AT&T is selling its stake in DirecTV for $161.8M "and
is getting out of the business of marketing the home"
satellite TV service, the company said. AT&T invested
$137.5M for its 2.5% stake in '96 (WASHINGTON POST, 12/9).
In N.Y., Stephanie Mehta notes company execs "have been
telling people privately that AT&T may seek to invest in one
of DirecTV's cable competitors to beef up its Internet and
local-phone efforts" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 12/9).
NOTES: In N.Y., Richard Sandomir reports that after
January 1, SportsChannel NY will be renamed Fox Sports NY or
Fox SportsChannel NY, as a result of Fox Sports Net's
investment in Cablevision (N.Y. TIMES, 12/9)....In DC,
columnist Tony Kornheiser, on Fox assigning Jerry Glanville
to Sunday's Redskins-Cardinals telecast: "There is national
coverage and regional coverage -- then there's Glanville
coverage. If Glanville's doing a game, Fox is broadcasting
to an area so small that your neighbors across the street
may not get it" (WASHINGTON POST, 12/9)....In San Diego,
columnist Fritz Quindt on The Sporting News' redesign:
"Stapled, printed on improved but still inferior stock, it
resembles Sports Illustrated on steroids. ... The content is
substantive with a dose of fun, a dead ringer for the late,
great The National" (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 12/8).
