US West is in talks to buy a 40% stake in Cablevision
Systems Corp., the U.S.'s 6th largest cable operator, operator of
regional sports channels and part-owner of MSG with ITT. The
deal would be for about $600M, according to the WALL STREET
JOURNAL. The investment would affect US West's restructuring of
its relationship with Time Warner (US West owns 25% of Time
Warner's cable and entertainment franchises), but a combination
with Cablevision "would create a potent cable-telephone player
with a broad reach into contiguous markets" (WALL STREET JOURNAL,
7/21)....In Toronto, Rob Longley examines Molson's decision to
move the Maple Leafs to FM station, Q 107. The "tremendous value
is as a marketing vehicle for the brewery," with the rock station
attracting a younger audience (TORONTO SUN, 7/21). ....The WALL
STREET JOURNAL's Kevin Goldman examines ad sales for the upcoming
NFL season, reporting that the Super Bowl is already "well sold
out," according to SFM Media Senior VP Ray Dundas. NBC is said
to be getting prices of as much as $1.2M per 30-second, a 9% rise
over last year's $1.1M (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 7/21)....Frank
Herzog, Sonny Jurgenson and Sam Huff will be back doing Redskins
games when the team moves to WJFK-FM (WASHINGTON POST, 7/21)....
The ATP Tour has officially launched its Web Site, ATP Tour
Online. Address: http:// atptour.com (ATP Tour)....America One
Television has added "FastPitch USA" to its lineup of
programming, which the network provides to independent stations
(America One)....The different cover boys for SI's 12 regional
issues of its NFL '95 special issue -- the "first-ever annual
published by SI": Troy Aikman/Steve Young, Bruce Smith, Kerry
Collins, Chris Zorich, Brett Favre, James Stewart, Drew Bledsoe,
Dave Brown/Mo Lewis, Tim Brown, Ricky Watters, Kevin Greene and
Jerome Bettis (SI).
