Ahmad Rashad has extended his deal by four years to co-
host "NBA Inside Stuff," and will add the additional title
of Exec Producer. Rashad will also serve as Exec Producer
for NBA Entertainment-produced specials. NBAE VP/
Programming & Broadcasting Gregg Winik will also serve as an
Exec Producer for "Inside Stuff" and NBAE specials (NBAE).
SIMILAR "STUFF" FOR NFL? BRANWEEK's Terry Lefton
reports that some "shoulder" programming which the NFL is
requiring of its TV partners under their recent deals "has
come to light." During the season, ESPN2 will air "Football
Tonight," a daily news/highlights show, and CBS is "working
with the league" to develop a "year-round youth-oriented
football show a la NBC's NBA Inside Stuff." Lefton: "Expect
the league to package this kind of programming with its
corporate sponsorship deals" (BRANDWEEK, 3/9 issue).
F-1 NOTES: SpeedVision will offer live coverage of the
16 races in the '98 F-1 World Championship, which began last
week with the Grand Prix of Australia. The 16 broadcasts,
which will each consist of a half-hour preview show followed
by two hours of live coverage, concludes with the Japanese
Grand Prix on October 31 (SpeedVision). SpeedVision joins
Fox Sports Net in taking over F-1 TV rights from ESPN, and
on SPEEDNET, Bill Koenig writes that the deal "was so
sudden" FSN "didn't even have announcers" at Saturday's
Australian Grand Prix event, and used SpeedVision's audio
feed. The Australian event had been on ESPN2's schedule
"until last week even though the two sides [ESPN/F-1] hadn't
wrapped a deal" for '98. ESPN spokesperson Dave Nagle: "We
made an aggressive bid to retain the F-1 rights. We are
very disappointed" (Bill Koenig, SPEEDNET, 3/10).
