The Raiders final exhibition game against the Jets on Friday
will be blacked out in the Bay Area. Raiders spokesperson Mike
Taylor said an appeal to the NFL to lift the blackout rule during
the exhibition schedule was rejected (SACRAMENTO BEE, 8/21). The
Raiders and NBC affiliate, KRON-TV, said they wanted to show the
game to help "drive future ticket sales." KRON Business Manager
Mark Murray said the team was about 20,000 sales short of a
sellout (SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, 8/22)....CBS Sports will
broadcast "Arthur Ashe's Kids Day" on Sunday from Flushing
Meadow, NY (CBS Sports)....The ABL released its TV schedule on
SportsChannel. The inaugural game will be October 20 with
Seattle at San Jose (USA TODAY, 8/22)....Luke and Murphy Jensen
will be part of a chat on Prodigy before the U.S. Open on August
26 at 8:00pm. Users should Jump: Chat (Prodigy)....NBC and
Panasonic will build a 34-by-26-foot "Astrovision" video screen
in Times Square that will broadcast programming from NBC's
network. NEWSDAY's Elizabeth Sanger notes that by running news,
shows and sports from WNBC-Channel 4, the network and its cable
channels, "Astrovision" will be a "long-running NBC commercial"
(NEWSDAY, 8/22)....USA Basketball and CBS/Fox Video will release
"USA Basketball: '96 Olympic Gold," available September 10 for
$14.98 (USA Basketball)....A five-year communications industry
forecast by NY-investment banker Vernois Suhler & Associates
predicts communications industry spending by advertisers and
consumers will "top out at" $353.3B by the year 2000, growing at
a projected 7% compounded rate (ELECTRONIC MEDIA, 8/19
issue).....Paul Schneider, was VP/Communications for
SportsChannel NY, is now a media consultant for the station, his
initial client. He is based in Langhorne, PA (Gould Media
Services, 8/21).
