NHL: In Baltimore, Milton Kent calls Fox's coverage of
Wayne Gretzky's final game on Sunday its "shining moment in
sports broadcasting, a telecast that goes right alongside
the network's Emmy-nominated showing" of Mark McGwire's 62nd
home run last year. Kent gives "kudos" to Fox and its
affils for staying with the post-game ceremony past the
6:00pm ET anticipated ending (SUN, 4/20)....In Dallas, Barry
Horn writes that local KDFW-Fox Program Dir Ken Foote said
the station "got a few complaints, 'but not much of note,'"
after it chose to air the Stars-Avalanche (DALLAS MORNING
NEWS, 4/20)....In Calgary, Dwayne Erickson writes that
"Hockey Night In Canada" Exec Producer John Shannon
"indicated" the show "will pursue" Fox NHL announcer John
Davidson next season (CALGARY SUN, 4/20).
FOX: BARRON's Michael Santoli writes that the ruling
which denied News Corp.'s BSkyB's ownership of Manchester
United "isn't devastating. If anything, News Corp. Chair
Rupert Murdoch has emerged in the past couple of weeks with
a stronger hand," following his buyout of Liberty Media on
Fox/Liberty Networks. Santoli: "Lose one potential $1
billion sports asset, and pick up another for $1.4 billion"
(BARRON'S, 4/19 issue)....Time Warner Vice Chair Ted Turner
"blasted" Murdoch and Fox at the NAB annual meeting in Las
Vegas for deciding to pull back ad time from its affils.
Turner: "We will not do that at Time Warner. We will not
screw you and lie to you. ... He's getting you because he's
losing on his regional sports networks and he's got to pay
Kevin Brown's salary from somewhere" (REUTERS, 4/20).
NOTES: In Milwaukee, Bob Wolfley writes that ESPN
should "dump" that Sprint video conferencing feature during
its NFL Draft coverage, as it "gives viewers a muddy
picture" and there is a "long delay between when a question
is posed and when it gets answered" (JOURNAL SENTINEL,
4/20)....In Winston-Salem, Mike Mulhern writes that "some
NASCAR owners are worried about what" Bryant Gumbel "might
say about" race relations and Winston Cup racing on HBO's
"Real Sports" tonight. According to one NASCAR source,
Gumbel "pulled out a Confederate flag during an interview
and raised the issue with NASCAR officials about why it is
seen so frequently at NASCAR races" (W-S JOURNAL, 4/20).
