TV/Radio

Remote patrol

By SHARON GINN
Published January 27, 2006

Don't miss - well, first find it, then don't miss it - the Lightning's only appearance on NBC this season. Tampa Bay plays Philadelphia at 2 p.m. Saturday in a game that, thanks to a conflict with the Gasparilla Pirate Fest, will air locally on Ch. 32. NBC's Dave Strader and Brian Hayward will call the action. Meanwhile, on Ch. 8, the parade will go on.

Football (the indoor kind) has returned to Tampa Bay. NBC's Arena league coverage Sunday includes the Storm at the Philadelphia Soul (3 p.m., Ch. 8).

ABC and ESPN will have 15 hours of live coverage of the 10th Winter X Games from Saturday through Tuesday, including four hours Saturday (2 p.m., Ch. 28), and three Sunday (2 p.m., ESPN).

The NFL Network will show 30-minute highlight films from the past 39 Super Bowls on Sunday in a marathon starting at 6 a.m. The network's top 10 games will air between 2 and 7 p.m.

ESPN2 starts its pre-World Cup coverage on Sunday with the U.S. men's soccer team vs. Norway at 5 p.m.

Looks like Fox was hoping for another Super Bowl appearance for New England: Patriots quarterback Tom Brady makes a guest appearance on Sunday's episode of Fox's Family Guy (9 p.m., Ch. 13), playing himself.

Former Bucs quarterback Trent Dilfer is headed to another Super Bowl. This time he'll go as an analyst for the NFL Network's pregame coverage of Super Bowl XL, joining fellow NFL players Ray Lewis and Torry Holt.

Hall of Fame jockey Gary Stevens makes his broadcasting debut with NBC Saturday, serving as analyst for the fourth annual Sunshine Millions (4:30 p.m., Ch. 8) alongside announcer Tom Hammond from Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif.

Sunday's NFL conference championship games may not have been that interesting, but people tuned in anyway. The games were among the most-watched programs of the 2005-06 TV season, according to Nielsen Media Research. The company said 39-million viewers - the largest audience for any programming this season - saw CBS's coverage of the Pittsburgh-Denver AFC title game. The Carolina-Seattle NFC championship on Fox ranked No. 4, with 35.2-million viewers.

Who knew? Speed's 33 hours of live coverage from the 35th annual Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Auction last week drew some of the highest ratings in the network's history. Saturday's 10-hour session averaged a household rating of 1.22 (781,000 households), peaking at 1.63 (1.047-million households).

[Last modified January 27, 2006, 01:21:16]