TV MONITOR: Last night's 10:00pm ET 60-minute edition of FSN's "National Sports Report" led with NFL Pro Bowl rosters, followed by Knicks-Raptors. "NSR" had 16:34 of total NFL coverage. Last night's 11:00pm ET (late due to NCAA men's basketball) 60-minute edition of ESPN's "SportsCenter" led with Knicks-Raptors, followed by Univ. of WI-Temple Univ. NCAA men's basketball. The first non- basketball report, at 5:57 into the broadcast, was the Pro Bowl rosters. "SportsCenter" had 15:33 of total NFL coverage. Last night's 11:00pm ET 30-minute edition of CNN/SI's "Sports Tonight" was pre-empted due to continuing coverage of Election 2000. "Sports Tonight" will return to CNN at 11:00pm ET on Monday. Total NFL coverage does not include the Rae Carruth murder trial (THE DAILY). CLARIFICATION: Yesterday's "TV Monitor" mischaracterized Wednesday night's lead to FSN's "National Sports Report" on Chargers coach Mike Riley. "NSR" noted a KFMB-TV report in San Diego that Riley had been fired, but also noted the station retracted the report (THE DAILY). In L.A., Larry Stewart notes how a source called KFMB with news of Riley's alleged dismissal, the station ran with it and then retracted the story 35 minutes later. KFMB News Dir Fred D'Ambrosi: "We made some mistakes, and we apologize to our viewers" (L.A. TIMES, 12/15). In San Diego, Jay Posner calls KFMB's action to go with the story before checking it out "unacceptable" (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 12/15). NHL WANTS PARTNERS TO TOUT MARIO: NHL COO Jon Litner said the league wants to "capitalize" on the return of Mario Lemieux to the ice, but to do so "within the constraints of our league rules in terms of our television packages. We want to work with ESPN and ABC to maximize Mario's return to the league. That has come up in our conversations with both ESPN and ABC and the Penguins" (AP, 12/15). NOTES: USA TODAY's Rudy Martzke writes that NBC "has scrapped" the "NBA Showtime" title for the pregame show and will now use "NBA on NBC" for the new "seamless transition from the studio show to games" (USA TODAY, 12/15)....NBC said that its decision to drop two of the six Raptors games from its schedule "is simply coincidence and not an indication it's losing interest in Vince Carter's team." NBC Sports VP/Communications Kevin Sullivan: "It's a routine thing that happens all the time" (TORONTO STAR, 12/15)....In Worcester, Bill Doyle wrote that NESN will be added to the expanded basic tier service for Charter Communications in Worcester and most of Worcester County. The expanded service cost will increase $4.95 per month to $28.66. The fee is "on top of" the $9.95 cost of the basic tier service (Worcester TELEGRAM & GAZETTE, 12/14)....FSN and Comcast Cable of Albuquerque reached agreement to launch FSN on Comcast's expanded basic programming lineup (FSN)....In Minneapolis, Judd Zulgad writes that the Twins and T'Wolves "have been talking over the past several months about pooling" their TV rights or creating their own RSN when their cable contracts expire (STAR TRIBUNE, 12/15). DETAILS ON CONFERENCE USA DEAL: In Houston, David Barron writes on Conference USA's eight-year football and basketball deal with ESPN (see THE DAILY, 12/12), and notes that industry sources estimate its value at $85M, with ABC adding another $1.5M per year if the league adds a football championship game. Other sources valued the deal at $6.5- $7M annually (HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 12/15).
