Media Guide: ESPN's Miller Has Sundays Free
By Dave Hughes, DCRTV.com
Former Orioles broadcaster Jon Miller is off ESPN's "Sunday Night Baseball" after partnering with Joe Morgan in a 21-year run. Miller may continue to handle play-by-play for ESPN, but it won't be in the Sunday night TV booth. Instead, he might call Sunday night baseball and postseason baseball on ESPN Radio.
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Local sports media great Ron Weber was honored at the Hockey Hall of Fame ceremony Nov. 8.
Weber, the original play-by-play voice of the Washington Capitals, received the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award for outstanding contributions as a hockey broadcaster.
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Bethesda-based Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic has announced its 179-game schedule of 2010-11 NCAA men's and women's basketball coverage, which began with the Maryland men's season-opening game against Seattle University at Comcast Center Nov. 8.
CSN's 129-game men's schedule features the nation's leading conferences, including the Atlantic Coast Conference, Colonial Athletic Association, the Pac-10 and the Atlantic 10. As the official network of the ACC, CSN will provide 19 of the conference's top weekly matchups throughout the season as part of "ACC Sunday Night Hoops."
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Those ESPN college sports games on the weekends aren't going anywhere.
Baltimore's Channel 2/WMAR will remain an ABC affiliate through at least early 2015. Station owner EW Scripps said Nov. 17 it has extended WMAR's affiliation with ABC through Jan. 31, 2015.
WMAR was a CBS affiliate in the 1960s and 1970s, switching to NBC in the 1980s. It became an ABC affiliate in 1994.
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The Ravens' loss to the Falcons Nov. 11 attracted 429,000 Baltimore market TV viewers -- 330,000 of whom were watching the NFL Network feed via Channel 11/WBAL. Nationwide, about 5 million watched the game, 28 percent more than watched the NFL Network's Thursday night opener last year.
The Baltimore Sun's David Zurawik was watching and penned on the Web site: "My goodness, but the NFL sure does know how to put on one hyped-up, league-celebrating broadcast on Thursday nights. Watching it, I couldn't help but both marvel at how well the NFL sells itself, and what a willing and sheep-like audience we have become for what they are selling.
"What a terrific start to Thursday Night Football. It was a fantastic contest to watch -- a nail biter to the final seconds. Too bad the Ravens had to lose."
Posted Nov. 18, 2010