Changes abound in visual medium

Monday, August 28, 2006 CBS and Fox have agreed to pay a total of $8 billion over six years. NEW YORK (AP) — In the world of the NFL, Sunday night is now Monday night and Monday night is now Sunday night. And Sunday night, which used to be Monday, belongs to a network, while Monday, which used to be Sunday, belongs to cable. Oh, and a former studio host will be calling games for the NFL Network and a play-by-play announcer will be hosting Fox's pregame show. And one more thing: A newspaper columnist is part of the three-man announcing crew for ESPN's Monday night game, which used to be the Sunday night matchup. Are you ready for some changes? The first There are plenty of them on this year's NFL TV schedule, beginning with NBC broadcasting the Sunday night game that had previously been shown on ESPN. The network's six-year, $600 million deal with the league includes the rights to two Super Bowls and flexible scheduling for the final seven weeks of the season. That means NBC can drop a previously scheduled game if it doesn't have any playoff implications (a problem for ABC's "Monday Night Football" in recent years) and instead broadcast a game that will have an impact on the postseason. NBC's hope is that the Sunday night game, by virtue of its position on a broadcast network and the attractiveness of the matchups, will assume the position on the TV landscape long occupied by "Monday Night Football." "This becomes the centerpiece of Sunday night television in the United States," said Dick Ebersol, the chairman of NBC Universal Sports. Crew switch The "Monday Night Football" announcing duo of Al Michaels and John Madden has also made the switch to Sunday night. Bob Costas will host "Football Night in America," NBC's pregame show, which will start at 7 p.m. and include Cris Collingsworth, Sterling Sharpe and Jerome Bettis. "When you look at the early season schedule, flex scheduling in the second half of the season, the people in the studio for "Football Night in America," the experience and the talent of the production crew and Dick Ebersol's vision, it's a can't miss," Michaels said. ESPN is betting $1.1 billion — the amount it's paying the NFL over an eight-year contract — that viewers are still hungry for football on Monday nights. The games will also start earlier than previous years; kickoff will be at 8:40 p.m. Washington Post columnist Tony Kornheiser, already a TV personality thanks to the hit show "Pardon the Interruption," will be in the booth, along with Joe Theismann and play-by-play announcer Mike Tirico. The choice of Kornheiser to join the broadcast may be reminiscent of MNF's failed experiment with comedian Dennis Miller, but the newspaperman's acerbic wit and lack of pretense might just work. "In my heart, I'm a newspaper guy, but I can't believe the good fortune I've had with radio and TV," he said. "Not a day goes by that out loud or silently I don't ask, 'How cool is this?' " Of course, Kornheiser already has displayed a thin skin. After a critic from the Washington Post offered a tepid review for his preseason debut, Kornheiser responded by calling the critic, Paul Farhi, a "two-bit weasel slug" who he would enjoy running over with a Mack truck. On Fox, the biggest wrinkle this season will come in the studio. Joe Buck, the network's top game announcer, also will host the pregame and postgame doubleheader shows. Curt Menefee will host the halftime and regular postgame coverage. CBS and Fox already have agreed to pay a total of $8 billion over six years for the rights to Sunday afternoon games. The NFL Network is also getting in on the act, broadcasting eight games later in the season. Bryant Gumbel will handle the play-by-play duties, and he's already found himself at the center of a mini-controversy. During closing remarks on HBO's "Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel" two weeks ago, Gumbel offered some recommendations to incoming commissioner Roger Goodell, including having outgoing commissioner Paul Tagliabue show him "where he keeps [union head] Gene Upshaw's leash." Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.