TV Viewers are outta luck - ABC's ring ceremony dis

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Snippets? Snippets? I call bullshit.

ABC won't air Ring ceremony

04:51 PM CDT on Thursday, September 15, 2005

By BARRY HORN / DMN

If you were hoping to catch Monday night's Ring of Honor ceremony at halftime of ABC's nationally broadcast Cowboys-Redskins game, you're out of luck.

The induction of Troy Aikman, Michael Irvin and Emmitt Smith will be pre-empted by a NFL telethon to benefit victims of Hurricane Katrina. The entire 12-minute halftime will be devoted to the fundraising effort, Monday Night Football producer Fred Gaudelli confirmed on Thursday.

Not that Monday Night Football, whose audience extends far beyond Cowboys fans, would have shown the entire ceremony anyway. Rather ABC most likely would have offered an edited version before the start of the second half, Gaudelli said.

"We normally don't cover such ceremonies at all," Gaudelli said. "But this is certainly more than a local phenomenon. These are three of the biggest names in the league."

There have been exceptions, however. When the New York Giants honored retired quarterback Phil Simms and the San Francisco 49ers honored retired defensive back Ronnie Lott, portions of the ceremonies were broadcast live, Gaudelli said. Former Denver Broncos quarterback John Elway received similar treatment on an ESPN Sunday Night Football broadcast.

Gaudelli hopes to offer taped snippets of the Cowboys ceremony during the second half but there are no guarantees. It all depends on what's happening on the field.

Aikman, Irvin and Smith together are scheduled to crowd Al Michaels and John Madden in the booth during the third quarter.

The Cowboys have no problem with ABC's decision not to cover the ceremony.

"The most important thing going on in this country right now is helping victims of Hurricane Katrina," said team spokesman Rich Dalrymple. "The Cowboys hope the visibility and exposure of the broadcast assists in that effort."

The ceremony was scheduled for a Monday night, not because of the added exposure that traditionally accompanies ABC's broadcast, Dalrymple said, but rather to accommodate the Sunday afternoon Fox broadcasting schedule of Aikman and Irvin's workload for ESPN.

"We also wanted to have it during a big game against a tradition rival like the Redskins," Dalrymple said. Because of the devastation caused by Katrina, the New York Giants-New Orleans Saints game was shifted out of New Orleans and Giants Stadium and moved to Monday night.

ABC will broadcast that game from 6:30 p.m. until 8 p.m. With the kickoff of the Cowboys-Redskins, the Giants-Saints will shift to ESPN in markets outside of New York. Locally, Channel 8 will join the Giants-Saints and the telethon effort at 7 p.m. The station will air a live 30-minute Dale Hansen Ring of Honor Special at 6:30 p.m.

"The Ring of Honor ceremony is a bona fide news event in this area and we plan to cover it that way," said Channel 8 vice president Dave Muscari.

The ABC affiliate in Washington, WJLA, has opted to broadcast a Redskins pre-game show rather than any part of the Giants-Saints, said ABC spokesman Mark Mandel.

Muscari said that any telethon-related information that is broadcast during the first 30 minutes of the Giants-Saints game will be relayed on the Channel 8 show.

[chumdawg]

On a perhaps related note, what happened to the Cowboys channel on Comcast?

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The Cowboys channel was dismantled because the NFL has a channel and Tagliabue thought it best that Jerry not compete with him.