Capital Cities/ABC and Imax Corporation announced yesterday
a joint venture to develop and produce giant-screen motion
pictures in the IMAX format.  The agreement calls for both
companies to jointly finance the development of and co-produce
large-format films for worldwide distribution by Imax.  The
companies also stated an interest in creating projects to
capitalize on ABC's position in news and sports (Capital
Cities/ABC).

     Today's WALL STREET JOURNAL examines the effect the loss of
baseball and hockey games have had on ESPN.  The network is not
"suffering any bruising effects from the baseball strike or the
postponement of the hockey season," but ratings and ad revenue
could have been higher without so much replacement programming.
ESPN gave clients the chance to pull out their dollars, but
according to Bob Perlstein, Exec VP at SFM Media, advertisers
have stayed with the network primarily because "there is nothing
else out there to reach a big male audience."  Budweiser has not
"moved a single dollar out of its sponsorship of hockey games."
A spokesperson for Anheuser-Busch: "We have a fantastic program
planned with the NHL.  We're willing to sit patiently until
hockey begins."  Surprisingly, ESPN's ratings have risen from a
year ago, as an ESPN spokesperson attributes the increase to
college football, but officials are worried about the "impact of
a lingering delay of the hockey season" (Kevin Goldman, WALL
STREET JOURNAL, 11/1).

     The canceled baseball season and the continuing hockey
lockout have turned into a big TV gain for football.  Ratings for
NFL games on ABC and NBC are up from a year ago; Fox's broadcasts
are performing "above expectations;" and TNT has had its best
ratings ever for NFL telecasts.  College football ratings are
also up significantly for ABC and ESPN.  NBC has also reported
that its demographic rting for men are up across the board from
last year with a 21% increase in Men 18-24, a 12% increase in Men
18-34, a 19% increase in Men 18-49 and a 20% increase in Men 25-
54 (Wayne Walley, ELECTRONIC MEDIA, 10/31 issue).  This past
weekend, Fox "had the tight, competitive NFL games," and topped
NBC in the ratings -- 15.4 to 13.8.  Fox's pre-game show also
came out on top, 5.9 to 4.4 (Rudy Martzke, USA TODAY, 11/1).

     Speculation has arisen that the MSG Network could attempt to
replace Tony Kubek with Mets color-man Tim McCarver should
McCarver not re-sign with WWOR.  Mets Broadcasting VP Mike Ryan
admits negotiations with McCarver "will be difficult."  If MSG
and the Yasnkees do not sign McCarver, ESPN's Jim Kaat could be
next in line (Richard Sandomir, N.Y. TIMES, 11/1)....Former
Bullets coach Wes Unseld has agreed to replace Bob Lanier as lead
analyst for NBA Radio (Baltimore SUN, 11/1)....On November 8,
ESPN will televise "Dreamfield" -- a 60-minute program hosted by
James Earl Jones focusing on the stories of people who have
traveled to the remote town of Dyersville, IA to see the baseball
field featured in the movie "Field of Dreams" (ESPN)....CNN is
talking with Time Warner about a Manhattan test for the network's
recently-announced subscription service, "CNN At Work," which
delivers live Headline News or CNN broadcasts over personal
computer networks (COWLES BUSINESS MEDIA, 10/31)....Richard
Parsons, named yesterday as Time Warner's new president, was
interviewed on CNBC.  Asked what Time Warner would do about TBS
Chair Ted Turner's desire for a network: "The posture of the
company right now is that Ted Turner is free to go out and do
whatever deal is best for his company and we'll review it and
comment on it" ("Business Insiders," CNBC, 10/31).

     CAA Chair Michael Ovitz, along with Bell Atlantic, Nynex and
Pacific Telesis, announced yesterday that they have entered a
video entertainment venture to deliver video over telephone
lines.  The plan calls for the creation of a "media company" that
will work with Ovitz's Creative Artists Agency to license and
acquire old movies and TV shows, create new film products and
develop interactive entertainment such as home shopping, video
games and educational software (Mike Mills, WASHINGTON POST,
11/1).  The Bells will form two ventures: One will concentrate on
developing programming, while the other will create technical
systems needed to deliver programming into homes.  The two
companies will be jointly owned by the three Bells.  Pacific
Telesis CEO Phillip Quigley said that the three partners may take
on additional investors later: "We'll gladly entertain other
arrangements with others, Bells and non-Bells, as we move
forward" (Cauley & Turner, WALL STREET JOURNAL, 11/1).  Ovitz
represents several corporate clients, including Coca-Cola, Nike
and Sony (WASHINGTON POST, 11/1). Ovitz said that the new Bell
deal is a way "to whip up work" for current clients (Maney &
Wiseman, USA TODAY, 11/1).  In New York, John Durie writes, "The
sure winners [from the deal] also include programmers like
Viacom, News Corporation and Time Warner.  They offer the best
routes to information superhighway pay dirt for investors" (N.Y.
POST, 11/1).