WBIS+ LOOKS TO FIND NICHE WITH BUSINESS-SPORTS PROGRAMMING

          WBIS+, the New York TV station on sports and business,
     will start its first "typical weekday" tomorrow, culminating
     with the Knicks-Bulls game at 8:00pm ET, according to
     Richard Sandomir in the N.Y. TIMES.  ITT President Robert
     Bowman's goal is for the Dow Jones/ITT-owned station to
     reach a "break even" point within two years.  Sandomir notes
     WBIS+'s "most distinctive" programming is sports, and that
     they are "doing something that has rarely been done:
     redirecting games that have migrated to cable television
     over the last decade back to a free, locally broadcast
     station."  WBIS+ also hopes to acquire a 50-game menu of
     Yankee games (N.Y. TIMES, 1/20).  MSG will make Knicks and
     Rangers games on WBIS+ available to cable systems in the New
     York market that don't get WBIS+ (N.Y. POST, 1/20).