Variety reported that advertising costs for top network
shows "are going down," and that a 30-second spot on ABC's
"perennially top-ranked" series, "Monday Night Football"
costs $330,000, down 17.5% from the $400,000 cost last year
(John Carmody, WASHINGTON POST, 9/10)....Despite the ABL's
new TV deal with Fox Sports Net, Fox's Denise Seomin said
that team TV packages of the 20 NBA teams on Fox Sports Net
will pre-empt live ABL games. Asked if the Fox deal with the
ABL hurt its chances of securing a place in an NBA package,
NBA VP Brian McIntyre said, "Only (Commissioner) David Stern
knows" (USA TODAY, 9/10)....CNNfn Sports Inc. host Sean
Callebs is leaving CNNfn to become a national correspondent
for CNN Headline News (Newark STAR-LEDGER, 9/9)....ESPN-The
Store is set to open next Tuesday in Southern CA. Three
other ESPN stores are planned in '98 (Mult., 9/10)....Comcast
SportsNet announced a 90-minute weekday show called, "The
Daily News Live," featuring columnists and reporters from the
Philadelphia Daily News from 5:00-6:30pm Monday-Friday. The
show will be hosted by Comcast anchor Michael Barkann
(Comcast SportsNet). Robert Hall, Publisher of Philadelphia
Newspapers Inc., which produces the Daily News: "Hopefully,
the show will build readership for the papers. It's an
opportunity for the Daily News to reach an audience it might
not otherwise reach" (PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS, 9/9).
