Halfway through the NBA season, NBC's NBA ratings are
up 8% from last year, while TNT's are down 11% and TBS's
"are flat," according to Alan Breznick of CABLE WORLD. But
"several regional sports networks that carry local NBA teams
are enjoying huge ratings spikes" (CABLE WORLD, 2/16 issue).
SKYCAM GROUNDED: NBC Sports VP Ed Markey told THE DAILY
that the network's Skycam camera, which has not been used on
any "NBA on NBC" telecasts this season, has "been in the
shop." Markey: "It's still being worked on and being re-
developed." Markey said NBC has no timetable on when the
camera will return: "We're gonna wait until the upgrade is
complete. ... It's a timely process." New lenses and new
controls are among improvements being made (THE DAILY)....In
Miami, Barry Jackson writes that NBC's Ahmad Rashad, Michael
Jordan's "buddy/publicist/lackey, continues to set the
standard for becoming too close with a source" (MIAMI
HERALD, 2/20)....In '97, the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago
Sun-Times published 4,173 articles that mentioned Michael
Jordan. During that same period, the two papers wrote 6,259
articles that mentioned President Clinton (CHICAGO, 3/98).
