The TV Zone

This just in: Nielsen says the Beijing Olympics were the most watched TV event ever ever ever - in the history of the planet ever. The number: 4.7 billion. (Which is 4 billion, 695 million more than watched the premiere of "90210.")

The presser: "From August 8 - 24, 4.7 billion viewers — or 70% of the world’s population — tuned in to watch the Games, according to Nielsen. In comparison, 3.9 billion watched the 2004 Athens Games, while 3.6 billion followed the 2000 Sydney Games on TV.

Host nation China led the viewing with 94% of Chinese viewers tuning in to the Olympics TV coverage, Nielsen reported. South Korea, though a much less populous nation [Nielsen added somewhat redundantly] also recorded 94% audience reach. Mexico followed closely with 93% of all viewers in that country following the Olympics on TV.

In the U.S., the Summer Games ranked as the most-viewed TV event ever, with a total audience of 211 million and an average daily audience of 27 million people."

Do not adjust your set when you're watching the Federer-Sampras tennis match live next Monday night from Madison Square Garden.

You may think you're watching FSN New York, but you'll be watching the "rebranded" channel MSG Plus. As of that 7 p.m. March 10 event airing live from Madison Square Garden, FSN is being renamed to better fit with its MSG corporate sibling (both owned by Cablevision Systems).

As MSG Plus, the channel will still serve as the cable home for hockey's Islanders and Devils, and will still carry Fox Sports Net original programs like "Best Damn Sports Show" and "Sports Science."

"MSG is a powerful brand," Michael Bair, president of MSG Media, said in today's press release. "Rebranding FSNY as MSG Plus capitalizes on the unprecedented MSG brand value and recognition, and helps to establish a stronger correlation between our two television networks."

So when both the Isles and Devs are playing, do the overflow games go to MSG Plus Plus? MSG Plus 2? (Equals 4?) We shall see . . .

Our super-blogging colleague Neil Best has the local Super Bowl ratings over on his Newsday.com sports Watchdog blog.

Meanwhile, the early Nielsen overnights are reported at our friend Marc Berman's daily newsletter The Programming Insider.

Just added there, the updated nationals: "The Giants vs. Patriots match-up averaged an approximate 89.10 million viewers and a 34.8 rating/67 share among adults 18-49 from 7-10 p.m." Wow.

Another wow were the results for a special post-Super Bowl edition of "House" (delayed considerably in the New York market by WNYW's local post-post-game report, which must have hurt the totals): "The Super Bowl Post Game at 10 p.m. scored an estimated 68.32 million viewers and a 28.2/57 among adults 18-49, while the first-half of a edition of 'House' netted 32.78 million viewers and a 14.4/34 in the [18-49] demo at 10:30 p.m."

UPDATED 4:45 p.m. Feb. 4, 2008 -- CBS now says Eli Manning WON'T be on tonight's Letterman show. He'll appear instead Wednesday night, Feb. 6. Guess Dave wanted Hillary all to himself. Or vice versa.

Original post below.

Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning visits "Late Show With David Letterman" tonight (11:35 p.m. on CBS/2), joining previously scheduled Hillary Clinton for one whopper of an hour.

In the interest of equal time, CBS' Letterman web page is featuring Barack Obama's Top Ten list of campaign promises.

No football this weekend? Not true. NFL Network subscribers can watch to their hearts’ content, including full-game replays of previous Super Bowls, to rev up for this year's big game Sunday, Feb. 3.

DirecTV, DISH and Verizon FIOS viewers may have caught last night’s NFL Network encore of the New York Giants’ valiant Week 17 challenge to the New England Patriots last month; it’s repeating today at 3:30 (also Saturday at 10 a.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m., among other times). Tonight at 9 p.m. (and 2 a.m.) comes a replay of last week’s Giants’ overtime defeat of Green Bay to put them into Super Bowl XLII.

Also airing among NFL Network’s “Super Bowl Classics” (even including halftime performances by Prince, Paul McCartney and U2) -- the Giants’ Super Bowl XXI match against the Denver Broncos (Monday, Jan. 28 at 9 p.m. and 1 a.m.), and Giants-Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl XXV (Wednesday, Jan. 30 at 9 p.m. and 2:30 a.m.). Even the Miami Dolphins perfect-season win over Washington in Super Bowl VII (Saturday, Feb. 2 at 9:30 p.m.).

For more vintage matches and repeat air times, check the NFL Network schedule.

He kicks, he misses. He kicks, he misses. He kicks, he wins the game to send his team to the Super Bowl!

Worth talking about, doncha think? So CBS has announced New York Giants kicker Lawrence Tynes will do just that on tonight’s “Late Show With David Letterman” (Wednesday, Jan. 23 at 11:35 p.m. on CBS/2).

The Scotland native missed two fourth-quarter field goal attempts Sunday, before breaking the Giants’ 20-20 deadlock with the Green Bay Packers at 2:35 into overtime. The Giants face the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl Feb. 3.

How big can high-def news get? How about pump-you-up muscle-bound behemoth big? And sexy-blonde-babe big, too.

Latest to announce HD plans is World Wrestling Entertainment, which says it’ll beam its national matches in HD starting next week (Jan. 21).

“Friday Night SmackDown” on The CW goes HD Jan. 25 to broadcast stations around the country. Cable/satellite homes that get HD feeds of USA and Sci Fi get more clarity in “WWE’s Monday Night RAW” and “A.M. RAW” (USA), plus “ECW: Extreme Championship Wrestling” (Sci Fi). Even WWE pay-per-view outings like Jan. 27’s “Royal Rumble” will offer high-def sweat.

Thanks to the switchover, WWE has built new sets for “RAW” and “SmackDown.” No word yet on any work done to make the wrestlers HD-ready.

Is Earth off its axis? After years of pay-for-it live sports telecasts dating back to the SportsChannel days, suddenly both the Rangers and the Knicks are hitting free airwaves again on local broadcast TV.

All it takes, apparently, is a network that can’t lure enough viewers to fill a taxicab. MyNetwork TV outlet WWOR/9 (and when’s the last time you watched something there?) has scheduled four local-team games this season, including three coming up in the next few weeks.

It all starts Sunday at 1 p.m. when Ch. 9 televises live the Nov. 25 hockey tilt with the Rangers hosting the Dallas Stars. Up next is the Rangers hosting the Phoenix Coyotes Sunday, Dec. 16 at 5 p.m.

The Knicks hit Sunday, Dec. 30 at noon vs. the Bulls on Ch. 9, and return March 30 at 4 p.m. visiting the Atlanta Hawks.

MSG, which normally carries the games, produces the telecasts in HD with their own announcers, and includes a half-hour postgame show.

If Monday night football just hasn’t been the same for you since Dennis Miller’s been gone, the comic is about to come back -- in a new venue.

“Sports Unfiltered With Dennis Miller” debuts Nov. 6 on Versus, running Tuesday nights at 10. The cabler’s press release says Miller will unleash “his cerebral and acerbic wit on the world of sports through a variety of segments featured in the show each week, including his signature ‘rant’ about relevant sports news; his unvarnished take on the news using sports headlines and snapshots from the nation’s newspapers; and a combination of in-studio and remote interviews with the biggest newsmakers and celebrities from the sports community.”

Now if Versus could only get its act together covering hockey . . .

MLB.TV celebrates its fifth anniversary Sunday with a free webcast of the Yankees-Tigers game from Comerica Park. Game time is 1:05 p.m.

The Yankees also played in the first game the online pay service streamed, the Aug. 26, 2002 contest hosting the Rangers.

Baseball fans and tube nostalgia nuts have something to look forward to. The 1959 TV series “Home Run Derby” hits DVD July 10 in the first of three summer-release volumes from MGM Home Entertainment.

Legends like Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays and Hank Aaron swung for the fences at L.A.’s old Wrigley Field in a one-on-one television competition preserving their power on film at a time Major League Baseball was the undisputed king of American sports.

The first DVD, coming out July 10, holds eight episodes, including the first: Mickey Mantle vs. Willie Mays. Mantle appears in four of the eight, which also feature Ernie Banks, Harmon Killebrew and other top swatters.

The second set (out Aug. 14) has eight episodes, five with Hank Aaron. The third volume (out Sept. 25) includes Mays and Mantle again, adding the likes of Gil Hodges and Rocky Colavito, as the competition reaches its big finale.

Read about the show’s continuing appeal here.

More than 1.5 million hits were recorded last week among March Madness fans watching the opening day of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament live via internet through CBS SportsLine.

When Sweet 16 action resumes Thursday evening, web viewers had better get there early. (Games are streamed free, but advance sign-up is required here.) Reports of problems logging on and staying logged on circulated last week after more than 800,000 people registered to access the games, either streamed live or in later full game replays (and highlight reels).

The games seem to stream fine to both PC and Mac while watching replays, when usage is bound to be lower. (And no, you won’t avoid the ads. They’re archived, too. Trying to fast-forward through them only pauses the stream.) During live game play, some users get left “waiting in line” when hundreds of thousands try simultaneously to join the online audience.

You will need a broadband connection to see anything approaching smooth TV video; the games are streamed at 450 Kbps. Dial-up users can access an audio feed. (Check minimum system requirements here.) The site also features a live-updating scoreboard to track all the action.