I've been saving up some stories since the last notebook over the weekend, so let's open up things here and not waste any time. Lots of things to get to for this edition.

With the NCAA Tournament underway, Deadline looks at your viewing options for the Big Dance. One thing about the silly authentication process that bogged people down last year for the March Madness Live app – it's been streamlined so you don't have go through a three or five step process as you did last year. This time, all you need is your cable or satellite provider log-in and password and you're in. That's provided your local cable company or your satellite provider signed with Turner this year. And a quick aside. You have to authenticate for TBS,TNT and truTV games. You don't have to for CBS games.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer tells us of one cable provider whose subscribers won't be able to watch NCAA Tournament games online.

Here's a really good reason for you to be on Twitter. Jon Swartz of USA Today says NCAA Tournament game highlights will be available on Twitter right after they end. You won't have to leave the Twitter platform to see the highlights which is pretty cool. Also, games are archived minutes after they end on the March Madness Live app and that's a good thing too.

Also from USA Today, Michael Hiestand has a "Know Your NCAA Tournament Announcers" quiz. Not to boast, but I got 9 right.

One other from Hiestand. He has a look at the weekend TV ratings.

Anthony Crupi of Adweek (or CrupiCrupiCrupi as he's known in the Twitter world), explains that CBS and Turner are going to split some advertising riches from the NCAA Tournament. It makes a lot of money. Except for the Super Bowl, the NCAA Tournament outpaces the NFL postseason for advertising dollars and that is quite a surprising statistic.

If you like to read how the NCAA Tournament has been covered on TV in the past, The Classic Sports TV and Media site has a three part retrospective at how March Madness has evolved since the late 1960's. Fascinating reading.

Good article here by Ty Duffy at The Big Lead on how cable companies are watching Verizon FiOS to see if it changes the sports network pay model.

Let's move to the NFL season opener that the Baltimore Ravens are supposed to host on September 5 at M&T Bank Stadium. We know that there's a conflict with the Baltimore Orioles who are hosting the Chicago White Sox. The O's say they can't move the game from the 7:05 p.m. ET first pitch over various issues. The Baltimore Sun's Peter Schmuck says the Orioles aren't to blame for the conflict.

Paul Folkemer of Press Box doesn't think the O's are being unreasonable for balking.

Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio, who hates baseball, feels the Orioles need to step aside.

There will be a solution eventually. Not everyone will be happy and you know Orioles owner Peter Angelos will find a way to get paid in all this. He always does.

Back to CrupiCrupiCrupi, he says the NFL has shot down expanding the playoffs (and some additional ad revenue for its TV partners) for the time being. By the way, Crupi mentions that ESPN could benefit by getting as many as two Wild Card playoff games under the expanded scenario.

NFrom Eric Deggans at the Tampa Bay Times, he notes that a local sports radio talk show host is off the air due to a contract dispute.

And that is where I'll close the notebook for today. Enjoy your sports Wednesday.

About Ken Fang

Ken has been covering the sports media in earnest at his own site, Fang's Bites since May 2007 and at Awful Announcing since March 2013.

He provides a unique perspective having been an award-winning radio news reporter in Providence and having worked in local television.

Fang celebrates the four Boston Red Sox World Championships in the 21st Century, but continues to be a long-suffering Cleveland Browns fan.