Television Watching: CBS Strike?, MSG Free, & Smith

If CBS News Writers Strike, Democrats Will Nix Debate
Several presidential candidates - Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and Bill Richardson -have announced their intentions not to cross picket lines for a debate sponsored by CBS News on December 10th. The Writers Guild of America announced earlier this week that its members who work for the network’s television and radio operations at both the national and local level have authorized a strike vote. The members have been working without a contract since April of 2005 and you can find all of the union’s grievances on their web site.

Freebies From MSG on WWOR
MSG has partnered with WWOR to air two Rangers and two Knicks games on free TV this season. The first of the games on the hockey side is this Sunday at 1:00 p.m. with the Rangers taking on the Dallas Stars, with the second on December 16th at 5:00 p.m. from Phoenix. This marks almost twenty years since local hockey coverage has aired on local over the air television instead of cable, with the exception of nationally televised games.

On the hardwood, the Knicks will take on the Bulls on December 30th at noon and the Atlanta Hawks on March 30th at 4:00 p.m. You may remember that WWOR aired some New Jersey Nets games last season, so it isn’t as dramatic an absence of that of the NHL.

Smith Re-Ups With Fox
Fox News’ Shepard Smith has signed a multi-year contract that will keep him as the lead anchor for the cable channel for about three years. Reports have him getting $7 to $8 million per year. His 7 p.m. newscast, The Fox Report averages approximately 1.5 million viewers a night.