ESPN SAYS MORE LOCAL INVENTORY SHOULD RESULT IN $100M BOOST

          ESPN's affiliate sales execs "are projecting that its
     uptick in local avails within 'SportsCenter' ... should
     translate into an additional" $100M per year in ad revenues
     for affils, according to Jim Forkan of MULTICHANNEL NEWS.
     ESPN said last year that it would give affils one extra
     minute of local "SportsCenter" avails starting this month,
     for a total of three local commercial minutes per hour. 
     That extra minute will be available in "SportsCenters" which
     run an hour or more only. To help operators sell the extra
     avails, ESPN has sent "SportsCenter 2000" affil kits,
     including video cassettes, print presentations, and other
     printed materials.  A video clip refers to "SportsCenter"'s
     avails as affils' "Local Weapon."  N.Y.'s Time Warner
     CityCable President Larry Fischer said "SportsCenter" is
     consistently "one of the most well-sold areas of our system. 
     We get premium rates for it" (MULTICHANNEL NEWS, 3/20).