IS TODAY D-DAY FOR NASCAR TV RIGHTS DEAL? TALKS HEAT UP

          CBS/TNN and NBC/Turner "each are favored to gain half"
     of the NASCAR TV rights package, as negotiations could
     conclude as early as today, according to USA TODAY's Rudy
     Martzke.  The package could be worth "as much as" $400M a
     year in a deal "that could stretch to seven years." CBS/TNN,
     Fox/FSN and ABC/ESPN are bidding for the first half of
     NASCAR's season, while NBC/Turner and ABC/ESPN are competing
     for the second half.  Meanwhile, Martzke writes that CBS
     execs "believed they had a deal" to extend their TV rights
     contract for the NCAA basketball package for as "much as
     seven years beyond" the $216M-a-year pact that expires in
     2002.  Sources add that CBS "had a deal with the NCAA."  But
     the NCAA has rescheduled talks with CBS, ABC/ESPN and Fox
     next week (See THE DAILY, 11/9).  NCAA PR Dir Wally Renfro:
     "We will have presentations next week as originally
     scheduled."  Asked if talks would be concluded then, Renfro
     said, "We don't know the answer to that" (USA TODAY, 11/10).