MEDIA NOTES

     Ratings for the NFL divisional playoff games fell 7% in
overnight results from a 24.4 average to a 22.6.  Fox's two games
were down 4% to 22.2, and NBC's games decreased 10% to a 23.2.
The highest rated game of the weekend was Sunday's Dolphins-
Chargers with a 26.8 (Rudy Martzke, USA TODAY, 1/10)....Comsat
Int'l Ventures -- a unit of Comsat Corp., owner of the NBA's
Nuggets -- announced a buyout of its partners in a Brazilian
communications company, Comsat VIC S.A.  The company, which
operates satellite earth stations and provides telecommunications
to Brazil, will now be named Comsat Brasil (Baltimore SUN,
1/10)....Time Warner, U.S. West and two Japanese companies
announced they would invest around $400M to enter the Japanese
cable TV market (N.Y. TIMES, 1/10)....Rusty Wallace and Ernie
Irvan join TNN this fall.  Irvan will be a color commentator for
13 Winston Cup Events; Wallace will host a new motorsports series
that premiers in April (NASCAR NEWS, 1/4-11)....ABC is already
pitching its bowl package for next season, packaging the Sugar,
Rose and Citrus Bowls (COWLES BUSINESS MEDIA).