TV MONITOR: Last night's 11:00pm ET editions of FSN's
"Primetime" (Fox Sports Net South) and ESPN "SportsCenter"
led with Yankees-Blue Jays, followed by Red Sox-Indians.
CNN/SI's 11:00pm ET edition of "Sports Tonight" led with Red
Sox-Indians followed by A's-Orioles. The first non-MLB
story on "Primetime," at 9:55 into the broadcast, was on
Cowboys DL Leon Lett's suspension. The first non-MLB story
on "Sports Tonight," at 6:05, was on former Lions RB Barry
Sanders offering to return part of his signing bonus if the
team will trade or release him. The first non-MLB story on
"SportsCenter," at 10:30, was also on Sanders (THE DAILY).
MAKING A LIST, CHECKING IT TWICE: ESPN unveiled
yesterday an alphabetical listing of the remaining Top 20
athletes in its list of the 100 Greatest North American
Athletes of the 20th Century. NEWSDAY's Steve Zipay writes,
"Sports lists are designed to generate debate, and this one
is no exception" (NEWSDAY, 9/15),
MORE NOTES: Ratings for USA Network's coverage of the
U.S. Open finished 11% higher than last year's coverage,
with an average of 851,000 HHs overall. Primetime coverage
was up 8%, to an average of 1.1 million HHs, with a peak of
2.1 million on September 8 for the Monica Seles-Serena
Williams match and Andre Agassi's quarterfinal victory
(HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, 9/15)....USA TODAY's Rudy Martzke
writes that CBS' chances of renewing its NCAA men's
basketball tourney TV rights contract "have improved because
of the belief that Disney's plan to show some games on cable
stations ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN Classic as well as ABC would
decrease ratings" (USA TODAY, 9/15)....In Toronto, William
Houston writes that TSN is averaging 235,000 viewers a game,
a 23% increase over last year (GLOBE & MAIL, 9/15)....Hicks,
Muse, Tate & Furst has invested $525M in Media Capital, a
Lisbon-based media company (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 9/15).
