NETWORK TV: ABC's Bills-Colts "Monday Night Football"
game drew a 12.8 national rating, the "lowest" this season.
"MNF" is down 14% for the season (USA TODAY, 10/22)....PBS
has acquired first-run TV rights to a Bud Greenspan-produced
Olympics documentary, "Atlanta's Olympic Glory," a 3 1/2-
hour film that will premiere in December. The program will
be available to PBS affils for pledge drives in December,
and March/August '98 (MEDIAWEEK, 10/20).
CABLE TV: SportsChannel OH and the Reds have extended
their TV contract through 2004, with 50 games to be shown on
SC in '98, and 65 games a year beginning in '99 (SC)....Fox
Sports Pittsburgh (FSP) set a college football ratings
record Saturday with its telecast of the Penn State-
Minnesota game. The telecast posted a 5.2 rating, making it
the highest-rated college football game ever on FSP, topping
the previous high of 4.0 for a Pittsburgh-Houston game in
September (FSP)....One day after announcing a deal to
acquire USA Network, sources said that HSN Chair & CEO Barry
Diller "stopped by yesterday and told senior managers there
would be no management changes at the network." He also
said that "he wants to accelerate development of more
original programming at the network" (Jon Elsen, N.Y. POST,
10/22)....The IHL Wolves announced a multi-year agreement
with cable operators Media One Cablevision, Prime Cable of
Chicago, TCI of IL and Time Warner Cable, to provide the
cable system subscribers with Wolves coverage at no extra
charge. The Wolves will broadcast 21 games this season
(Wolves)....Fox Sports Net and the Pac-10 extended its
existing football and basketball deal through 2006 (FSN).
RADIO: ESPN Radio is profiled by John Merli of
BROADCASTING & CABLE. Merli writes that ESPN Radio, which
gets the MLB package after this season, "is counting on some
effective cross-promotional campaigns in its cable TV
network, as well as on its Website, to underscore its new
radio presence on the diamond" (B&C, 10/20 issue).
