ABC's decision to move back the start time of "Monday
Night Football" to 9:00pm ET means the game will run until
"about midnight," giving the network "an extra 45 minutes of
prime-time advertising revenue," according to the AP's Jeff
Goodman. Former ABC Senior VP and current industry
consultant Jim Spence said, "From a business point of view,
changing back made all the sense in the world. You have
four hours instead of three. It's a terrific financial
advantage." ABC Sports President Howard Katz: "I guess we
are able to sell an extra hour now. But I can't tell you
that was an important factor in the decision-making
process." Goodman noted that ABC, which receives prime-time
ad rates throughout the entire length of the game, should
"get a boost" in ratings, as it will be "pitted against a
much easier slate of late-night programming" (AP, 4/10).
IS THE TRIPLE CROWN IN PLAY? USA TODAY's Rudy Martzke
reports that ABC's Katz "is expected" to retain the
"diminished" Indy 500 by increasing its bid for the rights
to $12-13M in bidding this summer. But look for ABC to pass
on keeping the Triple Crown "after the contract expires in
2000." IMG/TWI's Barry Frank says that there "is interest
from all four networks," but Martzke writes that NBC, with
the Breeders Cup, "is considered the favorite in raising
bidding" from the $9M-a-year range (USA TODAY, 4/12).
EARS IPO? In N.Y., Orwall & Swisher write that Disney
is "quietly considering ways in which it could package its
Disney Online assets together with the company's 43% stake
in Infoseek" for an IPO (WALL ST. JOURNAL, 4/12).
MOUSE TRAP? In N.Y., Bob Raissman wrote that ESPN's
recent "Outside the Lines" special left WWF Chair Vince
McMahon "feeling hung out to dry." McMahon claims that ESPN
changed the focus of the report and one theory "is that the
ESPN effort was an attempt to discredit the WWF, on orders
from the corporate suite," as the WWF Monday show "has eaten
into" ABC's "MNF" ratings (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 4/11).
