TV MONITOR: All three national sports news shows last
night led with Rams-Chiefs, followed by Bills-Vikings. The
first non-NFL report for the 10:00pm ET 60-minute edition of
FSN's "National Sports Report" was the Presidents Cup, at
10:26 into the broadcast. "NSR" had 20:23 of total NFL
coverage and 1:01 of MLB coverage. The first non-NFL report
for the 11:00pm ET 60-minute edition of CNN/SI's "Sports
Tonight" was also the Presidents Cup, coming at 10:35.
"Sports Tonight" had 21:01 of total NFL coverage and 8:28 of
MLB coverage. The first non-NFL report for the 11:00pm ET
90-minute edition of ESPN's "SportsCenter" was the arrest of
Avalanche G Patrick Roy on charges related to domestic
violence, at 14:11. "SportsCenter" had 25:56 of total NFL
coverage and 26:21 of MLB coverage (THE DAILY).
NOTES: In Houston, David Barron writes that the
"giggling over admittedly lovely weather forecaster Jillian
Barberie" by the broadcasters on Fox Sports' NFL pre-game
show is "becoming intolerable. Grow up, gentlemen." But
Barron adds that CBS' "'The NFL Today' wasn't a lot better"
yesterday (HOU. CHRONICLE, 10/23)....NBC's Saturday coverage
of the Presidents Cup earned 3.4/9 overnight Nielsen rating,
31% higher than the 2.6/7 for Saturday coverage in '98 on
CBS. Saturday's rating is the highest Saturday overnight in
the event's history (NBC)....In NC, Mike Mulhern wrote that
the proposed NASCAR Channel "likely will include a nightly
newscast, a la RPM2Night." TV "specialists" say that it
would take "at least" 25 people "to do a first-class job on
such a newscast" (W-S JOURNAL, 10/22)....The Independence
Bowl in Shreveport, LA, which is "in the market for a new
title sponsor" after this year's game, announced a deal with
ESPN to televise the game through 2006 with an option for
2007 (Shreveport TIMES, 10/20).
