For Minnesota Wild fans, the good news is that the rest of the games — that's 69 of them — will air on Charter Communications.
The schedule calls for 44 games on Fox Sports Net North, 16 on KSTC, 5 on Versus and 4 on NBC.
The games on KSTC were in question because that Twin Cities-based station is not available on the Charter system.
An agreement was reached by Charter and KSTC to air those games, and they'll be shown on Charter Digital 980. Six of those, however, will air on Signal Hill CW or channel 10.2.
The next KSTC game is Nov. 20 when the Wild play the Red Wings in Detroit at 6:30 p.m.
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Around the tube
• A profile of Barcelona's Ricky Rubio, a future member of the Minnesota Timberwolves (maybe next year), will air on ESPN's Outside the Lines at 8 p.m. Sunday. Drafted No. 5 by the Timberwolves in the 2009 NBA Draft, Rubio, 20, has not played in a league game yet, raising questions as to whether he is a future star or overhyped novelty act. Tom Farrey reports.
"Playing the NBA is a dream,.'' Rubio said. "Minnesota has my rights, and at the moment I’m very confident in them.''
Kobe Bryant says Rubio is going to be a star.
"Honestly, I think he’s going to be a great player,'' he said. "I’ve seen him play now. I’ve played against him in the Olympics. He has a lot, a lot, a lot of talent."
• NBC's Sunday Night Football is nine-fo- nine. With 19.4 million viewers for the Cowboys-Packers game last Sunday, SNF was the most-watched primetime show on Sunday night for the ninth straight week this season. Last season, SNF was the most-watched Sunday night primetime broadcast in a record 15 of 16 weeks. In 2008, SNF won 13 of 16 Sunday nights.
And it's another intriguing matchup this Sunday, with New England playing at Pittsburgh. The teams have five Super Bowl wins combined in the 2000s.
• Thursday Night Football kicked off Thursday on the NFL Network with Baltimore playing at Atlanta.
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The NFL Network, which is in its fifth season of televising NFL games, is not available on Charter Communications.
One feature which aired on Thursday night was Steve Mariucci interviewing Vikings quarterback Brett Favre. Mariucci was Favre's QB coach in Green Bay and remains a good friend.
• Kenny Albert (play-by-play), Daryl Johnston (analyst) and Tony Siragusa (sideline reporter) will do the Vikings-Bears game at noon Sunday on Fox.
The doubleheader game on Fox (Joe Buck, Troy Aikman, Pam Oliver) finds Dallas at the New York Giants.
Buck, Aikman and Oliver will be at the Metrodome on Nov. 21 when the Vikings host the Packers in a noon game.
• The third annual College Hoops Tip-Off Marathon celebrating the start of the season with 12 live games in 24 hours on ESPN on Tuesday, ESPN games are scheduled to tip off every two hours beginning at 11 p.m. (CST) with Miami at Memphis. It will mark the second time ESPN has televised live college basketball games at 5 a.m. (Stony Brook at Monmouth) or 7 a.m. (Robert Morris at Kent State).
• The Minnesota men open their season tonight against Wofford, and it will be streamed on www.bigtennetwork.com
The Gophers host Siena at 8 p.m. Monday on ESPNU while the Minnesota women's game at home Wednesday against Pittsburgh (7 p.m.) will also be streamed on www.bigtennetwork.com
