TV MONITOR: Last night's 11:00pm ET edition of CNN/SI's
"Sports Tonight" led with Ray Lewis' release from prison on
bond, followed by prosecutors asking for the death penalty
against Rae Carruth. The first non-NFL story, at 2:26 into
the broadcast, was Lakers-Bulls. Last night's 10:00pm ET
edition of FSN's "Fox Sports News" led with Hornets-76ers,
followed by Spurs-Cavaliers. The first non-NBA story, at
3:51, was the OH St. Univ.-MI St. Univ. men's basketball
game. The 11:00pm ET edition of ESPN's "SportsCenter" led
with the Univ. of PA-Princeton Univ. men's college
basketball game, followed by Lakers-Bulls. The first non-
basketball story, at 9:01, was a "SportsCenter" poll of the
greatest "old school" performance in sports (THE DAILY).
SPORTS ON THE WEB: BROADCASTING & CABLE's Richard
Tedesco reviews ESPN's new X Games Web site at www.expn.com.
Led by EXPN.com VP & GM George McQuiston, the site features
a chat session "segueing" from the monthly EXPN 2Day show,
which debuts February 17. EXPN.com will soon add e-commerce
(BROADCASTING & CABLE, 2/14 issue)....MULTICHANNEL NEWS' R.
Thomas Umstead reports that N.Y.-based PayForView.com is
"planning to offer" PPV movies and events via the Internet
"as early as April," and the company "recently hired veteran
sports and PPV" exec Sid Amira "to oversee the distribution"
(MULTICHANNEL NEWS, 2/14 issue)....In N.Y., Richard Wilner
profiles Dunk.net, the e-commerce venture of Shaquille
O'Neal and agent Leonard Armato. Armato: "Eventually, we
hope to make Dunk.net as familiar to athletes as Amazon.com
is to book buyers. We're going to do what Nike isn't
doing." Wilner notes that sales at Dunk.net "are expected
to tip-off this week" (N.Y. POST, 2/16).
NOTES: ESPN's coverage of Sunday's Red Wings-Avalanche
game earned a 1.0 national cable rating, which is the
network's season-high hockey rating and ESPN's 12th highest-
rated NHL regular-season game dating back to '92 (NHL).
...NBC Sports announced that Dan Hicks will replace Dick
Enberg as the network's host of golf telecasts (NBC).
