TV MONITOR: Last night's 10:00pm ET 60-minute edition
of FSN's "National Sports Report" led with a 4:46 preview of
the World Series, followed by MLB Giants manager Dusty Baker
signing a contract extension. "NSR" had 15:14 of total
World Series coverage. Last night's 11:00pm ET 30-minute
edition of CNN/SI's "Sports Tonight" led with the Presidents
Cup, followed by a 3:52 World Series preview. "Sports
Tonight" had 4:48 of total World Series coverage. Last
night's 11:30pm ET (late due to NFL) 60-minute edition of
ESPN's "SportsCenter" led with Lions-Bucs, followed by an
injury report on Browns QB Tim Couch. "SportsCenter" had
11:20 of total World Series coverage (THE DAILY).
ESPN: In L.A., Craig Tomashoff examines ESPN Classic
and writes the "retro approach seems to be paying off," as
the network's subscriber base has increased from seven
million homes to roughly 30 million. ESPN Classic Exec VP &
GM Mark Shapiro said that "nearly half" of the network's
viewers are between the ages of 18-34, "a discovery that
shocked channel executives" (L.A. TIMES, 10/20).
NOTES: DAILY VARIETY's Marcelo Cajueiro reports that
ESPN, Fox Sports Int'l and Globosat will invest a combined
$40M in their new ESPN Fox Sports 24-hour sports network in
Brazil (DAILY VARIETY, 10/20)....In Philadelphia, Bill
Fleischman: "Look for John Madden to be part of the Fox
Daytona 500 telecast in February." Asked by network
officials to be involved, Madden said, "I'd like to be
there" (THATSRACIN.COM, 10/19)....In Atlanta, Prentis Rogers
reports that Showtime is hoping for PPV buys of around
700,000 or higher for Friday's Mike Tyson-Andrew Golata
fight. But "given no title is at stake and the decline in
Mike Tyson's popularity, the network will be lucky to get
500,000 buys" (ATLANTA CONSTITUTION 10/20).
