MEDIA NOTES

          RATINGS: TNT's Jets-Patriots game on Sunday night
     earned a 9.2 rating, making it the 8th-highest rated game in
     network history.  It was watched by an estimated 6.7 million
     households, which would be the third most in network history
     (THE DAILY).  The game's simulcast on N.Y.'s WPIX-TV earned
     a 12.3 rating, the highest since a '94 Giants-Cards game
     that earned a 15.2 (N.Y. TIMES, 9/16).  In Boston, WLVI-TV
     earned a 27.7 rating for its simulcast of the game.  With
     TNT's 14.1 rating, the game earned a 41.8 in Boston, a
     record for a regular-season game (BOSTON GLOBE, 9/16).
          RADIO: In N.Y., Bob Raissman writes that MLB's national
     radio deal will be moving from CBS Radio to ESPN Radio for a
     reported purchase price of $40M (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 9/16).
          TV/VIDEO: The first live HDTV broadcast of an MLB game
     will take place today with the Indians-Orioles.  The Harris
     Corporation will show the game on digital TV equipment at
     Washington, DC's National Press Club (MLB)....BRANDWEEK
     reports that MLB "is considering a divorce" from Phoenix
     Communications, its video production house and video
     library, which handles "This Week in Baseball" and other
     league productions (BRANDWEEK, 9/15 issue). 
          PROFILES: In the AMERICAN JOURNALISM REVIEW, Mark
     Lisheron writes a career profile of Keith Olbermann.
     Olbermann: "I have never mistaken myself for Coca-Cola or
     Pepsi.  I'm birch beer or ginger ale or Dr. Pepper.  If you
     want what's in the middle you don't hire someone like Keith
     Olbermann (AJR, 9/97 issue)....Polly Perkins, the new
     president of Petersen Publishing's Sport magazine group is
     profiled by Ylonda Gault of CRAIN'S N.Y. BUSINESS.  Industry 
     "insiders" say that Perkins "has a fighting chance" to make
     Sport "a big hit" (CRAIN'S N.Y. BUSINESS, 9/15 issue).