TV MONITOR: Last night's 10:00pm ET 60-minute edition
of FSN's "National Sports Report" led with a 7:53 report on
the U.S. Open, followed by White Sox-Yankees and D'Backs-
Rockies. "NSR" had 13:23 of total U.S. Open coverage. Last
night's 11:00pm ET 30-minute edition of CNN/SI's "Sports
Tonight" led with a 3:17 report on the U.S. Open, followed
by White Sox-Yankees and Blue Jays-Red Sox. "Sports
Tonight" had 6:59 of total U.S. Open coverage. Last night's
11:00pm ET 60-minute edition of ESPN's "SportsCenter" led
with a 9:37 report on the U.S. Open, followed by White Sox-
Yankees and Blue Jays-Red Sox. "SportsCenter" had 14:02 of
total U.S. Open coverage. Following "SportsCenter," ESPN
had a one-hour U.S. Open highlights show (THE DAILY).
NASCAR MOVES FORWARD WITH TV PLANS: In Winston-Salem,
Mike Mulhern wrote that it "now appears that two key
aspects" of NASCAR's TV deals with Fox and NBC "will be the
pre-race and post-race shows." NASCAR would like the two
nets to do a one-hour pre-race show each weekend and 30-
minute post race shows. One option "apparently being
considered" is to close the Winston Cup garage area during
those two shows to all media except the primary network and
to require all drivers to remain in the garage for that 30
minutes after the race for that show. Mulhern noted that
there are "strong indications" that NASCAR, Fox and NBC will
"do whatever they can to discourage" rival TV networks from
showing their own pre-race shows (W-S JOURNAL, 6/18).
NOTES: In N.Y., Keith Kelly reported that 24 pages from
the June 12 Time magazine issue "were accidentally bound
into some editions of the June 19" SI. The magazines
"apparently were mailed without anyone noticing," but an SI
spokesperson "insists the mistake was not widespread" (N.Y.
POST, 6/18)....In Seattle, Ron Judd, on FSN's "Regional
Sports Report": "Earth to Fox Sports Net: Message received.
Shut up about it, already. ... The show hasn't earned a
right to crow about itself, at least until it gets the
basics right." Judd, noting that a running sports ticker
during Thursday's debut show "reversed the score" of the
Storm-Monarchs game: "Bottom line: The promise is there.
But so far that's all it is" (SEATTLE TIMES, 6/18)....In
N.Y., Bob Raissman wrote that WFAN's Mike Francesa and Chris
Russo "are barely speaking to each other off the air. Early
last week, they were called into a closed-door meeting with
WFAN GM Lee Davis and program director Mark Chernoff. The
powwow was designed to clear the air. The air is still
polluted" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 6/18)....In Columbus, Craig Merz
noted ESPN2's debut tonight of "ExtraTime" at 11:00pm ET.
ESPN VP/Programming Steve Risser, on the show: "It's the
best of MLS for the week. I'm careful not to call it a
highlight show. It's not the Baseball Tonight of soccer."
ESPN soccer reporter Rob Stone will host the show, while
former MLSer Roy Wegerle will provide analysis. Veteran
announcer Phil Schoen will do play-by-play of the "condensed
game," while ESPN Magazine's Jeff Bradley will provide MLS
"inside information" (COLUMBUS DISPATCH, 6/18).
