Fox Sports Net's bid to take over broadcast rights for the
Bullets, Caps and Orioles from HTS is analyzed by Michael Burgi
of MEDIAWEEK. Fox filed suit against the teams for rejecting its
offer for rights even though they claim to have bid more than
incumbent HTS. Burgi notes "no matter how the suit comes out,"
HTS-owner Group W Satellite, "wound up having to offer a great
deal more to protect its deal -- so much in fact it appears
unlikely HTS will be able to turn a profit" on the three-team
sports package. Group W "had to destroy the village to save it,"
said an executive at another RSN (MEDIAWEEK, 11/11).
FUN WITH KEITH AND DAN: INSIDE MEDIA's Wayne Friedman
profiles ESPN's "SportsCenter," the highest advertising-
generating show in cable TV, "yielding, according to sources,"
$60M a year. In the third quarter, the 11:00pm ET version of
"SportsCenter" gained a 1.4 Nielsen ratings, almost 1 million
households. During the second quarter, SportsCenter's audience
for all shows was nearly 45 million viewers for an average month
(INSIDE MEDIA, 11/13 issue).
