NBC outlines its strategy yesterday for using the '96
Atlanta Games "as a springboard" for the launch of the network's
'96-97 season, with special attention to Saturday and Sunday
nights. NBC will devote much of its $85M in Olympic promo time
to "3rd Rock from the Sun" (HOLLYWOOD REPORTER,
6/18)....Primestar Partners reports signing up only 1% to 2% of
its customers for the NHL DBS package, "a bit fewer than
expected," according to CABLE WORLD's Alan Breznick (CABLE WORLD,
6/17 issue)....BSkyB, the News Corp.-owned U.K. satellite
service, extended its TV rights deals with the Premier League for
four years at $1.03B. A league spokesperson acknowledged the
deal allows for pay-per-view two years into the package, although
the PPV presence was promised to be "very limited and
experimental" (ELECTRONIC MEDIA, 6/17 issue)....TNT has
auditioned former Dolphin Keith Jackson to be an NFL studio
analyst, although it is possible Jackson will continue playing
(MIAMI HERALD, 6/17). ....CBS/Fox and NHL Productions will
release the official Avalanche Stanley Cup video in the Colorado
market beginning July 12, and nationally on July 16. The
suggested retail is $19.98 (CBS/FOX)....Yesterday's issue of THE
DAILY should have noted that the suggested price of the '96 Bulls
Championship video is also $19.98 (THE DAILY)....The L.A. TIMES
examines the race to establish a DBS presence in Latin America
(L.A. TIMES, 6/18)....MCI Chair & CEO Bert Roberts talked to
"Moneyline" about his company's DBS venture with News Corp.
Roberts, on the expected $1.5B cost: "There is at least some
possibility that we would take the enterprise public, which of
course would offset those costs and bring public value to the
price" (CNN, 6/17)....Citing recent high-priced "flops" like
"Celtic Pride" (which only took in $8M) and escalating production
costs, Disney will cut the number of films it makes each year in
half -- from 40 to 20 ("Moneyline," CNN, 6/17)....On ESPN's "Up
Close," Jim Lampley ventured a guess that HBO would give Riddick
Bowe a "free pass" to fight Mike Tyson, but added, "I'll
basically stick to my longtime expectation that Mike Tyson will
never fight Riddick Bowe" (ESPN, 6/17).....A Gannett survey found
newspaper readership to be strong, with about 70% reading at
least one paper a week and 57% reading a newspaper daily (USA
TODAY, 6/18)....PageNet will give away a number of SportsTrax
pagers at tonight's Astros game as part of a special promotion
(HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 6/18)....NBC's overnights for the U.S. Open -
- 4.8 on Saturday and 6.1 on Sunday -- were 2% above last year
(USA TODAY, 6/18).