Lights out on NBC in Austin

So at midnight last night (this morning?) KXAN, Austin's NBC affiliate turned off its airwaves to Time Warner cable subscribers. KXAN and Time Warner are in an apparent disagreement about subscribers fees, and were unable to reach an agreement before KXAN pulled the plug.

Who wins when this happens? Definitely not Time Warner cable subscribers. DirecTV certainly benefits from the situation. It's been putting out ads trying to get NBC fans of Heroes, The Office, and 30 Rock to switch to their service, which still carries the network.

If I weren't leaving Austin in three months I'd certainly consider the switch. As mentioned earlier, new Friday Night Lights episodes will only be available to DirecTV subscribers until February 2009.

If that weren't bad enough, the rumor has it that the CW Austin has been threatening to drop from Time Warner cable as well. Which would mean no Gossip Girl. What does that actually leave me with? Mad Men (AMC), no My Boys (TBS) since it's only a summer show, and ESPN and Food Network. Yeah, so basically my only show I'd have left is Mad Men. And How I Met Your Mother, which I keep stupidly forgetting to DVR.

I passionately hope that the CW split is just a rumor, though I'm 90% sure I saw a commercial the other day warning viewers that cable may longer carry the CW later in October. I'm not completely certain on that though. Let's hope I heard and remember wrong!

Fear not though about all the NBC shows besides Friday Night Lights... they're all available for free on Hulu. The newest Office episode's up already if you missed it last week. So glad it's back!

June is for Hockey, of course

So other than a very brief stint in elementary school, I've never really watched much NHL. I remember one Christmas when I was younger I got a Pittsburgh Penguins jacket and was pretty psyched, but growing up in the Richmond area, there just weren't rinks around for hockey, let alone ice skating. We eventually did get a rink, in late high school, but by that point I had already picked up just about every other sport and had been playing for years. Other than the semester I briefly considered taking it for a PE credit (and instead opted for skiing), the sport rarely entered my radar.

Anyway, my brother just graduated from college in Pittsburgh and I got to spend a few weeks on the East Coast during this past month, and during much of it I had some quality time to hang out with him. Well apparently in his last year he's become quite a fan of the hometown Penguins. It was fun talking to him about it, and his sudden enthusiasm certainly piqued my interest. We caught a few moments of an early playoff game at a bar right before his graduation dinner (in Pittsburgh) and I caught several more of the Stanley Cup games this week.

Anyway, like any good kid who has over 30 (40? 50?) relatives in the Pittsburgh area, I have (re-)decided my team was the Penguins. I caught several of the games this past week including an unbelievably exciting triple-overtime Stanley Cup game 5. The last 3 minutes of game 6 weren't a slouch either. After an electrifying win in game 5, the Pens fell in the waning tenths-of-a-second in game 6, to the Detroit Red Wings. It was a hard fought series, and hopefully NBC's decision to air several of the final games will result in the sport gaining more fans. I know this is one of them. I look forward to the return of Crosby, Malkin, and the boys, and their taking of the Cup next year (bandwagon much?).

Pittsburgh's game winning goal for 4-3 victory in triple overtime of Stanley Cup game 5.

Other headlines: Celtics vs Lakers in the NBA Finals. I can't bear to listen to any further ESPN analyses rehashing past Celts/Lakers matchups from the Magic Johnson-Larry Bird era. I can almost guarantee that in the coming years the current (2008) Finals will be of no comparison to the nostalgia of the old contests.

Picture Source: NY Daily News
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/hockey/2008/06/02/2008-06-02_penguins_tie_red_wings_late_in_regulatio.html