Tune in for a full day of Super TV

Saturday, January 31, 2004

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER STAFF AND NEWS SERVICES

TV networks like to bring out their latest technological bells and whistles for the Super Bowl. At CBS, this means Eyevision.

But Super Bowl television is about so much more than the game. It's about commercials at $2.25 million per 30-second pop. It's about counter-programming. And it's about seven hours of pregame shows, from Nickelodeon's look at the game from a kid's perspective on CBS to four hours of way-in-depth preview from the CBS Sports crew.

Eyevision's first appearance came three years ago when CBS broadcast Super Bowl XXXV between the Ravens and Giants from Tampa, Fla. Since then it has been used by CBS at the NCAA men's Final Four and by other networks at events such as the Stanley Cup finals and Champions League European soccer.

The multiple-camera system is used almost exclusively for replays and gives viewers the opportunity to see a particular play from a multitude of different angles.

Eyevision was just being perfected three years ago, and the quality has improved since then. The cameras at Houston's Reliant Stadium for Super Bowl XXXVIII tomorrow between the New England Patriots and Carolina Panthers will be placed closer together than they were in Tampa, the angle is lower and the calibration and rotation of each camera has been improved.

"There's less jerkiness (between shots) because the separation between cameras is less," CBS Sports president Sean McManus explained.

The device was fairly spectacular in its debut and should be even better now. The temptation for CBS is to overuse it, but the network plans to guard against that.

"We'll be very judicious," McManus said. "If Eyevision shows something our other replays can't, we'll use it."

ABC and ESPN are countering the pregame shows with an NBA game on each network. ABC will also show the Champions Skins Game, featuring Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Lee Trevino and Tom Watson.

NBC will try to cash in on the recent popularity of televised poker. The network will devote two hours prior to the Super Bowl to The Travel Channel World Poker Tour Battle of Champions.

COVERAGE FACTS

IN THE BOOTH: Greg Gumbel will call the play-by-play for CBS; Phil Simms will provide analysis. Armen Keteyian and Bonnie Bernstein will roam the sidelines.

GAME COVERAGE: The Super Bowl Today begins at 11 a.m., featuring host Jim Nance and analysts Dan Marino, Deion Sanders and Boomer Esiason. They will be joined by reporters Marcus Allen, Lesley Visser, Keteyian and Bernstein, and contributor Dick Enberg.

At 3 p.m., the Super Bowl crew takes over. Kickoff is scheduled for 3:25.

OTHER STUFF: Super Bowl's Greatest Commercials (tonight, 9 p.m., KIRO/7) promises a retrospective of amusing ads from Super Bowls gone by.

Tomorrow is the one-year anniversary of the space shuttle Columbia disaster, in which all seven crew members were killed. The pregame show in Houston will feature a tribute to NASA.

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