TV MONITOR: Last night's 11:00pm ET edition of CNN/SI's
"Sports Tonight," FSN's "Primetime" and ESPN's
"SportsCenter" (at 11:20 due to Sunday Night Football) all
led with Lions-Bucs, followed by Panthers-Packers. The first
non-NFL story on "Sports Tonight," at 7:19 into the
broadcast, was the five-player trade between the Cubs and
Dodgers. The first non-NFL story on "Primetime," at 12:48,
and on "SportsCenter," at 10:35, was Celtics-Knicks.
ACKERLEY GOING ONE-ON-ONE WITH FOX? The SPORTSBUSINESS
JOURNAL's Liz Mullen reports that the Ackerley Group is
"actively recruiting sports and technology partners to
launch -- it hopes by July -- a regional network that would
televise" Mariners, Sonics, Grizzlies and Canucks games in
the Pacific Northwest. The Mariners' TV deal with Fox
Sports Northwest (FSNW) expires after next season, while the
Sonics' contract with FSNW expires after this season. Orca
Bay Sports & Entertainment VP/Communications Kevin Gass,
whose company owns the Canucks, "acknowledged the talks" and
said, "Televising our Canucks games in Seattle is something
we have long wanted to do" (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 12/13).
NOTES: In Houston, David Barron cites a source as
saying that ESPN's $125M signing bonus for extending its MLB
TV rights agreement "will be paid over the next year, with
each team receiving" about $4M each. Barron: "That will be
on top of roughly $14 million that ... each team will
receive from network television revenue in 2000" (HOUSTON
CHRONICLE, 12/13)....The Univ. of KY awarded Host
Communications a five-year broadcast rights agreement for
its men's basketball and football programs. Host reportedly
bid $17.65M (LX HERALD-LEADER, 12/11)....In N.Y., Bob
Raissman wrote that ESPN's decision to expand its "Outside
the Lines" series "is good news for viewers." Raissman:
"Now it's up to ESPN to promote this series by throwing some
dough behind it" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 12/12).
