There’s too much talk about these choices

The NFL draft begins Saturday. Have you heard?

On Thursday, the NFL Network featured “Path to the Draft.” The crawl on ESPN under breaking news was that the Falcons acquired Chiefs tight end Tony Gonzalez for a second-round draft choice.

From the amount of discussion this transaction triggered, one might think Gonzalez was somehow part of the Fox series “24” when the fictional country of Sangala considered using weapons of mass destruction. In other words, it was over the top.

Next on ESPN, the question was: “What will Seahawks do with the fourth overall pick in the draft?”

Whew, Gonzalez is so last-minute.

Over on the NFL Network some unfamiliar guy is talking about an unfamiliar Pitt running back. Which is better than the wall-to-wall discussions, Twitters and constant loops of USC’s Mark Sanchez throwing passes at pro day.

OK, the NFL Network just upped things a notch. The story now is Tony “Gone-zalez.” Get it?

There’s no intention here to mock all the NFL draft coverage that will blanket television this weekend. But by the time the (unmock) draft arrives Saturday is there any reason to watch it live all day? And Sunday too?

The NFL Network will have 25 hours of high-definition draft coverage over the weekend including live, inside the “war room” reporting of the Rams and 49ers.

Among the ESPN features, correspondent Shelley Smith will be with Sanchez and his family. ESPN will be live from the Dallas Cowboys “war room.” It all sounds a bit scary.

Charter, no Angels

E-mails started coming in Wednesday during the Angels-Detroit game, all from Charter Communications cable subscribers complaining that the game wasn’t on.

Scott McConnell, one of the e-mailers, was kind enough to share some of the communications he has had with Charter.

McConnell lives in Altadena and called Charter four times.

“The first person I talked to said the game wasn’t being broadcast at all,” he said.

“The second person told me it was blacked out because it wasn’t sold out. The third person said it had something to do with the MLB Network. Finally somebody named Wendy told me it was the Angels who were charging a premium.”

All wrong answers.

According to Fox Sports spokeswoman Whitney Garvens, Fox last year had the rights to 100 Angels games and KCOP had 50.

This year Fox has the rights to 125 games and chose to charge a premium to cable and satellite companies that carry Fox for the extra 25 games.

Garvens said only Charter, Cox in Las Vegas and two tiny companies in Nevada chose not to pay the premium.

McConnell said he would have liked the truth from Charter: “Look, they made a decision. Maybe I’d agree or maybe not, but just tell me.”

Del Heintz, director of government relations and public affairs for Charter in Southern California said the company made the decision when Fox came to them about three weeks ago and asked for a “significant number, way over six figures.”

Heintz also said he would make sure call center employees are trained to give the correct reason to customers the rest of the season.

Good today

If you want to pick one of the three NBA playoff games, go with Orlando at Philadelphia on ESPN2 at 5 p.m. And the Dodgers are at Colorado at 6 p.m. on Channel 9 with Vin Scully back in the booth.

Good on Saturday

Well, here’s a shock. Channel 11’s national baseball game of the week? Why, it’s the Yankees-Red Sox at 1 p.m. A personal favorite is women’s college softball, and UCLA at Arizona State is on Prime Ticket at 1 p.m. The Lakers will be at Utah at 6 on ESPN. The Ducks will be at San Jose on Versus at 7 p.m.

Good on Sunday

Be full of coffee and ready for Day 2 of the NFL draft at 7 a.m. on ESPN. Oh, gosh, the ESPN Sunday night baseball game is the Yankees and Red Sox, 5 p.m. If you’re only allowed to pick one of the four NBA playoff games, choose Boston at Chicago on Channel 7 at 10 a.m.

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diane.pucin@latimes.com