Liberty Sports, parent company of Home Sports Entertainment
(HSE), will hold a news conference to announce several changes
within its regional sports networks today in New York. The
changes will affect HSE's identity and programming (HSE)....NCAA
basketball begins on Canada's The Sports Network in December with
five men's games (TSN).... ACOG President and CEO Billy Payne
says the committee is at 83% of its $910M goal for worldwide TV
rights: "We're confident we'll reach it" (Rudy Martzke, USA
TODAY, 11/15). ....BSkyB will price an Initial Public Offering
(IPO) at around $3.73 per share. The IPO will cut News Corp.'s
stake in the satellite-TV network from 50% to 40% (WALL STREET
JOURNAL, 11/15)....Time Warner and US West have purchased stakes
in Japan's Chofu Cable TV unit. Time Warner purchased 15.4%,
Time Warner Entertainment Japan 9.9% and US West 17.9% (WALL
STREET JOURNAL, 11/15)....Fox received its highest game rating of
the season with a 19.0 for the 49ers-Cowboys, significant because
neither Los Angeles nor New York aired the game (N.Y. TIMES,
11/15)....Baltimore CFL fans might not be able to watch their
team in the Eastern division final this weekend. Exclusive U.S.
CFL-carrier ESPN2 will air the Western championship to "try to
build an audience" for the November 27 Grey Cup and showcase
"proven CFL ratings grabber" Doug Flutie. Local telecast rights
are not likely to be bought because stations would have to pass
up more "lucrative" NFL games (Baltimore SUN, 11/15).
