Cable execs are meeting in L.A. this week, as the National
Cable TV Association holds its annual trade meeting. CNN's Larry
King hosted Comcast's Brian Roberts and TBS' Ted Turner from the
convention. Roberts, on why Comcast acquired the 76ers, Flyers
and two arenas: "We see a page out of Ted's book which is that
local sports is probably the most important programming that you
can't really duplicate. ... The sports part of it has got a lot
of complicated issues, but in our case, with all these other
pieces and it allows you to start all sort of new channels and
that is what we are going to try and do" (CNN, 4/29).
CABLE CHANNELS: ESPN2 has gained access to 1.5 million more
homes thus far in '96. The channel is now available in 32.3
million homes nationwide (ESPN2)....MCA/Seagram has filed suit
against Viacom, saying it is being "locked out" by Viacom's
newest cable channel, "Nick at Nite's TV Land." Viacom filed a
countersuit ("Moneyline," CNN, 4/29). The WALL STREET JOURNAL
calls it a "bold gamble" by Seagram to gain control of USA
Network, which is owned jointly by Viacom and MCA/Seagram (WALL
STREET JOURNAL, 4/30).
NBA ON FULL-SERVICE NETWORK: SITV and the NBA have teamed
up to present "The NBA on Demand" on Time Warner's Full-Service
Network in Orlando. The offering launches with NBA Entertainment
Theater, a collection of NBA videos that can be viewed as if
through a VCR (SITV).
WEB WATCHING: Microsoft launched MSN News as a free
offering on the Internet (N.Y. TIMES, 4/30). Microsoft also will
announce today a pricing plan for moving its online service onto
the Web (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 4/30)....Turner and other TV
networks, including NBC and ABC, will soon offer ad agency execs
their own "business-to-business" Web sites. Turner will launch
Turner Mania in June, with ratings and demographic info (INSIDE
MEDIA, 4/29 issue).... The Auto Channel (TACH) will have a live
cybercast of the Indy 500 on its Web site, at http://www.
theautochannel.com (TACH)....The PGA Tour's Shell Houston Open
has a Web site at http://www.infohwy.com/sho96 (HOUSTON
CHRONICLE, 4/30). ....Jupiter Communications '96 Consumer Online
Services Report predicts 35.2 million households will be online
by 2000. The report also estimates industry revenues, $2.2B in
'95, will hit $14.2B in 2000 (USA TODAY, 4/30).
