HBO's average national rating for the first two broadcast
dates at Wimbledon is up 113% over last year.  The '95 average
rating is a 1.7/5 share, compared to a 0.8/3 in '94 (HBO
Sports)....With the close of the NBA season, CNN is replacing
"This Week in the NBA" with one hour editions of "Sports Today"
and Sunday "Sports Tonight" (CNN)....The 12th annual NHL Awards
Television Special will be carried live July 6 on CBC and shown
on tape delay by ESPN (NHL)....Prime will air "Baseball at the
Break," a live two-hour show previewing the MLB All-Star Game on
July 10 (Prime Sports). ...."There is a growing possibility" that
the Maple Leafs will part ways with The Fan 590 in Toronto.
According to David Shoalts, "Telemedia isn't willing to pay" more
than C$700,000 for radio rights to the '95-96.  Molson is
reportedly asking C$1.2M (Toronto GLOBE & MAIL, 6/30).... KMAX,
L.A.'s only all-sports radio station, will serve as the flagship
station of the IHL Ice Dogs and broadcast all games during the
1995-96 season (Ice Dogs)....With its first-ever annual profit in
hand ("in the $2 million range"), DC's all-sports WTEM-AM is
"seriously crunching the numbers to see if it makes sense" to go
after rights to the Capitals (Leonard Shapiro, WASHINGTON POST,
6/30).

     Ticketmaster has launched "Ticketmaster Online," an Internet
guide to event information, entertainment news, venue
information, and ticket prices.  Components of the service
include:  "Events" -- information on over 10,000 live events sold
through Ticketmaster; "Connections" -- information on 2,700
ticket centers, a list of charge-by-phone numbers, and seating
charts for more than 400 venues; and, "Backstage" -- editorial
contributions from VARIETY and EXTRA magazine.  Ticketmaster
Online is updated up to 12 times per hour and produced by ESPN
partner Starwave. Address:  http://www.ticketmaster.com
(Ticketmaster).

     Robin Roberts has signed a deal through 2001 with ESPN and
ABC Sports.  In addition to hosting the 6:30 pm EDT edition of
"SportsCenter," Roberts will host ABC's "Wide World of Sports";
host and do play-by-play for ESPN's NCAA women's basketball
coverage; anchor "SportsCenter" at Wimbledon and U.S. Open
tennis; and continue to host "Sunday SportsDay" and "In the
SportsLight" (ESPN).  The six-year deal is reportedly worth
$650,000/year.  Roberts:  "People can't remember a woman being
given this kind of variety.  I really want to do a good job
because I think that will make it easier for women, particularly
women of color, to succeed in this business (ATLANTA
CONSTITUTION, 6/29).
     ONE MAN'S PERSPECTIVE OF LIFE ON THE EDGE:  In this
morning's N.Y. TIMES, Richard Sandomir asks if ESPN's Extreme
Games are "bad for America" or even "good TV"?  While clearly not
a fan of the "weekend psycho Olympics," Sandomir believes "in
virtually every technical way, ESPN and ESPN2 were excellent,
using every camera possible -- on helmets, courses, walls, toes,
eyelashes, nostrils, and toenails -- to enliven the events"
(N.Y. TIMES, 6/30).
     SPECIAL OLYMPICS:  Domestically, ESPN and ESPN2 will present
11 hours of coverage from the 1995 Special Olympics World Games,
which kick-off tomorrow and run through July 9.  ESPN Int'l will
telecast the games to 115 countries (ESPN).