22News to broadcast pre-season New England Patriots games

(WWLP) - WWLP-22News will broadcast three upcoming pre-season New England Patriots games. Due to coverage of the 2012 Summer Olympic Games , the first game, the August 9th match-up against the New Orleans Saints, will air live on WWLP’s 2nd digital channel 22.2 which is also carried on Comcast Channel 288 and Charter Channel 260. The two additional games, August 24th at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and August 29th at New York Giants, will air on 22News. Coverage of all three games will begin at 7:30 p.m.

President and General Manager of WWLP Bill Pepin said, “It’s a tradition for 22News to air pre-season games for our viewers. Utilizing our second digital channel, we are delighted that we are still able to offer the August 9th game without interrupting our Olympics telecast. We know many of our viewers look forward to watching these games each year.”

22News will continue to provide NFL action to local viewers all season long by airing 19 primetime games, including the opening Wednesday night game and a first-ever Thanksgiving night game featuring the Patriots at the Jets. The remainder of the schedule will be Sunday Night Football match-ups.

WWLP-22News is an NBC affiliate providing local news, network, syndicated, and local programming to western Massachusetts. The station also provides superior digital breaking news and weather coverage through its websites WWLP.com and onpolitix.com , and on all mobile devices.