Jets Suddenly Become Popular Draw for Wisconsin CBS Stations

There is a wonderful website that lists the coverage maps for the NFL's regional coverage every week. I highly encourage you to bookmark the site so you can check it every week and see what you're getting.

According to the site archives, the New York Jets were only televised in all of Wisconsin three times in 2007. Additionally, eastern Wisconsin got the Pittsburgh game in Week 11, and western Wisconsin got the New England game in Week 15.

I can virtually assure you that number will increase this year, even without factoring in the Jets' presence on national television.

Something about Brett Favre getting traded there has suddenly made the Jets quite popular among Wisconsin sports fans. Even die-hard Packer fans are hoping to follow Favre's new team, and they're making their feelings known to local CBS affiliates.

How many games are we talking about? Well, of the Jets' 16 regular-season games, two of them are being broadcast nationally. The Week 3 game at San Diego is on Monday Night Football, and the Jets' Week 11 game at New England is a Thursday night NFL Network game. The other 14 games are covered on either CBS or FOX.
Affiliates in Wisconsin are required to carry the Packers whenever possible. Additionally, home games are protected, meaning that competing networks aren't allowed to carry a game in the same timeslot as a home game. Road games aren't similarly protected, though networks usually try to avoid conflicts in those situations, too.

Since I don't want to bore you with technical explanations, I'll get to the skinny.

CBS stations in Wisconsin are now faced with the fact that their viewers are going to want to watch Jets games. The station in Milwaukee has already said they will ask CBS to carry as many Jets games as possible. The network is likely to grant such a request, given that the reason (Brett Favre plays there now) is a pretty solid one.

With that in mind, I figured I'd check around and see what else is going on.

In Green Bay, the CBS station is WFRV. I couldn't reach the station manager for comment, but it sounds as if they're at least going to make the call to CBS.

In Madison, a representative from WISC-TV is operating under the assumption that they're going to ask for some changes in their CBS coverage schedule, even though it's already been posted on their website.

I spoke for a few minutes this afternoon with Dave Jensch, who is the station manager for KDLH-TV in Duluth, MN. While KDLH is listed as a Minnesota station, meaning that they have to carry the Vikings whenever possible, the Vikings and Packers rarely play games at the same time on CBS. That means they will also carry the Packers whenever possible.

Jensch told me he plans to contact CBS and request that they be given as many Jets games as possible. He told me the networks prefer that affiliates have a reason for requesting specific games be beamed to their market. Jensch added that his assumption would be that the Favre factor would be enough for his station, even though it's based in Minnesota.

Calls to the affiliate in La Crosse, which also serves Eau Claire, went unanswered. Given the trend, however, I think it's a safe bet that they'll be looking for some Jets games.

Those coverage maps ought to look quite interesting this season. Given the willingness of affiliates in this area to request extra Jets games where the schedule allows, I wonder how many people in Wisconsin will splurge for Sunday Ticket so they can follow Favre.