NBC GETS TOP RATINGS WITH AFC, FIRST TIME IN 15 YEARS

     "They're probably lighting celebratory cigars" at NBC HQs in
Rockefeller Center today, as the AFC is beating the NFC in the
ratings for the first time in 15 years.  A.C. Nielsen gives NBC
an average rating of 11.6, up 22% from last year.  Fox, in their
first year with the NFC, is averaging an 11.3, the same as CBS
had at this time last year.  NBC officials attribute the
advantage to better games and the better showing of the Patriots
in Boston, the nation's No. 6 media market (Ernest Hooper, ST.
PETERSBURG TIMES, 10/14).  NBC Sports President Dick Ebersol: "It
is still amazing to me that our AFC could be ahead of the NFC at
this stage" (Rudy Martzke, USA TODAY, 10/14).