WILL ST. LOUIS FANS HAVE THE BLUES IN TV DISPUTE

     Negotiations have broken down between St. Louis' KPLR-TV and
Prime Sports, the regional cable channel which holds exclusive
broadcast rights to Blues games.  The "result of the face-off
will be fewer Blues games" on free TV, "assuming Prime can find
another buyer."  Ted Koplar, President of KPLR's parent group,
Koplar Communications, said they made "a very substantial offer
for 30 games," but apparently it was not enough.  Sources close
to the talks said the dispute "centered on which station would
control production of the games," including choosing on-air
talent and promotion of other programming.  The Blues have been
on KPLR for the last nine years.  With broadcast rights to 65
regular season games, Prime's plan was to "redistribute the
rights to about half of those games to local over-the-air
broadcasters."  But with KPLR "out of the running, Prime hopes to
air 45 games and resell the other 20."  Prime has contacted the
market's "five major players about the games" (Josh Gotthelf, ST.
LOUIS BUSINESS JOURNAL, 8/12 issue).