FEELING THE HEAT: DILLER'S MIAMI STATION LOSING TO LOCKOUT

          The NBA lockout "is dealing a major blow" to Barry
     Diller's WAMI-TV, which bought the Heat's local broadcast
     rights last year, according to Andrew Paxman of DAILY
     VARIETY.  The station drew a 0.3 for Tuesday's repeat of
     last year's Eastern Conference Semifinals Heat-Knicks Game
     Seven.  WAMI Editor-in-Chief Matti Leshen, on airing Heat
     game repeats: "It's very disappointing, but we believe in
     the idea.  We didn't have time to promote it properly."  The
     next scheduled repeat will air November 24, when WAMI shows
     the Heat's '97 regular-season win over the Bulls.  Paxman
     notes that "a 0.3 -- or even twice that -- is a far cry from
     the 4 points and up that WAMI expects from live Heat games,"
     which it was supposed to start airing November 3.  The one
     "consolation" for WAMI, is that unlike national
     rightsholders NBC and TNT/TBS, the station "doesn't have to
     pay" rights fees during the lockout (DAILY VARIETY, 11/12).