PLAYOFF NOTES: PICTURE CLEAR FOR NHL PLAYOFFS ON CBC

     CBC and its major unions reached a "12th hour" agreement in
ongoing labor negotiations to avoid a strike that would have
affected NHL playoff coverage and the network's Olympic
preparations (Montreal GAZETTE, 5/25).
     CUP CRAZE HITS FLORIDA:  The Panthers hit a new ratings high
on Miami's Fox affiliate, with a 10.6 rating and a 23 share for
Sunday's Game 4 against the Penguins.  The Panthers averaged just
a 1.8 for the regular season.  The NHL game topped both the Indy
500 (6.1) and the NBA's Jazz-Sonics (3.5) in Miami (Barry
Jackson, MIAMI HERALD, 5/29).
     NO DEAL:  TSN, Canada's cable sports network, failed to
acquire a package of NBA games for the '96-97 season.  The
reason, according to William Houston of the GLOBE & MAIL:  "TSN
thought the NBA's rights fees were too steep and objected to
sharing commercial time with the league."  That leaves the
possibility that a new channel, S3 (whose license is pending
before Canada's Radio-TV and Telecom Commission), could get NBA
rights.  Currently, CTV has the rights to 18 Raptors and
Grizzlies games (GLOBE & MAIL, 5/25).