The U.S. national soccer team and Disney's ABC, ESPN
and ESPN2 formally announced a deal that will have the U.S.
teams make 64 appearances on the nets in the next four
years. ABC will air four games a year, and ESPN/ESPN2 will
do "at least 12" (AP, 10/23)....CBS's "Late Show" with David
Letterman drew a 22.5 rating in St. Louis on Monday, when
Mark McGwire was a guest (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 10/23).
...After six years of broadcasting Warriors games on
Spanish-language KIQI-AM, the team won't broadcast home or
road games in Spanish this season. Warriors Dir of
Broadcasting Dan Becker said that the broadcasts "had lost
money the last two years and the team wasn't willing to
withstand the losses." The team had been buying air time
from the station and producing the broadcasts itself (S.F.
EXAMINER, 10/22)....NBC Sports won the IOC's Golden Ring
Award for outstanding Olympic programming in '98. The award
was for the "Olympic Athlete Profiles" category, for a
feature on Norwegian speedskater Johann Olav Koss, which
aired on CNBC's "The Olympic Show" (NBC Sports).
IN CANADA: After two weeks, the CBC's "Hockey Night in
Canada" is up 27% for its early game and "a whopping" 39%
for its nightcap (TORONTO SUN, 10/23). CTV SportsNet's
nightly news show "Sportscentral" has been averaging 60,000
viewers -- "less than half" of TSN's "Sportsdesk." CTVS
VP/Production Scott Moore: "The ratings that are out just
show the first 10 days and the trend is going up. Give us a
month and if some of the numbers still are down where they
are we might be worried" (TORONTO SUN, 10/23). Also in
Toronto, Rob Longley reports that CTVS "has filed a
complaint" with the NHL to get TSN "Sportsdesk" to start
crediting highlights when it uses footage from games
SportsNet has the rights to (TORONTO SUN, 10/23).
