Fox Sports' $50M lawsuit for breach of contract against the
Bullets, Caps and Orioles may have been filed to give Fox
leverage in persuading Home Team Sports to become one of its Fox
Sports Net affils, according to Leonard Shapiro of the WASHINGTON
POST. Shapiro notes Fox Sports Network launches November 1, but
"at the moment," there are still "several large holes," including
the Washington, New York, Chicago and San Francisco markets
(WASHINGTON POST, 10/18). ...ESPNEWS hired Bob Stevens as a new
anchor, and announced "SportsCenter" anchors Chris McKendry and
Jason Jackson will serve as ESPNEWS anchors. McKendry will
continue to contribute to "SportsCenter" while Jackson will focus
on ESPNEWS (ESPN)....ESPN Enterprises Senior VP Richard Glover is
profiled in BROADCASTING & CABLE. Glover: "Our mission is to
leverage the core assets of ESPN into new and profitable
businesses and enhance those core assets" (BROADCASTING & CABLE,
10/14 issue)....151 cable system operators listed their favorite
new cable networks: TV Land: 71%; Outdoor Life Network: 63%;
MSNBC: 55%; Animal Planet: 48%; Fox News Channel: 43% Classic
Sports Network: 42% (CABLE WORLD, 10/14 issue).
