For the sixth time in eight seasons, Rockets home playoff
games for the first three rounds will be available only on
Special Order Sports, the PPV arm of Prime Sports, according to
this morning's HOUSTON CHRONICLE. SOS will defer if NBC decides
to air a home game, but TNT or TBS telecasts will be blacked out
in the area. The suggested retail price is $19.95 per game in
the first two rounds, and $24.95 for a third round. Last year,
PPV sales started at about 20,000 homes and increased to well
over 50,000 by the conference finals, according to Rockets
VP/Business Ops John Thomas (Carlton Thompson, HOUSTON CHRONICLE,
4/19).
BEARS ON THE MOVE: The Bears will move Coach Dave
Wannstedt's show on WBBM-TV from 6:30pm Saturday to 10:35pm
Sunday after poor ratings last year. In doing so, they are
replacing another Bears show, "Bears Extra." This is the final
year of the contract between the Bears and CBS-owned WBBM. That
deal was negotiated before CBS lost NFL rights to Fox. There
have been "overtures" between the team and Fox-owned WFLD-TV
(Michael Hirsley, CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 4/19).
CONNECTICUT YANKEES: Despite carrying 144 Yankee games
among MSG, Channel 20 and Fox, TCI is getting complaints from CT
fans who want access to the other 18 games on WPIX that the
operator chose not to purchase. In Hartford, Jerry Trecker notes
it is an example of the challenges facing cable operators "in an
era when more sports are available on more varied networks than
ever" (HARTFORD COURANT, 4/19).
