WASHINGTON POST'S PAUL FARHI:  "In one stroke, Disney would
become the largest among the handful of global entertainment
goliaths" (WASHINGTON POST, 8/1).
     MEDIA ANALYST PAUL SCHULMAN:  "It's a shock.  If you'd heard
Disney had bought one of the three networks, your third guess
would have been ABC.  How did they keep this quiet?  That's what
I want to know" (USA TODAY, 8/1).
     BOOZ, ALLEN & HAMILTON'S MICHAEL WOLF:  "The merger wave in
media is far from over.  I think this puts a premium on the two
remaining networks and makes them much more interesting to other
media companies" (DAILY VARIETY, 8/1).
     DREAMWORKS' JEFFREY KATZENBERG:  "Everything I speculated on
was wrong.  This one wasn't even on my radar screen" (L.A. TIMES,
8/1).
     L.A. TIMES' TOM PETRUNO:  "While synergy is an overused word
on Wall Street, many large investors say this merger offers more
potential for true synergy than most" (L.A. TIMES, 8/1).
     INVESTOR WARREN BUFFETT:  "It's a marriage of the No. 1
content company in the world with the No. 1 distribution system"
(REUTERS/FINANCIAL POST, 8/1).
     SMITH BARNEY'S JOHN REIDY:  "This is a colossus among
colossuses. ... It's a company which is going to have the muscle
to do almost anything it wants" (NEWSDAY, 8/1).
     L.A. TIMES' CLAUDIA ELLER:  "Hollywood, Wall Street and the
entertainment media at large were all caught with their pants
down" (L.A. TIMES, 8/1).
     VIACOM CHAIR SUMNER REDSTONE:  "There was not a whisper.
This was a well kept secret" (BOSTON GLOBE, 8/1).
     TELE-TV CHAIR & CEO HOWARD STRINGER:  "This is Godzilla
marrying King Kong.  The jungle is going to be a lonelier place
for everyone else" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 8/1).
     NEWS CORP. CHAIR RUPERT MURDOCH:  "They are twice as big as
me now" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 8/1).
     RUTGERS PROF. BENJAMIN BARBER, in a N.Y. TIMES op-ed:  "The
fashionable term for all this vertical and lateral corporate
integration is synergy, but synergy turns out to be just another
word for monopoly" (N.Y. TIMES, 8/1).
     UPENN'S JOSEPH TUROW:  "The engine of all this is the
globalization of media.  In order to make money on content, you
have to be able to move your content through a larger number of
distribution windows than in the past" (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER,
8/1).

     Britian's Channel 4 has signed a three-year deal with the
NBA to bring NBA programming to TVs across the UK, according to
this week's VARIETY.  Channel 4, which introduced the NFL to the
British in the '80s, will broadcast NBA All-Star Weekend, the '96
Finals and several regular season games live.  Channel 4 Chief
Exec Michael Grade:  "This is our biggest new sport-signing since
Italian football three years ago" (VARIETY, 8/6 issue).
     SCHEDULE NEWS: In Boston, Peter May comments on the '95-95
"NBA on NBC" schedule.  It "unsurprisingly, does not have a
single Sunday game without either Orlando, Chicago, New York or
Phoenix."  Chicago and Orlando will also be on TNT nine times
each, NBC eight and TBS five (BOSTON GLOBE, 7/30).  ESPN Radio
and Westwood One "have emerged" as possible rights holders for
NBA radio (USA TODAY, 8/1).

     The Sporting Goods Manufacturers Assn has created their own
home page on the Web for the sporting goods industry.  Address:
http://www.sportlink. com/sport (SGMA)....NBC and ABC may cross-
promote MLB playoff games regardless of network during The
Baseball Network's playoff coverage this fall.  Susan Karlin
calls cross-promotion "a highly unusual act give that each of the
networks will also be promoting its own fall series during the
games" (ELECTRONIC MEDIA, 7/31 issue)....The NFL's Hall of Fame
Game between new teams Carolina and Jacksonville received a 5.8
rating, 16 share in overnight markets -- up 23% from last year's
Atlanta-San Diego matchup.  CBS' Seles/Navratilova exhibition
received a 2.6 rating/8 share.  In Charlotte, the game gained a
19.5/44 (NFL).  Other NFL pre-season ratings:  In Denver, the
rating for the KCNC's broadcast of the Broncos-49ers matchup
received a 23.6/49.  In San Francisco, the game's local telecast
earned a 15.9/38.  In Dallas, Saturday's local broadcast of the
Bills-Cowboys had a 25.0/43 (Nielsen Sports
Marketing)....SportsChannel Regional Network has launched its
first-ever trade advertising campaign.  Full-page color spots
will run in Cable World, CableVision and Multichannel News over
the next five months (SportsChannel)....With the Red Sox as "the
big catalyst," Boston's all-sports WEEI-AM has entered into
Boston's Top 10 -- No. 7 -- for the first time (BOSTON HERALD,
8/1)....DirecTV has launched a new ad campaign created by
Campbell Ewald of L.A.  The spots will tout DirecTV's NFL Sunday
Ticket package and feature "Murphy Brown" star Joe Regalbuto (AD
AGE ONLINE, 8/1).... Minneapolis' KFAN All-Sports Radio has
established a web site that allows fans quick access to other
sports web sites along with information on the station.  Address:
http:// www.kfan.com (Minneapolis STAR-TRIBUNE, 8/1)....Prodigy's
struggle to keep pace with Compuserve and America Online as the
Microsoft Network prepares to go online is featured in the
current BUSINESS WEEK (BUSINESS WEEK, 7/31 issue).

     Westinghouse Electric is expected to announce today an
agreement to purchase CBS at $81 a share or about $5B, "people
familiar with the transaction" told this morning's WALL STREET
JOURNAL.  Seven Lipin and Elizabeth Jensen report that "the
boards of the two companies are scheduled to meet this morning to
vote" on the deal, with an announcement expected today (WALL
STREET JOURNAL, 8/1).
     HOLD EVERYTHING!  After yesterday's Cap Cities/ABC- Disney
merger, speculation "has intensified" that another company, such
as a Hollywood studio, might try to outbid Westinghouse.  The
Disney-ABC deal "could well raise the value of media properties,
such as networks."  Even Cap Cities/ABC Chair Thomas Murphy
"quipped yesterday" that the merger of his company with Disney
means that CBS Chair Laurence Tisch probably "can get more for
his company today."  Shares of CBS jumped $1.88 to $77.15 on news
of yesterday's Disney/ABC deal (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 8/1).  John
Durie writes in this morning's N.Y. POST, "If the likes of Ted
Turner and Edgar Bronfman Jr. at Seagram were thinking about
buying a television network, yesterday's deal raises the urgency"
(N.Y. POST, 8/1).  Susannah Patton of DOW JONES NEWS SERVICE
writes, "CBS Inc. suddenly looks a lot more popular."  Patton
notes that while Disney can provide programming for ABC,
"Westinghouse would only add distribution to CBS," making
"potential bidders that could provide programming" more likely
"to jump into the bidding arena."  Patton also mentions
Bronfman's Seagram Co. and Turner, along with Viacom, Time
Warner/TCI and Barry Diller as potential suitors (BOSTON GLOBE,
8/1).  Turner is said to be close to a deal with King World
Productions, "which has enough cash on hand to allow Turner to
proceed to buy CBS," (Claudia Carpenter, N.Y. POST, 8/1).
     PEACOCK BACK IN PLAY?  The N.Y. POST's Durie also writes
that yesterday's deal could potentially land NBC on the market.
Durie:  "Jack Welch at General Electric may also consider selling
NBC if this deal sets off a bidding war for the newly "scarce'
television networks" (N.Y. POST, 8/1).  Dillon Read analyst
Edward Atorino also notes the possibility of an NBC sale.
Atorino: "Welch may be saying that broadcasting isn't such a big
part of the business.  He may unlock NBC" (BOSTON HERALD, 8/1).
     MOVEMENTS BY FOX TOO?  CNN's Steve Young: "Some analysts say
the Disney deal will also push Rupert Murdoch to expand using a
recent $2 billion MCI investment in his News Corp. empire"
("Moneyline," CNN, 7/31).
     OTHER NBC NEWS:  NBC has apparently offered to buy Outlet
Communications -- the owner of several NBC affiliates -- for more
than $396M, according to this morning's N.Y. TIMES.  The bid
would renew a bidding war with Renaissance Communications, which
offered $360M for Outlet in late June.  Renaissance, which owns
several top-50 Fox affiliates, responded to NBC's bid by suing
both companies.  A hearing is scheduled for today (N.Y. TIMES,
8/1).

     "There was a time not long ago when the four major sports
and the broadcast networks were considered the preeminent players
in sports," writes Steve Zipay in NEWSDAY this morning.  "That
era officially ended Monday."  Disney's $19B purchase of Cap
Cities/ABC, Zipay writes, "is a ringing affirmation that Fortune
500 companies drive sports and the Big Three in that realm are
now Nike, Coca-Cola and Disney."  Jeffrey Pollack, Publisher of
THE SPORTS BUSINESS DAILY:  "Without question, the merger is the
most significant deal deal ever to hit sports, in terms of the
complete and total integration of entertainment, media and
sports.  Disney's power in sports is now unavoidable."  Zipay
notes that Disney/ABC must now be considered a possible bidder
2000 Sydney Games and, "more likely," the 2002 Salt Lake City
Games.  In addition, ABC could be back in the hunt for baseball,
with Disney "saying that the decision [to pull out of The
Baseball Network] was one made by the former regime."  Zipay:
"Imagine offering Disneyland as a site for the All-Star Game or
the Super Bowl during negotiations."  Sources say Mighty Ducks
President Tony Tavares "may emerge as a top executive on Disney's
sports side" (NEWSDAY, 8/1).
     FROM THE MAN HIMSELF:  Asked about the merger's influence on
sports, Disney Chair Michael Eisner said, "I think entertainment
and sports are related anyway.  The Disney Company, through some
of our Goofy cartoons and stuff, has always been sports oriented.
Anything to get people out of the house, and into a movie theater
or a sports complex" ("Larry King Live," CNN, 7/31).
     GRUMPY, SNEEZY, DOPY, DOC ... BOOMER, DAN & KEITH?  As part
of the deal, Disney assumes Cap Cities' 80% share in ESPN Inc.
Asked what kind of synergies he sees coming from the merger,
Eisner was quick to mention the global possibilities of ESPN.
Eisner:  "There's obviously the synergy of putting ESPN and the
Disney Channel together around the world.  And there are many
place in the world, like China, India and other places, that do
not want to accept programming that has political content, but
they have no problem with sports, and they have no problem with
the Disney type of programming.  The leverage of those two
together, in what used to be third-world countries, or closed
countries, is enormous" ("MacNeil/Lehrer," PBS, 7/31).  Smith
Barney analyst Jill Krutick "sees plenty of opportunities for
cross-promotions," including ABC and ESPN-logoed products sold at
Disney stores (S.F. CHRONICLE, 8/1).  NatWest Securities' Paul
Marsh:  "Imagine promoting a Disney sports movie like Mighty
Ducks on ESPN."  In addition, ESPN itself  was recently part of a
deal to buy out Labatt's communication holdings, including
Canada's cable sports channel, The Sports Network
(BLOOMBERG/TORONTO STAR, 8/1).  The WALL STREET JOURNAL notes
another possibility:  "a chain of ESPN sports clubs or bars."
Eisner said he is already envisioning ways to "grow ESPN and
Disney outside the house" (Jefferson & Bannon, WALL STREET
JOURNAL, 8/1).  The N.Y. TIMES' Bill Carter lists the following
possibilities:  the combination of ESPN-Disney programming
distributed globally; ESPN-branded attractions inside Disney
parks; new channels from ABC/ESPN programs for distribution
through new cable or phone company-delivered video services (N.Y.
TIMES, 8/1).
     DISNEY AND BASEBALL:  In Baltimore, Milton Kent asks, "Could
there be a better fit than Major League Baseball, which
desperately needs to be marketed properly, and Disney, the
masters of manipulation?" (Baltimore SUN, 8/1).  Asked if ABC
would be interested in baseball, Cap Cities/ABC Chair Thomas
Murphy said, "We are interested in anything that would be good
for our audience" ("Larry King," CNN, 7/31).  In L.A., Daniel
Howard Cerone also notes that ABC's decision to get out of
baseball could change.  One exec from another network sports
division:  "All bets are off now. ... They're not only
broadcasters now, they're the entertainment industry's best
marketers and merchandisers.  They can go to anybody they want to
partner up with and say:  'We can put your products in the Disney
stores nationwide.  We can merchandise them in our amusement
parks" (L.A. TIMES, 8/1).
     DISNEY AND FOOTBALL:  Asked if Disney would bring an NFL
franchise to Los Angeles, Eisner said, "We have talked to several
people about it, but if the Disney Company would be involved it
would be in Anaheim or Orange County" ("Larry King Live," CNN,
7/31).  In Orange County, Andre Mouchard writes that buying a
network "increases the odds that Disney will buy a pro football
team" (ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER, 8/1).
     L.A. STORY:  One of the few conflicts to be resolved from
the merger is the fact that Disney owns L.A.'s KCAL-TV while Cap
Cities owns KABC-TV.  FCC regulations prohibit ownership of two
stations in one market.  For now, KCAL will be placed in a trust,
but Eisner expressed doubt that Disney "would be able to hang
onto it."  KCAL owns the rights to the Mighty Ducks, but Disney
may opt to show the team's games on KABC or ESPN.  In addition,
the Angels, currently on KTLA, "may also find a new home as a
result of the merger."  Disney is in the process of acquiring a
25% stake in the MLB team (Gene Braxton, L.A. TIMES, 8/1).
     SPORTS ON AIR:  Cap Cities owns 10 TV stations and 21 radio
stations around the country.  The Cap Cities stations that hold
rights to pro sports teams:  WABC-AM (Yankees), KABC-TV
(Dodgers), KGO-AM (49ers), WJR-AM (Tigers, Red Wings), WBAP-AM
(Stars), WMAL-AM (Capitals) (THE DAILY).