TNT set a cable record for an NBA regular-season game with
the Lakers-Bulls Friday night with a 7.1 rating.  Over 4.7
million homes tuned into the game which pitted Michael Jordan
against Magic Johnson.  The peak was an 8.2 from 11-11:15 ET.
The 7.1 is two full points higher than a March '95 Bulls-Knicks
game -- then the 9th highest rated NBA game on cable.  The others
were seven playoff games and an All-Star Saturday telecast (Steve
Zipay, NEWSDAY, 2/6).
     OTHER RATINGS:  Sunday's rain caused CBS' Pebble Beach Pro-
Am to "slip 53%" to a 2.4 rating.  Saturday's coverage of
celebrity golf drew a 4.1 (Rudy Martzke, USA TODAY, 2/6).  The
overnight rating for Fox's NHL coverage was a 2.9, called "a good
sign" by NEWSDAY's Steve Zipay as he notes that the NHL
"generated a higher rating than any college basketball game on
this weekend" (NEWSDAY, 2/6).

     NBC Sports President Dick Ebersol spoke to the SGMA in
Atlanta yesterday and said NBC will add up to four more hours of
its coverage of the '96 Olympic Games.  He also said NBC "will
have at least two cable partners" for the 2000 Sydney Games and
the 2002 Games in Salt Lake.  Ebersol: "The Atlanta Games will be
unique in that they are the last Games ever to be seen on one
channel in the United States."  Ebersol noted the extra hours
will likely be added to the last two weekends of the Games, "with
complete coverage of the marathon on the final day"
(AP/WASHINGTON TIMES, 2/6).

     To "jazz up" its ESPNet SportZone Web site, Starwave VP
Patrick Naughton has developed a program to "display sports
scores at the bottom of the screen, similar to the one ESPN uses
on its cable channel," according to USA TODAY.  Users will be
able to customize displays, choosing which teams and sports to
display.  The display will include a "chime" to mark score
changes and ads (Jim Kim, USA TODAY, 2/6).
     TICKER MEETS WIRE: SportsTicker and PR Newswire have agreed
to give PR newswire members access to SportsTicker's subscriber
base.  PR Newswire's members can now send their news releases
pertaining to sports marketing, event sponsorship and
endorsements to SportsTicker in combination with any of PR
Newswire's news lines (SportsTicker).

     Officials representing Time Warner's HBO and boxer Riddick
Bowe said they have "failed to settle their differences" on
whether their contract is still valid.  A March 11 date has been
set in U.S. District Court.  Bowe's manager, Rock Newman, has
stated that Bowe is a "free agent" and not tied to Time Warner.
Time Warner Sports President Seth Abraham claims the contract "is
solid" and is ready to fight Newman's claim (William Gildea,
WASHINGTON POST, 2/6).
     FOX-KING DEAL QUESTIONED:  The partnership between Fox
Sports and Don King to air Saturday fights is profiled by Bob
Raissman of the N.Y. DAILY NEWS.  Fox has telecast two nights of
fights, most recently on Super Bowl Saturday.  Raissman writes of
the caliber of the bouts, "When the masses are presented with the
kind of garbage, it not only sets the sports back in the public's
eye, but makes any already skeptical network or advertiser run
for cover."  Raissman notes Fox reportedly gave some current
advertisers "free spots on the card as a bonus" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS,
2/4).

     Fred Carter, former coach of the 76ers, will be the studio
analyst on ESPN2's "NBA 2Night."  The show will debut 9:30pm ET
Sunday from San Antonio after the NBA All-Star Game.  The regular
time slot will be at midnight.  Carter will appear from Thursday
through Saturday (PHILA. DAILY NEWS, 2/6)....Prime Sports will
not carry any Rangers telecasts this season.  The network had
broadcast Rangers game for 12 years, but games will instead air
on Lin Television's KXAS-TV and KXTX-TV stations.  Together, they
will air 138 games (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 2/4)....ESPN will
televise the 9th NPSL All-Star Game in Wichita on Sunday on tape
delay (NPSL)....Two CBS business units, Midwest Sports Channel,
the CBS-owned RSN in Minneapolis, and Teleport Minnesota, have
become part of Group W Satellite Communications, a division of
Westinghouse/CBS.  Jody Shapiro, VP/GM of HTS, will oversee MSC;
Altan Stalker, VP/GM of Group W Network Services, will oversee
Teleport Minnesota (Group W)....BUSINESS WEEK charts Web site
costs  for companies promoting their image, offering information
or content, and selling software or other products.  Costs in '97
for a promotional site are estimated at $681,000, content
$1,826,000, transactional $4.2M (BUSINESS WEEK, 2/12)....'92
Olympic silver medalist Paul Wylie has a home page on the
Internet.  His site includes a periodic journal, with details on
his life and skating career.  Address: http://www.nvi.com/paulw
(Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 2/6)....Cap Cities/ABC posted a 2.3%
drop in fourth-quarter net income, "largely reflecting costs
related" to its acquisition by Walt Disney.  But ESPN continued
to show "significant revenue gains" (WALL STREET JOURNAL,
2/6).... Walter Isaacson, TIME's Managing Editor, on Magic
Johnson gracing the covers of Time and Newsweek:  "It's an
important cover not only in health and sports but for how our
society has changed in four years" ("Charlie Rose," PBS, 2/6).