CBS Sports President David Kenin said the network has told
the NFL of its "high interest" in a variety of NFL options.
Those options include going after NBC's AFC package in the next
negotiation, but as USA TODAY's Rudy Martzke notes, CBS has more
"viable options." It could go after a new Thursday night package
of 17 games, the Sunday night TNT/ESPN cable package or, "less
likely," ABC's Monday Night package. Kenin: "That's legitimate.
We have asked the NFL what it wants to do in its Monday and
Sunday night packages." As for baseball, Kenin said CBS has made
sure that MLB knows of their interest (USA TODAY, 3/17).
COLLEGE HOOPS ON TV: According to Raycom, the Raycom/ABC
package of regional college basketball games won the annual
regular-season ratings sweepstakes over CBS' college basketball:
2.5 to 2.4. Raycom notes that next year, the number of telecasts
on ABC will increase from 11 to 17. The Raycom agreement with
ABC, which began in '91-92, was recently extended through 1999
(Raycom). In New York, Richard Sandomir notes there is "relief"
at CBS that the regular college basketball season is over. The
2.4 rating was the worst ever for the network. The decline was
caused "largely by the increasing proliferation of college
basketball." Len DeLuca, CBS Sports VP/Programming, said the
network will experiment with more quick "look-ins" at the
progress of other games, among them games produced by Raycom and
Jefferson-Pilot as well as producing three regional games. And
as Sandomir notes, CBS must hope "that Indiana and Michigan
recapture their allure in the Big 10 conference" (N.Y. TIMES,
3/17). Reviews of CBS' production of the first day of the NCAA
Tournament were positive in the N.Y. TIMES, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
and USA TODAY (3/17).
HOW BOUT THE REST OF THE EYE? Former QVC Chair Barry Diller
told CNBC that he has not teamed up with Disney to buy CBS from
Laurence Tisch. Diller said the HOLLYWOOD REPORTER story that
had Diller in a partnership with Disney was "completely untrue"
(BLOOMBERG/N.Y. POST, 3/17).
