (9/24/16)

Here are the games already set for television and/or webcast.  Here are the known available telecast windows.

* I have Florida St. at USF in the 8pm ABC slot for now.  UCLA at Stanford could certainly go there, maybe Washington at Arizona too.  The Pac-12 has adjusted some rules regarding when a Pac-12 Networks game can start and overlap an exclusive TV window on ABC or FOX.  Right now, based on game locations, the existing Pac-12 Networks telecast windows would need a slight adjustment, such as maybe moving the 6pm window to 5:30pm ET (2:30pm PT), and that's why I don't have a Pac-12 game at 8pm on ABC and have Florida St. at USF.
* A decent case could be make to flip the networks of the Arkansas vs. Texas A&M and Florida at Tennessee games.
* Per a FOX Sports release, they will have two Big 12 games and one Pac-12 game.  Taking into account the the San Jose St. at Iowa St. game on FSN at 12pm ET, that leaves a game from each conference for the two remaining slots (3:30pm FS1 & 7:30pm FOX).
* A page at the FOX television network website listed the Oklahoma St. at Baylor game as their choice on 9/24, so let's assume that is accurate for now.
* The reason for the missing ESPN2 window at 7pm is due to the World Cup of Hockey.
* Advance Pac-12 Network schedules hinted at the 6pm game coming from Oregon and the 10pm game from Arizona, which makes sense as the Arizona schools prefer to play night games throughout the month of September if at all possible.

All times Eastern.  

12pm ABC: Wisconsin at Michigan St.
12pm ESPN: Georgia at Ole Miss
12pm ESPN2: BYU vs. West Virginia
12pm ESPNU: Iowa at Rutgers
12pm ESPNEWS: Miami (OH) at Cincinnati
12pm SEC: Delaware St. at Missouri
12pm BTN: Nevada at Purdue
12:30pm ACC Network: East Carolina at Virginia Tech
12:30pm ACC RSNs: Central Michigan at Virginia
1pm CBSSN: Syracuse at Connecticut
3:30pm CBS: Florida at Tennessee
3:30pm ABC: Penn St. at Michigan
3:30pm ESPN2: Pittsburgh at North Carolina
3:30pm FS1: Stanford at UCLA
3:30pm ESPNU: Wake Forest at Indiana
3:30pm BTN: Colorado St. at Minnesota
4pm ESPNEWS: Air Force at Utah St.
4pm SEC: Kent St. at Alabama
6pm ESPN: Arkansas vs. Texas A&M
6pm Pac-12: Colorado at Oregon
7pm ESPNU: Houston at Texas St.
7:30pm FOX: Oklahoma St. at Baylor
7:30pm SEC: South Carolina at Kentucky
8pm ABC: Florida St. at USF
8pm ESPNEWS: Bowling Green at Memphis
9pm ESPN: LSU at Auburn
10pm Pac-12: Washington at Arizona
10:15pm ESPN2: California at Arizona St.

10:15pm ESPNU: Boise St. at Oregon St.

ESPN3
Wagner at Boston College
Army at Buffalo
Georgia Southern at Western Michigan
Gardner-Webb at Ohio
Western Illinois at Northern Illinois
Central Arkansas at Arkansas St.
Nicholls at South Alabama
UL-Lafayette at Tulane
New Mexico St. at Troy

Why wasn't Hawai'i's home game available online?

While I was out tonight, the Mountain West provided the following statement on Twitter regarding the online availability of the UT Martin at Hawai'i football game (Thanks to Pigskin Press for passing along):

Regarding Hawai‘i's football game this evening: #mwfb pic.twitter.com/RlY8GDYrw1

— Mountain West (@MountainWest) September 11, 2016

Over the past few years, Hawai'i's home games have been available online through Campus Insiders and the Mountain West Network to mainland consumers where Oceanic Cable continues to own the rights to the games in the state of Hawai'i, distributing them via pay-per-view.

So why aren't they continuing to stream the games online?

To accomplish an online blackout in Hawai'i, Campus Insiders requires the geographic location of the consumer to approve or deny viewing of the game.  They do this today for Mountain West games airing on ROOT Sports.  You might have to turn on location services on your smartphone or enable the passing of your geolocation through your browser before viewing the game.  My suspicion is that consumers in Hawai'i had found a way around the geolocation requirement and that many viewers in the state were getting games for free when they should not have been based on existing agreements in place.  Because the online providers appear to have not been able to guarantee that only mainland viewers could see the stream, it appears that the stream has been cut off for everyone.

As MWConnection has previously reported, Hawai'i does not participate in the Mountain West's TV deals.  Instead, their television revenue is realized through the Oceanic Cable contract, so it does make sense for the school to protect its revenue source and for Oceanic Cable to recoup their investment.

Dan Ormsby noted that Oceanic Cable had stopped streaming other Hawai'i content to BigWest.TV in March.  While most of those sports aren't on pay-per-view, they are part of Oceanic Cable's OC Sports channel and providing those games free to BigWest.TV, possibly without geographic restrictions, could have been a sticking point between the school, television provider and possibly the Big West.  That is speculation on my part.

Content from ESPN3 and MLB.TV, for example, has blackout restrictions for specific markets and with BAMTech and Campus Insiders coming together, maybe a solution can be found in the near future,

Additional edit: The Mountain West statement makes the following clear, but it is something I glossed over: The online option is unavailable regardless of where you live.  Those living in Hawai'i who don't have Oceanic Cable or Hawaiian Telcom as a television provider, such as those using a larger dish for DirecTV or Dish service or those not subscribing to pay television service, are also unable to view the football games live if they want to.  The online option was also available in Hawai'i for a fee in previous seasons and it may have been a lower fee per game than the television package was, but I'm struggling to find data on it.  In any case, not having the stream around in the state of Hawai'i, since it was a pay-per-view stream, also hits Hawai'i and Oceanic Cable in the pocketbook and, for now, it appears Oceanic Cable believes that the best way to control the viewing of the games is to limit its distribution to television as a platform.

My night of viewing CFB using smartphone apps, Twitter & a Google Cast, plus MBK notes

For those of you who have followed me on Twitter long enough, you might know that my sport of choice is baseball & not necessarily college sports.  As a displaced Yankee fan, I've been either a MLB Extra Innings or MLB.TV subscriber for several years, and now as an AT&T U-Verse TV subscriber, MLB.TV is my option as MLBEI is not available.

Frankly, that's not a big deal for me to not have EI as MLB.TV, via Baseball Advanced Media's technology, has really moved forward with the quality of the stream provided, going as far as 60 frames per second, which is the quality you would get typically from a pay TV subscription feed of ESPN or FS1 for example.  Its really good and you wouldn't notice the difference when the internet feed is right.  Yes, your internet speed does matter here.  I think the minimums for 60fps with MLB.TV is around 6Mbps.  I have U-Verse at 18, which is less than a lot of cable TV providers, but fast enough for me.  

BAMTech also provides the stream for ESPN's linear TV channels, and after reading this piece from SBNation yesterday on how to watch as much college football legally through cord cutting, I figured it was time to try out watching an entire night of college football with smartphone apps via my 2nd generation Google Cast, coupled with Campus Insiders' initial Twitter-cast, even though I am not a cord cutter.  Call this an experiment regarding how to get away with not having a pay TV receiver on a TV.  

FOX Sports Go, NBC Sports & beIN Sports Connect apps were not utilized by me last night.  FOX Sports Go was supposed to be available for Google Cast tonight and it is, working both to natively cast through the full Chrome browser and on the app.  NBC Sports and beIN Sports Connect also have Google Cast in their apps natively, but I encounter a lot of crashes & hangups with the app.  beIN Sports Connect's website option also, comically, is only usable in older browsers and Firefox as the video stream uses Microsoft Silverlight, an ActiveX technology that Microsoft has stopped updating and will stop supporting in 2021 completely (I'm sure by that point beIN Sports will use a supported video stream).

Here's the apps & sites I engaged with on my Samsung Galaxy S5 along with the games:

WatchESPN (app) - Charlotte at Louisville (in some areas, FOX Sports Go was the app for this game), Appalachian St. at Tennessee, Tulane at Wake Forest, Maine at UConn, Indiana at FIU, Montana St. at Idaho 

BTN2Go (app) - Oregon St. at Minnesota

Pac-12 Now (app) - Southern Utah at Utah

Campus Insiders (website) - Weber St. at Utah St., South Dakota at New Mexico

OVC Digital Nework (website) - Western Illinois at Eastern Illinois

Southland Digital Network (website) - Houston Baptist at Central Arkansas

All played relatively flawlessly.  My notes:

• WatchESPN got up to speed very quickly with high quality video.  Other apps, seemed to take a little longer to warm up to get the best possible video.
• Website casting was a bit hit-or-miss on the quality of the video, even from the same site, which may come down to the quality of the originating equipment.  For example, with the exception of some video stuttering, Weber St. at Utah St. looked sharp from the start.  South Dakota at New Mexico had more noticeable pixelation.
• South Dakota at New Mexico required my location services to be turned on for my phone.  Even then, it seemed like I had to force my Chrome browser to provide CI with my location to view the game as in-market ROOT Sports viewers cannot stream the game.
• I viewed Weber St. at Utah St. on Twitter on my laptop and it held up pretty well.  It looked like the feed on Twitter was ahead of the Campus Insiders website by about ten seconds when comparing my phone vs. my laptop.  I did not see how the stream looked on my phone through Twitter, but the social aspect was clearly laid out as it has been for other sporting & political events.

I did miss out on the ability to view Rice at Western Kentucky as part of this experiment as CBS Sports Network's stream is limited to three TV providers plus (possibly?) CBS All-Access subs though I receive the channel as part of my TV subscription.  But I had the ability to catch a lot of games and didn't have to switch the video input on my TV to go from my receiver to my HDMI2.

* The Big 12 released its men's basketball conference TV schedule.  After taking into account the televised non-conference games that were announced by the schools, plus removing the three Longhorn Network intraconference games (those games are part of Texas's member retained package), ESPN has, so far, selected about 112 Big 12 games, which includes the conference tournament.

Per Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports, the Big East schedule is coming out late next week.  As of yesterday, only Villanova had not officially posted their non-conference schedule.

* "COUGH" Marathon (more coming) "COUGH"