NBC's loss of the AFC package was the "latest blow to
the must-see network, which is already reeling from the end
of 'Seinfeld,'" according to Bob Raissman of the N.Y. DAILY
NEWS. But it still has "a chance to snare the lucrative
'Monday Night Football' franchise from ABC." Raissman adds
that it is "unknown whether NBC -- which recently signed a
$1 billion-plus deal with the NBA and owns rights to all
Olympic Games through 2008 -- is willing to shell out the
big bucks to stay in the NFL game" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 1/13).
NEWSDAY's Steve Zipay writes that two "high-ranking
television executives familiar with the talks said that NBC
was totally out of the NFL picture" (NEWSDAY, 1/13).
AT A LOSS? Also in N.Y., Eric Mink examines NBC' loss:
"No question, losing NFL football is bad for NBC. It will
make the network less attractive to advertisers seeking
hard-to-reach male viewers, and it certainly won't do
anything to help feed audiences into its already struggling
Sunday-night prime-time lineup." But Mink does write that
NBC "will not be hurt nearly so badly as CBS was" when it
lost the NFL to Fox in '94. NBC still has the NBA, MLB,
golf and Wimbledon and the French Open along with the
Olympics. Mink: "[T]he biggest impact of NBC losing the NFL
might well be psychological. ... With the end of 'Seinfeld'
and now the loss of Sunday football, the glow is gone and
the myth is dead" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 1/13). A source at NBC
said "officials were shaken yesterday by the turn of
events." The source: "There was genuine fear and loathing
in the halls of NBC today" (N.Y. POST, 1/13).
