As many cable subscribers have no doubt noted, the Jazz's home playoff games are blacked out on TNT.
You can see them on KSTU-Ch. 13, but not on cable.And there's actually a very simple explanation for that.
KSTU broadcasts the Jazz games, but it does not produce them. The Jazz themselves produce the games and sell the advertising.
"The Jazz sell those spots, and they don't want to have to compete with the broadcast on TNT," said Christy Elswood, KSTU's program director and operations manager. "It's in the contract that the games are blacked out on TNT."
Thus, tonight's "national" TNT broadcast of the Jazz-Sonics game isn't quite national. It won't be seen in the Salt Lake television market.
Obviously, the same rule does not apply to playoff games on the road. When the Jazz play in Seattle, the game may be seen on both Ch. 13 and TNT.
However, if NBC decides to pick up either a home or away game, that knocks KSTU out of the box. Again, it's all in the contract, and NBC has exclusive rights to any game it carries.BOB: Well, we've got a bit more information on Bob Newhart's third sitcom, "Bob," which is set to debut this fall on CBS.
He'll play a comic book artist in the new show, which was created by Cheri and Bill Steinkeller and Phoef Sutton, who used to executive produce "Cheers."
Stepping into the shoes worn by Suzanne Pleshette in "The Bob
Newhart Show" and Mary Frann in "Newhart" is Carlene Watkins, who'll play Newhart's wife this time around in "Bob."`COSBY' GOES OUT ON TOP: "The Cosby Show," which slipped all the way to 18th this season, was back on top with its final first-run episode last week.
The hourlong special edition was the highest rated show of the week, with an impressive 28.0 rating and a 45 share. (Each rating point equals 921,000 homes and the share is the percentage of homes watching TV.)
That finale became the most-watched in NBC history. Believe it or not, it replaces the last "Dean Martin Show" way back in 1974.
It's also the highest-rated farewell for any series since "Magnum, P.I." (ironically, the show "Cosby" beat out on Thursday nights) left with a 32 rating and a 48 share in May 1988.
But "Cosby" was a long way from being the most-watched series sendoff in history. "M*A*S*H" holds that honor, with an incredible 60.2 rating and 77 share back in February 1983 - a record that will probably never be broken.CBS BACK ON TOP: After two week of watching ABC finish first, season champ CBS was back on top last week with a 12.6/21 to ABC's 12.0/20 and NBC's 11.5/20, according to the A.C. Nielsen Co.
CBS was aided by a surprisingly strong performance by the made-in-Utah movie "Deliver Them From Evil: The Taking of Alta View." The Tuesday movie couldn't beat top-rated "Roseanne" and "Coach" in its first hour but won the second hour that night and finished No. 10.
"Deliver" was the highest-rated one-part movie CBS has had on a Tuesday this season.THE TOP 10: 1. "Cosby," NBC; 2. "Roseanne," ABC; 3. "Cheers," NBC; 4. "60 Minutes," CBS; 5. "Murphy Brown," CBS; 6. "Home Improvement," ABC; 7. "Coach," ABC; 8. ABC Monday Movie: "Stay the Night," Part 2; 9. "Designing Women," CBS; 10. CBS Tuesday Movie: "Deliver Them From Evil: The Taking of Alta View."