Sunday, May 8, 2011

NFL in Columbus, Still a Mess

CBS carries the AFC and, therefore, most Steelers games.  You wouldn't know it if you are a Steelers fan living in the Columbus television market, though.  That'll be true in 2011 too, assuming there is a 2011 NFL season.

10TV acknowledges, in past online statements, that the Steelers' fan-base is as strong in Columbus as the two Ohio teams' fan bases.  However, that has never changed the fact that either the Browns or Bengals are the teams that get first dibs on Columbus broadcast airtime.

The 2011 NFL season schedule was recently published, and I added Steelers games to my calendar and added up the games I hope to see on my television.  It won't be a great year to see games on the typical networks.

Here's my observations:
  • Steelers fans in Central Ohio will see, at most, ten games and, potentially, as few as seven in the 16-game regular season.
  • Columbus CBS-affilliate 10TV won't likely carry a single Steelers game that doesn't involve the Browns or Bengals and won't carry any single Steelers game until Week 10 in mid November.
  • NBC, with affilliates in both Zanesville and Columbus, may carry as many Steelers games as the NFL's contracted main AFC network, CBS.
  • The oddest week is Week 8.  The Steelers play in Pittsburgh at 4:15 p.m. against the Patriots.  Sounds like a great week for a CBS double-header, right?  Wrong!  NFL schedulers will also offer up the Browns and Bengals in NFC-hosted games at the exact same time and same CBS network.
Oh, if they only let me pick the schedule.

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