IF YOU MUST SEE THIS TV, THEN PAY UP: NBC SEEKS RATE HIKE

          NBC is seeking "more than" $50M per year from the cable
     industry "in exchange for televising parts of the next five
     Olympics on its cable webs MSNBC and CNBC," according to
     Richard Katz of DAILY VARIETY, who writes that "if the cable
     ops balk at paying NBC's price" the network will "consider
     cutting an exclusive deal" with DirecTV and EchoStar "that
     would lock cable ops out of Olympics coverage."  Sources
     "familiar with the negotiations" say that NBC has
     "approached its cable and satellite" affils about "coughing
     up" more than $1 per subscriber per year over an eight-year
     period to cover its Olympics cable carriage.  Cable affils
     currently pay "almost" $.20 per subscriber per year to carry
     CNBC and "between" $.10-$.15 for MSNBC.  NBC's proposal
     "includes contract extensions for MSNBC and CNBC that would
     carry through 2008, the date at which NBC's current contract
     for the Olympics expires" (DAILY VARIETY, 4/19).