ESPN SportsZone will study the issues surrounding the
     labor practices of athletic shoe companies during its five-
     part "Outside the Lines" series running April 2-8.  The
     interactive program will serve as a companion to tonight's
     "Outside the Lines" special on ESPN.  SportsZone will
     deliver original content, video footage of Asian working
     conditions, user polls, and an exclusive chat with "Outside
     the Lines" host Bob Ley.  Through a bulletin board, users
     can also interact with a special class at the Univ. of NC
     that is studying shoe companies' overseas labor practices
     (ESPN Internet Ventures).  In Raleigh, Jane Stancill reports
     UNC students will have electronic discussions on SportsZone. 
     The class is entitled "Economics, Ethics and Impacts of the
     Global Economy: The Nike Example" (NEWS & OBSERVER, 4/2).  

          Online community iVillage and SportsLine USA unveiled
     Women's Sports Arena, a site that provides sports stats on
     major women's sports events like basketball, golf, skating
     and hockey.  It also contains articles aimed at athletes,
     and links to iVillage's Fitness & Beauty area (AD AGE, 4/2).

          OLYMPICS: USA TODAY's Michael Hiestand examines NBC's
     Olympic efforts, noting the creation of new, in-house arm
     NBC Olympics, year-round Olympic programming on CNBC and
     NBC's plans for the 2000 Games in Australia.  Hiestand, on
     the 2000 Games: "NBC simply isn't going to worry about live
     coverage, which can get messy."  NBC VP/Sports Information
     Ed Markey: "If you're a viewer just interested in immediate
     results, you'll have plenty of other places to find them." 
     NBC Olympics President Randy Falco: "We're sticking with the
     same basic game plan of story telling.  We know, generally,
     what works."  But Grey Advertising's Jon Mandel said, "My
     concern is that NBC might overproduce the Games.  As a
     viewer, let me have my emotions" (USA TODAY, 4/2).
          NOTES: In KC, RB Marcus Allen, who has been talking
     with CBS, said he intends to return to the Chiefs (K.C.
     STAR, 4/2)....In L.A., Randy Harvey reports that Angels
     Manager Terry Collins "recently touted" Classic Sports
     Network to Disney Chair Michael Eisner.  Collins: "It's
     great."  Eisner responded, "I know.  We own it" (L.A. TIMES,
     4/2)....Justice Dept. lawyers will "urge" Deputy Attorney
     General Joel Klein to reject News Corp. Chair Rupert
     Murdoch's deal "to merge his satellite TV operations with
     Primestar."  A Justice Dept. decision "is at least a month
     away" (USA TODAY, 4/2)....Korean fans will be able to watch
     Dodgers P Chan Ho Park's first start today on Ichon TV
     Limited (iTV).  The game is being produced exclusively for
     iTV by MLB Int'l's production team (MLB International).

          LIN TV broadcast the Rangers' home opener Tuesday in
     high-definition TV signals (HDTV), becoming "the first live
     sports telecast" to use the new technology, according to
     Jennifer Files of the DALLAS MORNING NEWS.  Fans "raved
     about the picture quality but moaned about the price of the
     sets," which are expected to retail for more than $5,000
     when they become available near the end of '98.  LIN, which
     owns local station KXAS-TV, aired the HDTV broadcast on its
     new local channel, which is designated specifically for its
     digital broadcasts.  It broadcast the game using standard
     analog technology on KXAS (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 4/2).  On
     "Business Center," CNBC's Renay San Miguel said the "problem
     is" that "the only TV sets that can receive that signal" are
     at The Ballpark in Arlington.  HDTV "sets aren't expected to
     be commercially available until this fall at the earliest." 
     Miguel added that it is costing LIN TV "about $60-70,000 per
     game more" to broadcast in HDTV (CNBC, 3/31).
          MLB RATINGS: Tuesday's Rockies-D'Backs opener earned a
     7.8 rating at 8:00pm MT on Fox Sports Rocky Mountain (FSR),
     the highest Rockies rating ever recorded on FSR (FSR)....In
     Baltimore, the Royals-Orioles opener Tuesday on WJZ came in
     at a 13.9/35, down 18% from '97's 16.9/40.  The SUN's Milton
     Kent writes the warm weather in the area may have been a
     reason for the ratings drop (Baltimore SUN, 4/2).

          Due to FCC regulations which require stations to air
     three hours of children's programming per week, Seattle CBS
     affil KIRO "failed to air" Sunday's Lipton Championships
     men's tennis final, according to Kay McFadden of the SEATTLE
     TIMES.  KIRO was given permission to "bump" some children's
     shows to air NCAA Men's Tournament games, and those hours
     had to be made up.  In anticipation of such a scenario, last
     September KIRO had gotten an FCC exemption to designate
     March 29 as a "special multiple make-up day."  At that time,
     the Lipton men's final was not yet on the CBS schedule,
     although a "CBS Sports Spectacular" without specific content
     was blocked in for the weekend.  KIRO Program Dir Maria
     Marganis: "I thought I had all of the sports for the entire
     year and CBS didn't show the 29th as a sporting event.  We
     didn't get the Lipton dates until around January."  The
     failure to air the Lipton final prompted calls from "scores"
     of viewers (Kay McFadden, SEATTLE TIMES, 4/1).

          USA Network will premiere "The 1998 Masters Tournament
     Special: The Course Of History," April 8 at 8:00pm ET.  The
     special, hosted by Bill Macatee and Peter Kostis will
     kickoff the net's coverage of The Masters, which will run
     early round coverage April 9 & 10 from 4:00-6:30pm ET.  Each
     day's broadcast will be replayed from 9:00-11:00pm ET (USA). 
     USA's ad time for its golf telecasts is "completely sold
     out," and USA VP/Eastern Sales Bob Riordan listed Microsoft,
     the U.S. Postal Service, Invesco and Delta Airlines as "new
     golf clients" for the net(Mike Reynolds, CABLE WORLD, 3/30).
          DIVOTS & DISH: The PGA Tour will produce, "PGA Tour
     Presents: Signature Golf," a weekly half-hour syndicated
     program that will feature a Tour player and a celebrity
     discussing and playing the game of golf, will debut during
     The Masters weekend.  Bill Macatee will host, and an episode
     featuring Brad Faxon and Glenn Frey has already been taped. 
     Among those committing to future episodes are players Fuzzy
     Zoeller, Nick Faldo and David Duval and celebrities Chris
     O'Donnell and Alice Cooper (GOLFWEEK, 3/28 issue).