NBC AFFILS DON'T NECESSARILY WANT TO PLAY BALL WITH MLB

          NBC's affiliate board "has sent a clear message" to the
     network regarding its negotiations for MLB TV rights,
     according to Nellie Andreeva of the HOLLYWOOD REPORTER.  NBC
     affil board Chair Jack Sander: "We're urging NBC to be very,
     very cautious and very, very conservative in their
     evaluation of baseball as an important franchise for the
     stations, and we'd hope that the network does not overreach
     for a renewal."  Sander said that he "does not approve" of
     MLB's request for a triple in its rights fees "given the
     fact that MLB ratings are good in 10%-15% of the nation, in
     markets where there is a home team on a roll." Sander: "The
     other 85%-plus of the country doesn't do very well with
     baseball because there is so much regional sports, so many
     local contracts, that there's not much uniqueness to that
     product" (HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, 9/15).