In the run up to Super Bowl Sunday, TVB has released a study that shows when viewers were given a choice between watching their hometown NFL team on their local broadcast TV station or on a cable network, they overwhelmingly chose local TV.

The study compared ratings for games airing on cable networks ESPN and the NFL network with the simulcast on the team’s local broadcast stations. When ESPN or the NFL network air a national presentation of a game, they are required to provide a live feed to each team’s local broadcast TV partner.

In the 30 markets where a local station simulcast a game airing on a cable network, the local station drew 75 percent more households than the cable outlet. Read more

Simon Gutierrez is joining KTRK, the ABC O&O in Houston, media blogger Mike McGuff reports.

Gutierrez was most recently a reporter at KSAT, the ABC affiliate in San Antonio. According to McGuff, he has also worked at ESPN. A native of Elmira, Ore., he is a graduate of the University of Oregon.

His first day at KTRK was Friday.

Sports anchor Matt Barrie is leaving KXAS to join ESPN, according to Dallas media blogger Ed Bark.

Barrie joined the NBC-owned station in Dallas in 2008. His final day at KXAS will be March 3.

“Matt is a terrific journalist who brought fantastic energy to the NBC5 sports team,” VP of news Susan Tully said. “We’re sorry to see Matt leave, but wish him success in his new network job.”

Thanks to WGN‘s plans to simulcast ESPN’s “Monday Night Football”, Chicago Bears fans without cable or satellite, who live in the Chicago market, will be able to watch the Bears take on the Dallas Cowboys.

The Chicago CW affiliate plans to begin the football broadcast with their own pregame show called “Monday Night Pregame”.  The show airs live from Dallas starting at 7 p.m.   The simulcast of ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” begins at 7:30 p.m.

The Chicago pregame show will feature WGN’s sports anchor Dan Roan and former NFL player Matt Bowen, with David Haugh from the Chicago Tribune and ESPN’s game announcer, Mike Tirico, giving fans a preview of the game.

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Sports anchor Keith Russell is leaving WPVI in Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Daily News reports.

Russell is currently the sports anchor on the 6 and 11 p.m. newscasts. He is also the host of a weekly football show during the NFL season and a weekly show about high school football in the area. He joined the ABC O&O in 2005 from ESPN.

The Daily News reports he may be headed for Washington, DC, although it is unclear if his next steps will be in television. His last day at WPVI will be July 31.

WRC sports anchor Hakem Dermish is leaving the NBC O&O to join ESPN, a station spokesperson confirmed to TVSpy.

Dermish signed off from WRC last night after five years at the Washington, DC station. Prior to joining WRC, Dermish worked at WTVG in Toledo and WLUC in Marquette, MI.

News of the ESPN hire was first reported by dcrtv.com.

Dermish will join former WRC colleague Lindsay Czarniak at ESPN. A spokesperson for WRC said the station is committed to local sports coverage and actively looking to fill the two open sports anchor positions.

WABC — the flagship owned-and-operated station of ABC in New York City — is giving sportscasts from ESPN radio a trial run as part of its morning news.

ESPN and ABC are both owned by Walt Disney Corporation, making the partnership an easy opportunity for corporate synergy. WABC news director Kenny Plotnik told The New York Daily News that he asked ESPN radio for segments that focused on local sports. “This gives us an opportunity to have the latest information,” he said.

The segments air in the 5 a.m. and 6 a.m. hours of the morning show. WABC made the decision recently to not have a morning sportscaster, and Plotnik said the arrangement with EPSN gives the station an alternative to having sports anchor Rob Powers tape something the night before, which may be outdated by the time the morning rolls around.