Friday, December 21, 2007

Friday-Sunday, December 21-23, 2007...

Time Warner Cable refuses to budge...

Should the New England Patriots beat the Miami Dolphins (wink-wink) this Sunday, they would face the Giants, the last obstacle facing the Pats from completing the first undefeated season in the NFL in 35 years. Big stuff, right? Well it's not big enough for Time Warner to call time-out in their feud with the NFL over completing a deal to carry the league's network, not even for this one game. John Kerry tried and failed to convince the NFL to do so and now we have Senators Patrick Leahy (Vermont) and Arlen Specter (Pennsylvania) threatening to reconsider the league's antitrust exemption if Time Warner doesn't relent. Now along comes NFL Commissioner, Roger Goodell who sent a letter to Time Warner CEO Glenn Britt proposing that the cable giant could air the channel for free if it agrees to binding arbitration to set the price and method for carrying the NFL Network. Britt declined the offer...

Time Warner wants to charge its customers tier pricing for the NFL Network or on a pay-per-game basis and they want a deal negotiated between themselves and the NFL without any help from a third party. Time Warner is not alone, Comcast hasn't come to an agreement with the NFL either...

If neither side relents, everyone loses. The NFL Network, which averages 5.3 million viewers a game, covers less than 40 percent of the country would add another 10 million should the December 29th game be shown on Time Warner and guess who else would have several million more viewers? Times up. If you guessed Time Warner you're a cinch to fog up a mirror. As it stands now, viewers in Boston and New York will see the game but unless you're among the 60 percent of the country without access to the NFL Network you won't see it outside those markets. Ya think the fans in Miami might want to see that game to see if their 1972 Dolphins undefeated record of 14-0 (17-0 overall) is broken???

10 Timeline Memories:
  1. 1620] The Pilgrims are coming, the Pilgrims are coming: The Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower go ashore for the first time at present-day Plymouth (MA) (12/21)...
  2. 1823] 'Twas the night before Christmas': Clement C. Moore's poem, "A visit from St. Nicholas" is published in the Troy (NY) Sentinel (12/23). Here it is in a clip from a 1946 movie: http://youtube.com/watch?v=wktd_jFP6xc ...
  3. 1882] The first Christmas lights: The first string of Christmas tree lights is created by Thomas Edison. If T.A.E. were around to see this he would definitely kvell: http://youtube.com/watch?v=szLmAPW39uE&feature=related (12/22)...
  4. 1906] The first music show: On the night of December 24th, 1906, Canadian physicist Reginald A. Fessenden becomes the first person to broadcast a music program over the radio from Brant Rock (MA). Last year on the 100th anniversary of the event, WATD owner Ed Perry held events to commemorate it. The legendary Fred B. Cole, who recently passed away, emceed the ceremony. Fred hosted big band music on radio stations in New York and Boston and was so chosen for the historic event (12/24). I found this school project on Fessenden on YouTube. I hope the young man got an "A": http://youtube.com/watch?v=2NmRTafYxxE ...
  5. 1942] Where there's war, there's Hope: Bob Hope does his first Christmas show to entertain U.S. airmen stationed in Alaska, starting an annual tradition (12/23)...
  6. 1945] "Happy Trails": General George S. Patton dies in Germany from injuries suffered in a car accident. Patton was 60 (12/21)...1995] Lawrence Berk, founder of Berklee College of Music, dies from natural causes at 87 in Boston (12/22)...2002] Joe Strummer, lead singer of The Clash, dies suddenly of a congenital heart defect at 50 (12/22)...
  7. 1970] Elvis the drug czar: Richard M. Nixon has a meeting about fighting drugs in the Oval Office with Elvis Presley who would die from a drug overdose (12/21)...
  8. 1978] Guilty as charged: Police in Des Plaines (IL) arrest John Wayne Gacy Jr. and begin unearthing the remains of 33 men and boys that Gacy would be convicted of murdering (12/21). Gacy is executed by lethal injection in May, 1994...1996] After two years of denials, House Speaker Newt Gingrich admits violating House ethic rules. He is soon replaced as House Speaker (12/21)...
  9. 1984] Subway justice: New York City resident Bernhard Goetz shoots 4 youths on a Manhattan subway, claiming they were about to rob him. The youths were armed with screw drivers (12/22). Here's the 'Subway Vigilante' in happier times, playing with his pet squirrel: http://youtube.com/watch?v=FjF5ccIrP8Q ...
  10. 1988] Terrorism in the sky: 270 are killed when a Pan Am Boeing 747 explodes over Lockerbie, Scotland. A terrorist attack is responsible for one of the worst air tragedies ever (12/21)...

Music Memories:

Commentary:

If you're home for the Holidays or have access to a laptop, I will post an MPR on Monday (24th) covering 3 days and then back with 'The Good, The Bad, The Ugly of The Year' on Thursday, December 27th. If you're leaving for the holidays: Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night...

"Happy Birthday...happy birthday":

(12/21) Keifer Sutherland (41), Andy Dick (42), Ray Romano (50), Jane Kaczmarek (52), Chris Evert (53), Samuel L. Jackson (59), Carla Thomas (65), Jane Fonda (70), Phil Donahue (72) and Joe Paterno (81)...

(12/22) Ralph Fiennes (45), Robin Gibb (58), Rick Nielsen (Cheap Trick) (61), Diane Sawyer (62) and Hector Elizondo (71)...

(12/23) Eddie Vedder (43), Susan Lucci (61), Harry Shearer (64), Jerry Koosman (65) and Paul Hornung (72)...

Timeline Countdown for Sunday, December 23, 2007: Winter started yesterday, we celebrate Festivus today (Here's Frank Costanza addressing Congress about celebrating the holiday: (http://youtube.com/watch?v=F9yZjh7JRuE&feature=related ), 2 days until Christmas, 4 days until 'The Good, The Bad, The Ugly of 2007', 8 nights until New Year's Eve and 13 days until the NFL Wild Card Playoffs...




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