FIGURE SKATING -- THE READY-FOR-PRIME-TIME PLAYER

     "Hot on the toe loops" of CBS' "Ice Wars" competition is
NBC's "Gold Championship," a two-hour, live individual event this
Saturday night from Edmonton.  The event offers $1M in prize
money.  NBC has "not cranked up the publicity machine" but the
prime-time slot, prize money and top competitors indicate that
figure skating is "sought-after entertainment that can survive
and thrive."  Nancy Kerrigan is the only "Ice Wars" competitor
who will not appear on the NBC show in some capacity.  Paul Wylie
and Kurt Browning will serve as analysts, and CBS analyst Scott
Hamilton will trade the booth for blades.  In New York, Richard
Sandomir notes that NBC's re-run of last December's DuraSoft
Colors World Professional Championships on Saturday received a
4.2 and CBS' Oksana Baiul TV movie got a 4.8.  CBS will "keep the
Zamboni rolling" with six events starting on Thanksgiving (N.Y.
TIMES, 11/15).