In a "Viewpoint" piece in yesterday's N.Y. TIMES, Walter
Staab, President of SFM Media Corp., makes the case for "modified
competition" for Nielsen through a regular bidding process (N.Y.
TIMES, 4/21)....Pistons star Grant Hill will soon have his own
Web page, "The Grant Hill Home Page presented by Fila," at
http://www.granthill.com. An announcement of the launch date is
expected within a few weeks. Advantage Int'l will market and
manage the site (Advantage)....The format change in March of L.A.
stations KMAX-FM to modern rock is the "latest failure" of sports
talk in L.A. (L.A. BUSINESS JOURNAL, 4/8 issue)....Nexis-Lexis
will begin carrying reports from Bloomberg Business News (N.Y.
TIMES, 4/22)....In Toronto, Rob Longley writes it is "ridiculous"
to have just one NHL playoff game on Saturday, without either the
Leafs or Canadiens. Longley: "That's the price the league is
willing to pay to appease Fox, even though the U.S. network is
still getting marginal ratings" (TORONTO SUN, 4/22).... ESPN's
Dick Schaap, on reporter Christine Brennan being banned by the
USFSA: "The funny thing is that Christine is probably one of two
women who have done the most to publicize figure skating in
recent years, and now the both of them, Tonya [Harding] and
Christine, are banned" ("Sports Reporters," 4/21).
