The New Boston Garden Corp. has filed suit and "has
     threatened to block Fox Sports New England [FSNE] from
     televising games," because it has failed to pay new fees
     that went into effect when the FleetCenter opened in '95,
     according to Andrea Estes of the BOSTON HERALD.  FSNE, which
     recently bought SportsChannel New England, has reportedly
     "balked" at new fees for hooking up TV trucks outside the
     arena, which "soared" from $550 per truck per game to
     $1,500, a 200% increase.  FleetCenter officials claim the
     cable company now owes $297,000 in charges as of January 30. 
     Estes reports that FSNE officials have not yet responded to
     the suit, filed January 20, "nor would they discuss the
     dispute."  Current FleetCenter President Richard Krezwick
     said that the fees "were hiked because the company had high-
     tech features built into the new arena" and added that the
     new fees are "completely justifiable" (BOSTON HERALD, 3/2).

          In N.Y., Phil Mushnick notes that Tiger Woods and Billy
     Mayfair rode golf carts to the first hole of sudden death in
     yesterday's Nissan Open on CBS.  Mushnick: "That neither Jim
     Nantz nor Ken Venturi mentioned this -- as it was Venturi
     who testified on behalf of the PGA Tour in the Casey Martin
     case -- was pathetic."  The carts were used in sudden death
     "to expedite play to keep CBS from minimizing its loss of
     previously scheduled programming" (N.Y. POST, 3/2)....Hughes
     Electronics Corp.'s DirecTV unit "plans to announce long-
     term marketing deals" with Bell-Atlantic and SBC
     Communications.  The new partners "won't take an equity
     stake" in DirecTV (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 3/2).

          The re-branding of sports magazines with the impending
     arrival of ESPN Magazine is examined by Stuart Elliott of
     the N.Y. TIMES.  Noting the redesign of SI, Sport and
     editorial changes at Inside Sports, Elliott writes that "the
     most ambitious revamping is being undertaken" by The
     Sporting News (TSN).  TSN has introduced a consumer and
     trade ad campaign by NY-based Christy MacDougall Mitchell. 
     After it spent $500,000 on research, TSN concluded that it
     should remain a "niche publication" for readers known as
     "team loyalists: the true sports fans who want a deeper
     perspective."  The campaign, which features the tagline "See
     a different game," presents TSN as "the publication for the
     most ardent and knowledgeable fans of the so-called Big Six
     sports: baseball, basketball, football, hockey, college
     basketball and college football" (N.Y. TIMES, 3/2).

          In Saturday's NEWSDAY, Steve Zipay reported that THE
     SPORTS BUSINESS DAILY "has been purchased" by Times Mirror
     Co., which owns the L.A. Times, Newsday and The Sporting
     News.  Zipay reported that Times Mirror's deal for InterZine
     Productions, owners of THE SPORTS BUSINESS DAILY, is for $5M
     (Steve Zipay, NEWSDAY, 2/28).