Monday, September 28, 2020

CFB TV Confirmations for 2020 Week 6 (10/10/20)

This post will be updated as announcements come out for start times for 10/10 from the twelve day selection process that most TV networks adhere to. 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 will prove to be incorrect). If you have trouble accessing my site to see games that have already been set, it may be temporarily down. I ask that you please try back in a few minutes

(Here's the deal - I don't really have a great handle as to the TV slots, so what I'll do is list the games not yet set for TV, then reorder them by time as they're set. That way you'll see the list of games set for TV along with the one(s) you're waiting on).

12pm ABC: Virginia Tech at North Carolina
12pm ESPN2: Texas State at Troy
12pm ESPNU: ULM at Liberty
12pm SECN: South Carolina at Vanderbilt
12pm ACCN: NC State at Virginia
12:30pm ACC RSN: Duke at Syracuse
3:30pm ABC: Texas Tech at Iowa State
3:30pm ESPN2: UTSA at BYU
4pm FOX: Kansas State at TCU
4pm ESPNU: Middle Tennessee at FIU
4pm SECN: Arkansas at Auburn
4pm ACCN: Pitt at Boston College
6pm ESPN: Alabama at Ole Miss
7pm ESPN+: ECU at USF
7:30pm ABC: Miami (FL) at Clemson
7:30pm ESPN2: UTEP at Louisiana Tech
7:30pm SECN: Mississippi State at Kentucky
8pm ESPNU: Charlotte at North Texas
9pm ESPN: Missouri at LSU

Six Day Hold for the following games
Tennessee at Georgia - 12pm ESPN or 3:30pm CBS
Florida at Texas A&M - 12pm ESPN or 3:30pm CBS

Games To Be Slotted for TV
Central Arkansas at Arkansas State

Sunday, September 27, 2020

CFB TV Guesses for 2020 Week 6 (10/10/20)

Here are the games already set for television and/or webcast. Here are the known available telecast windows. Please understand that my site has been intermittently unavailable.  I've tried working with the hosting company but they don't see a problem, so I may need to find a new host when I have time.

I have done my best to list what TV windows are out there. Every listing service has a little different schedule for these networks. 

12pm ABC: Texas Tech at Iowa State
12pm ESPN: Arkansas at Auburn
12pm ESPN2: Texas State at Troy
12pm ESPNU: ULM at Liberty
12pm SECN: Mississippi State at Kentucky
12pm ACCN: Pitt at Boston College
12:30pm ACC RSN: Duke at Syracuse
3:30pm ABC: UTSA at BYU
3:30pm CBS: Tennessee at Georgia
3:30pm ESPN2: UTEP at Louisiana Tech
3:30pm ESPNU: Charlotte at North Texas
4pm FOX: Kansas State at TCU
4pm SECN: South Carolina at Vanderbilt
4pm ACCN: NC State at Virginia
6pm ESPN: Alabama at Ole Miss
7pm ESPN2: ECU at USF
7pm ESPNU: Middle Tennessee at FIU
7:30pm ABC: Miami (FL) at Clemson
7:30pm SECN: Missouri at LSU
7:30pm ACCN: Virginia Tech at North Carolina
9pm ESPN: Florida at Texas A&M

ESPN3 or ESPN+
Central Arkansas at Arkansas State

Friday, September 25, 2020

Admin Stuff For 2020

A few things

* To be clear, I do hope as much football is played as possible in 2020 and spring 2021 for the FCS conferences choosing to play at that time. I'm not going to banter about my feelings about medical directives & safety plans, and to be clear, I don't care about your opinion on the matter. My site or Twitter account won't be used for that. I have other places to banter those opinions and you likely do to.

* Over the past week, you have likely encountered periods of time, whether its minutes or hours, where my site has either encountered an error when viewing a season or a week, or if the front page is completely down. I'm sorry you've had to experience that.

I'm extremely frustrated and exasperated that you've had to experience that. My experience with my website host's support services have been extremely poor. I have made one of their suggested updates, but I don't believe it has remedied the issue. I do have a couple other tricks up my sleeve that I may try before I look to go website host shopping, but my desire to do that would be outside of sports being in season, so that would be the summer.

* It is a bit stressful to a) deal with the game cancelations that come at random times and b) the questions about "What is network X going to do? What games are they going to move? Why did they move that game?". Coupled with the website instability, plus the regular stresses of daily life, my anxiety has been a bit high. So I won't be trying to forecast schedule changes if and when they do occur. I'm just going to follow them as best I can to keep the site's accuracy as a schedule and repository for upcoming TV.

Situations like the added C-USA games on linear TV channels and ESPN+ carrying UCF at ECU while its on ABC - those I'll do my best to get answers about. Some entities are more willing to answer and discuss TV related items than others. Things like game X being cancelled and how its going to be replaced aren't going to get my attention.

* The available TV windows each week aren't going to be 100% accurate and this season even moreso. RSNs are posting their intended listings for a future date closer to that date instead of the two weeks in advance that I'm accustomed to. Events being added throughout the fall, whether it was the NBA, WNBA, golf, combat sports and others are eating up windows that would normally be planned for college football, and now might be needed for games with the return to play of the Big Ten, Mountain West and Pac-12, along with the MAC voting on their plan in the near future.

* Men's basketball TV schedule announcements could come thick and fast, leaving me with an avalanche of schedules to have ready. Normally the top ten or so conferences would have this information released as smaller conferences finalize their windows through October. Right now, we're waiting to see how non-conference games will be played alongside multi-team events. Getting schools committed to those events, placing them in bubble-like environments and then getting TV time or streaming plans in place are no doubt occurring right now.

Monday, September 21, 2020

CFB TV Confirmations for 2020 Week 5 (10/3/20)

This post will be updated as announcements come out for start times for 10/3 from the twelve day selection process that most TV networks adhere to.  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 will prove to be incorrect).  I would provide you a link to my site, but it is down due to a server attack (I'm not the only site affected).  I hope it will be up later today.

(Here's the deal - I don't really have a great handle as to the TV slots, so what I'll do is list the games not yet set for TV, then reorder them by time as they're set.  That way you'll see the list of games set for TV along with the one(s) you're waiting on).

12pm ABC: Baylor at West Virginia
12pm ESPN2: Arkansas State at Coastal Carolina
12pm ESPNU: ECU at Georgia State
12pm ACCN: NC State at Pitt
3:30pm ABC or ESPN: North Carolina at Boston College
3:30pm ABC or ESPN: Oklahoma State at Kansas
3:30pm ESPN2: Memphis at SMU
3:30pm FS1: Texas Tech at Kansas State
3:30pm ESPN+: USF at Cincinnati
4pm ESPNU: Charlotte at Florida Atlantic
4pm ACCN: Virginia Tech at Duke
4pm ACC RSNs: Jacksonville State at Florida State
5pm ESPN3: WKU at Middle Tennessee
7pm ESPN+: Georgia Southern at ULM
7:30pm ESPN2: Tulsa at UCF
8pm ESPNU: Troy at South Alabama
8pm ACCN: Virginia at Clemson

Six Day Hold for 12pm FOX or 7:30pm ABC
Oklahoma at Iowa State
TCU at Texas


Sunday, September 20, 2020

CFB TV Guesses for 2020 Week 5 (10/3/20)

Here are the games already set for television and/or webcast, which includes several SEC games.  Here are the known available telecast windows. Please understand that my site has been intermittently unavailable.  I've tried working with the hosting company but they don't see a problem, so I may need to find a new host this week.

I have done my best to list what TV windows are out there. Every listing service has a little different schedule for these networks. I can tell you that FS1 has NASCAR trucks in the afternoon and Premier Boxing Champions in the evening.  

12pm ABC: Virginia at Clemson
12pm FOX: TCU at Texas
12pm ESPN2: Memphis at SMU
12pm ESPNU: ECU at Georgia State
12pm ACCN: NC State at Pitt
3:30pm ABC: USF at Cincinnati 
3:30pm ESPN: Baylor at West Virginia
3:30pm ESPN2: Tulsa at UCF
3:30pm FS1: Oklahoma State at Kansas
3:30pm ESPNU: Troy at South Alabama
4pm ACCN: North Carolina at Boston College
4pm ACC RSNs: Jacksonville State at Florida State
7pm ESPN2: Georgia Southern at ULM
7pm ESPNU: Arkansas State at Coastal Carolina
7:30pm ABC: Oklahoma at Iowa State
8pm ACCN: Virginia Tech at Duke

ESPN3 or ESPN+
WKU at Middle Tennessee
Charlotte at Florida Atlantic
Texas Tech at Kansas State

Monday, September 14, 2020

CFB TV Confirmations for 2020 Week 4 (9/26/20)

 This post will be updated as announcements come out for start times for 9/26 from the twelve day selection process that most TV networks adhere to.  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 will 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.

(Here's the deal - I don't really have a great handle as to the TV slots, so what I'll do is list the games not yet set for TV, then reorder them by time as they're set.  That way you'll see the list of games set for TV along with the one(s) you're waiting on).

12pm ABC: Notre Dame at Wake Forest
12pm ESPN2: Georgia Southern at Louisiana
12pm ESPNU: Georgia State at Charlotte
12pm ACCN: Louisville at Pitt
12pm ACC RSNs: Georgia Tech at Syracuse
12pm ESPN+: UCF at ECU
12pm ESPN+: Campbell at Appalachian State
1:30pm FS1: Iowa State at TCU
3:30pm ABC or ESPN: West Virginia at Oklahoma State
3:30pm ABC or ESPN: Army at Cincinnati
3:30pm ESPN2: Tulsa at Arkansas State
3:30pm ESPNU: UTEP at ULM
4pm ACCN: Duke at Virginia
6pm ACC RSNs: Texas State at Boston College
7pm ESPNU: Kansas at Baylor
7pm ESPN3: Houston Baptist at Louisiana Tech
7pm ESPN+: Stephen F. Austin at SMU
7pm ESPN+: North Texas at Houston
7:30pm ABC: Florida State at Miami (FL)
8pm ACCN: NC State at Virginia Tech

Sunday, September 13, 2020

CFB TV Guesses for 2020 Week 4 (9/26/20)

Here are the games already set for television and/or webcast, which includes several SEC games.  Here are the known available telecast windows.

I have done my best to list what TV windows are out there. Every listing service has a little different schedule for these networks. I can tell you that FOX & FS1 intend to have evening MLB.  

12pm ABC: Army at Cincinnati
12pm ESPN2: West Virginia at Oklahoma State
12pm ESPNU: UCF at ECU
12pm ACCN: Louisville at Pitt
12:30pm ACC RSNs: Texas State at Boston College
1:30pm FS1: Kansas at Baylor
3:30pm ABC: Florida State at Miami (FL)
3:30pm ESPN: Duke at Virginia
3:30pm ESPN2: Tulsa at Arkansas State
3:30pm ESPNU: Georgia Southern at Louisiana
3:30pm ACCN: Georgia Tech at Syracuse
7pm ESPN2: Iowa State at TCU
7pm ESPNU: North Texas at Houston
7:30pm ABC: Notre Dame at Wake Forest
7:30pm ACCN: NC State at Virginia Tech

ESPN3 or ESPN+
Stephen F. Austin at SMU
UTEP at ULM
Houston Baptist at Louisiana Tech
Georgia State at Charlotte


Wednesday, September 2, 2020

Notes on CFB TV Revised Early Season Releases for 2020

Here's the releases from the ACC, American, Big 12, CBSESPN, FOX Sports, SEC (CBS and ESPN) and Sun Belt. An updated release wasn't provided from C-USA, though you can find the additional linear TV games ESPN has elevated in their release.

So many games were selected in advance. Why? In the case of the SEC, where it was more prominent, the following release was provided in the CBS release:

CBS Sports, at the request of the SEC, worked in conjunction with the Conference to assist them and their schools with their advanced planning and logistics. CBS selected games in six of the first eight weeks. For the remaining games on the schedule, the normal 12- or six-day selection process will be used during the season.

I get the feeling that this is something that is already ongoing. Whether its the Pac-12 & its priority pick concept for ESPN and FOX, or the Big Ten releasing several weeks of partial TV picks beyond the first few weeks, these networks typically have a path plotted out for the season. Unless a major story develops in season like a team far exceeding expectations or playing below them, it seems pretty rare to deviate from them. And that's why the dreaded six day hold is used.

Notre Dame on USA. Why? Several things converged on the NBC Sports calendar.

  • The US Open being carried on NBC that weekend
  • NBCSN carrying some Premier League soccer and the Tour de France
  • The need to keep the calendar open for the Stanley Cup playoffs
The soccer conflict is Premier League Goal Zone currently scheduled for NBCSN at 2:30pm, but that could disappear if the NHL needs it. IndyCar needing it was also mentioned, but the articles I've seen mention that the rescheduled Mid-Ohio event (now a doubleheader) is rumored for the weekend prior.

1986 was the last time USA aired any college football.

Why the odd start time for Alabama at LSU? CBS chose Georgia at Alabama as its primetime game on 10/17. When the revised SEC schedule was released, Alabama at LSU was placed on the same weekend as CBS carrying the Masters. The golf is now being played in limited daylight and will air earlier in the day on CBS, but would overlap the usual 3:30pm ET CBS window, so an adjustment was made for this one to air at 6pm ET.

Two Navy home games on ESPN Network? Yes. It appears that the BYU game replaces the canceled Notre Dame game being part of the American's TV package with ESPN, so ESPN then grabbed the Memphis game on 11/14 as their "regular" Navy game in 2020. 

Big 12 member retained games: Are those a thing in 2020? It looks like it. I haven't had time to reach out to anyone to ask about it, but this makes a lot of sense:
Texas Tech also seems to have had their member retained game accounted for, so there should be seven more ESPN+ games coming throughout the season.

Saw the item regarding FOX's pregame show and you tweeted that it would air even on weeks when FOX doesn't have a game. Tell me more. The way the Big 12 has scheduled, there won't be games on 9/19, and it is my understanding they won't have a Big 12 game one weekend each in October & November, but they'll still carry their pregame show coming into the 12pm Eastern games. The October weekend would likely involve FOX carrying the MLB playoffs.

The Sun Belt has a lot more games on ESPN this year. Yes, the conference has really been able to take advantage of the openings created by other conferences not playing or not starting right away, plus several changes within the American and ACC schedules to open up some Thursday night windows that were previously filled. I would assume at least one Saturday Sun Belt game is considered for linear TV each week, even when the SEC is added in as both they and the ACC will likely be making sure they can fill as many of their SEC Network and ACC Network openings first.

Are there still appearance maximums that need to be followed by, say, the SEC on CBS? I would assume so, but they may be scaled back due to CBS carrying less games. With CBS carrying 11 regular season games instead of 15, it would stand to reason that the appearance maximum could be decreased by one, but that is not something I'm aware of. That would give CBS the leeway to choose the Iron Bowl on 11/28 as Alabama & LSU both already have three games planned for CBS.

A Big 12 game at 10pm ET? Yes. FS1 has a MLB game scheduled for 7pm ET on 9/12, so Coastal Carolina at Kansas is pushed to that time slot (9pm CT). No fans will be attending, but its still a later start. Big 12 games used to have exclusivity rules around their ABC, FSN and TBS windows over a decade ago, so a game not selected for those TV partners would either have to air their game on PPV or start at 10pm, which happened last in 2004.

I'm not as bullish as those of you that believe the Big 12 could regularly have 10pm ET starts. I think this was a rare occurrence due to the MLB game plus how the Big 12 stacked all of its non-conference games initially on one day with SMU at TCU being moved to alleviate some of that pressure. FOX will air usually one game at 12pm ET each week and if ESPN+ takes roughly one game a week to work in the member retained games, there should be 2-3 games to split amongst both ESPN and FOX Sports without needing to use late night. 

Late night likely will be reserved for BYU and I don't get the sense that ESPN is planning to use it for anyone else at this time. Notice that some of their primetime games are starting at 7:30pm ET, which would likely end at 11pm and lead right into SportsCenter. 

What else are you waiting to hear about? Two items:

  • Some of the items regarding C-USA rightsholders that I haven't been able to get answered. Especially since more games were selected to air on linear TV.
  • Where is Navy at Air Force going to air on 10/3? It is the only Mountain West controlled game being played in the fall this season. I assume CBS or CBS Sports Network as there are openings available to the game.