TURNER & NBC:  In New York, John Durie reports on what TBS
Chair Ted Turner needs before he can go ahead with his bid for
NBC.  First, Turner must sell "a sizable asset like his cartoon
network in exchange" for Time Warner's equity stake in his
company.  Then, he needs TCI Chair John Malone to sell down his
24% stake in TBS to 5% to get around restrictions on broadcast TV
nets owning cable operating systems.  GE CEO Jack Welch would
like to sell NBC for more than $5.5B "to help the market forget
his Kidder Peabody debacle.  If you want to sell an asset, it's a
good idea to create some noise to establish a bidding race, and
Turner is a convenient vehicle to meet this end" (N.Y. POST,
10/27).
     CBS AD WATCH:  Despite being the No. 1 net in ratings the
past three years, CBS is "being forced to give back to
advertisers free commercial time to compensate for a severe
ratings shortfall in specific age groups."  Ad execs estimate
that CBS will have to give back $25-40M in ad time to satisfy
sponsors.  Privately, CBS sources say the figure is closer to
$25M.  Last year, CBS had to give sponsors about $10M in free ad
time (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 10/27).
     FOX FIGHTING ON:  Fox Sports, which has an offer pending for
Wimbledon, might add boxing, possibly on Saturdays.  Fox Sports
President David Hill: "We're the new kid on the block.  We're
looking at opportunities in all sports" (Rudy Martzke, USA TODAY,
10/27).

     CBS announced its 6-year deal with the Mobil Cotton Bowl
yesterday, with the arrangement set to begin in '96.  The Cotton
will join the FedEx Orange and the Dial Fiesta Bowls on CBS in
'96.  NBC will finish a 3-year deal with the Cotton with this New
Year's game.  On Tuesday, the Cotton "solidified a plan to keep
its ties" with SWC teams once the league fractures and four teams
join the Big Eight to form the Big 12, while three teams join the
WAC.  The '96 Cotton Bowl will feature the SWC or Big Eight
runner-up against the WAC champion or Pac-10 runner-up.  For the
next five years, the Big 12 runner-up will be the host team
against either the WAC champion or Pac-10 runner-up.  The plan
was made possible by a deal with the Thrifty Car Rental Holiday
Bowl, which will take the two teams not picked by the Cotton for
a late-December game in San Diego.  If the WAC champ or Pac-10
runner-up is in one of the Tier I bowl games, the Cotton or
Holiday may invite Notre Dame if it is not invited to the Tier I
games (Jim Baker, BOSTON HERALD, 10/27).  Liberty Sports will
conduct ad sales for the game and will assure CBS "a sizeable
profit by buying time for an average of almost $800,000 a year"
(Rudy Martzke, USA TODAY, 10/27).
     OTHER BOWL NEWS:  The Hall of Fame Bowl is expected to
announce the details of a 6-year deal with the Big Ten and SEC.
Beginning in '96, the Fame Bowl will match the 3rd place teams
from the SEC and Big 10, with a payout of $1.5M to each school.
The game also renewed its contract with ESPN for the 11:00am (ET)
time slot on New Year's Day (Liz Robbins, ST. PETERSBURG TIMES,
10/27).  One ESPN official promised to make the Hall of Fame Bowl
"the crown jewel of our Bowl Week presentation" (TAMPA TRIBUNE,
10/27).

     ACTV, Inc. and Prime Ticket Network, a subsidiary of TCI's
Liberty Sports, have reached agreement with Ventura County, CA,
Cablevision to participate in the "LA Project," which will focus
on interactive sports, educational and entertainment programming
as well as advertising.  The three partners hope to begin the "LA
Project" in mid-1995 with interactive enhancement of Prime Ticket
programming, which will include the Lakers and Kings among other
offerings.  ACTV, Prime Ticket and Ventura will also work with
the William Morris Agency, ASI Market Research and Next Century
Media in the project's development (Prime Ticket)....The Penguins
and KBL Sports Network are negotiating a long-term deal expected
to "among other things, give the network some merchandising
rights" (PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE, 10/27).