Broadcast of The John Wooden Classic college basketball
tournament will be split between NBC and ABC. Liberty Sports,
which has an exclusive production and ad sales agreement with
Atherton Communications, will produce UCLA-Maryland for NBC and
assist Raycom in production of Purdue-Villanova for ABC. Through
the NBC Super Channel and other international deals, organizers
expect the Wooden Classic to be seen in 80 countries. Gillette,
Toyota, Dean Witter and NAPA are among the sponsors with multi-
year deals. The event also has a site on the Internet. Address:
http:// www.woodenclassic.com (Wooden Classic)....ESPN is set to
roll out its new "SportsCenter" promos on October 16. The ads
combine sports personalities with SportsCenter on-air and behind-
the-scenes personnel. The campaign was produced by ESPN ad
agency Wieden & Kennedy. ESPN Senior VP/Consumer Marketing Judy
Fearing calls it one of their "most ambitious efforts"
(ESPN)....BUSINESS WEEK profiles Delphi, the commercial online
service currently being revamped by News Corp. and MCI. The new
strategy, which includes use of Fox TV programming and News Corp.
media outlets, is to become "one with the Internet" (BUSINESS
WEEK, 10/16 issue)....News Corp. Chair Rupert Murdoch holds his
annual meeting today with possible announcements including an
expansion of Fox TV through the purchase of more U.S. TV stations
(REUTERS/VARIETY, 10/9)....SI For Kids has received two "Gold"
Parent's Choice awards, one for the magazine and the other for
its "Encyclopedia" CD-ROM (SI For Kids)....In Philadelphia, Mike
Bruton is critical of the broadcast networks for their lack of
coverage of Grambling coach Eddie Robinson's 400th victory
(PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 10/10).... The FTC is expected to take up
consideration of the Time Warner-Turner merger, with the role of
TCI's Liberty Media and its 5% stake in question (N.Y. TIMES,
10/10).
