ABC's shift of the Hall of Fame Game from Saturday
night to Monday night "scored a touchdown in the ratings,"
as the Cowboys-Browns earned a 10.1 Nielsen rating, up 130%
from last year's 4.4 for the Bucs-Steelers, according to USA
TODAY's Rudy Martzke. NFL Senior VP/Broadcasting Dennis
Lewin: "This was a great number" (USA TODAY, 8/11). DAILY
VARIETY's Tom Bierbaum writes that ABC's NFL season got off
"to a stirring start" with the 10.1/18. The 37.0/55 rating
in Cleveland is "probably one of the top ratings ever for a
pre-season game in any single market." It was the highest-
rated preseason NFL game since August '95 (DAILY VARIETY,
8/11). The share for Cleveland's WEWS-ABC was as high as 61
for kickoff and stayed at a "remarkably lofty" 36 for the
post-game show at 11:45pm ET (AKRON BEACON JOURNAL, 8/11).
ABC AFFILS OK NFL PAYMENT: The HOLLYWOOD REPORTER's
Lynette Rice reports that more than 90% of ABC affils have
"agreed to a plan under which" they will pay $45M a year to
the network to "help defray" the cost of "MNF." The plan
was approved by an ABC affil board of governors in June (see
THE DAILY, 6/29) (HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, 8/11).