Bob Costas, on the format for his new HBO show debuting
in February: "We'll take some issue or topic and examine it
in depth. One hour, once a week. Some of them might be in
the 'Nightline' format, with a setup piece by a
correspondent and then I interview several people. We'll
maybe have a town meeting once in a while. And if someone
is available -- a Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan ... the
commissioner of the NFL -- and they want to do an in-depth
interview, maybe that's what it is. The format's flexible
enough to fit whatever's of interest. And of course you
don't have any commercials. So if you have an hour, you've
really got about 58 minutes, which is a luxury you never get
on network television" (N.Y. POST, 7/16).
NAMES: ESPN announcers Jack Edwards and Ty Keough
called most of Sunday's Guatemala-USA World Cup qualifying
match from the network's Bristol, CT, studios with the help
the feed from Guatemalan TV. But USA TODAY's Gary Graves
writes that "some viewers were left with the impression that
both announcers were in Guatemala, especially with reports
of temperatures in the city." Edwards: "If I implied that
we were there to the audience, then I apologize to them"
(USA TODAY, 7/17)....In DC, Leonard Shapiro notes some
"sniping from competitors" about the "close relationship"
between WRC-NBC sportscaster Sonny Jurgensen and Redskins
Owner Daniel Snyder. But Jurgensen dismisses the criticism:
"I'm not out there to scoop anyone or break stories. It's
not what I do. It's not what I want to do. ... Yes, I know
a lot of stuff, but if I told you about it (on the air), I
wouldn't know it for very long" (WASHINGTON POST, 7/17).
