Asking and answering:

• Having been granted a 24-hour extension, the Dolphins must sell ''a few thousand'' tickets by 1 p.m. Friday for Sunday's game against San Diego to be televised locally. Under either scenario, what games will we see on TV on Sunday?

If the Dolphins are televised here, CBS can air games at 1 p.m. (Dolphins-Chargers) and 4:15 (Cincinnati-Dallas), and Channel 7 can show one game (Tampa Bay-Denver at 4:05).

But if the Dolphins are blacked out, only two afternoon games can be televised in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale market. Under that scenario, CBS would get first choice of time slots -- because it has the double-header Sunday -- and said it would air the Cowboys game at 4:15 p.m. on WFOR. That means Channel 7 could televise only a 1 p.m. game and would carry Seattle-N.Y. Giants. West Palm Beach would get three afternoon games -- the aforementioned two and an undetermined 1 p.m. CBS game.

• What is the closest station that can televise the Dolphins game if it is blacked out?

CBS pointed to affiliates in Tampa and Orlando. Besides the Miami-Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach stations, the blackout also would prohibit CBS' Fort Myers affiliate from airing it, because its signal penetrates a 75-mile radius of Dolphin Stadium.

• If the game is blacked out, can Dolphins fans locally watch the game in a sports bar?

Any establishment that carries a blacked-out game would be violating copyright law and subject to prosecution, league representative Greg Aiello said. Viewers within the blackout territory also could not see the game on DirecTV's NFL Sunday Ticket. Incidentally, the league hasn't had a blackout this year, but the Dolphins and Detroit received deadline extensions Thursday.

• How many tickets would Channel 4 be willing to buy to lift the blackout?

WFOR refused to discuss it. But an executive with another station, factoring in ad revenue that would be lost by not airing the Dolphins, said spending $75,000 in tickets could be justified (in the range of 1,500 tickets). But that executive could see WFOR doling out as much $125,000.

Dolphins upper-deck seats average $41 and all seats average $66. Lower- and upper-deck seats remain for the game. The Dolphins refuse to say exactly how many tickets are unsold.

• Either way, why is WFOR carrying a potentially lopsided Bengals-Cowboys game Sunday instead of Patriots-49ers or Bills-Cardinals?

Because of the popularity of the Cowboys.

HURRICANES

• What is ABC's plan for UM-FSU?

ABC assigned its top ''afternoon'' team -- Brad Nessler, Bob Griese and Paul Maguire -- to the game and will broadcast it to 40 percent of the country. An additional 25 percent will see it on ESPN.

• Why is ESPN shrinking the screen to a ridiculously small size to show NFL highlights on its 7 p.m. Sunday SportsCenter?

ESPN figures it will draw viewers by littering the screen with thousands of statistics from other games. But the network also loses viewers who would rather not squint to watch highlights. Plus, ESPN can air only six minutes of highlights on that SportsCenter; NBC has no such restrictions on Football Night in America.

• What did TerrellOwens dub ESPN's Keyshawn Johnson this week after Johnson criticized Owens, who had complained about not getting the ball enough?

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