During Sunday's NFL coverage, CBS committed a
"violation" of its NFL TV contract when it decided to stick
with national coverage of the Raiders-Chiefs game in
overtime until 4:27pm ET, rather than taking viewers to the
scheduled 4:15pm ET game. The move resulted in viewers
missing the start of the Dolphins-Redskins, Titans-Steelers
and Chargers-Broncos in their respective home markets and
also resulted in CBS airing NFL coverage up against Fox's
4:15pm ET NFL coverage. NFL Senior VP/Broadcasting Dennis
Lewin: "This has been a part of the bylaws of the league
since Day One that games go back to the home markets. The
biggest thing is that we're disappointed that CBS didn't
consult with us before they made a decision." CBS Sports
President Sean McManus: "In an effort to serve as many fans
as possible we got trapped and stayed longer than we should
have" (USA TODAY, 1/3). CBS Sports VP/Communications
LeslieAnne Wade: "Certainly, we apologize. One of the main
things that we learned is that the right thing to always do
is to bring the home team [viewers] to the kickoff of their
game under all circumstances" (WASHINGTON POST, 1/4).
REAX: In Nashville, Paul Kuharsky reported that local
viewers missed the first 4 1/2 minutes of the Titans game.
WTVF-CBS Program Dir Mark Binda received "nearly" 150 calls
complaining over the missed action (Nashville TENNESSEAN,
1/3). In DC, WUSA-CBS anchor Bruce Johnson "apologized" to
viewers on behalf of the station during halftime of the
Redskins game after local viewers missed the first 10 1/2
minutes of the game (WASHINGTON POST, 1/3).
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