The New England Patriots and Dallas Cowboys were undefeated when they met in Texas three weeks ago for the big game that most of the country was talking about.
KCBS, however, decided to show the Oakland Raiders-San Diego Chargers game -- a better bet for L.A., it thought.
Not quite.
The matchup between the Patriots and Cowboys was the most-watched NFL regular-season game in 10 years -- and another reminder to fans in Los Angeles that the nation's second-largest media market with 5.6 million television households belongs to the San Diego Chargers. And sometimes the Raiders too.
"Had it been any team other than the Raiders, L.A. probably would have gotten the New England-Dallas game," said Rob Correa, a senior vice president for programming at CBS.
Today will be different. KCBS will televise the season's most anticipated game when the Patriots take on the Indianapolis Colts, the only teams still undefeated. In doing so, the station passed on the game between the struggling Raiders and Houston Texans.
It's almost never that easy. On any given Sunday, programmers at CBS and Fox often have as many as 14 games to choose from. Nowhere is the process tougher than in L.A., where three key factors are at work:
* Second-tier status. The NFL long ago designated L.A. as a secondary media market for San Diego, where there are only 1 million television households.
And the NFL's secondary-market rule requires CBS affiliates KCBS and Palm Springs' KPSP to carry every Chargers away game, from the ocean to the desert, like it or not.
* The ratings game. When network and local programmers have a choice, they lean toward teams with ties to the city. Usually, it's a safe bet. The Oakland-San Diego game registered a healthy 11.3 rating, the NFL's second-best local rating in three years. Only one problem -- the Patriots-Cowboys drew 29.1 million viewers nationwide, making it the most-watched regular season Sunday NFL game since Dallas and San Francisco played on Nov. 10, 1996.
* Raider Nation. Al Davis moved his franchise back to Oakland 12 years ago, but the Silver and Black still have a huge contingent in L.A. That made the Raiders-Chargers game a slam dunk as far as KCBS was concerned.
"L.A. clearly is more difficult to program, given that San Diego is nearby, the city has a prior history with the Rams and Raiders, and it's also home to a lot of transplanted New Yorkers and people from Chicago," said Neal Pilson, a former CBS sports programming executive.
