In L.A., Sallie Hofmeister reports that NBC will
"unveil a landmark proposal this week" to affils in L.A. "to
phase out nearly" $200M paid to TV stations annually "to
carry its programs" in favor of a new system, which "would
be the most radical restructuring of the economic model
governing broadcasting and affiliates." NBC is trying to
make up for the loss of "Seinfeld," the cost to renew "ER"
and its Olympic and NBA deals (L.A. TIMES, 5/19)....NFL
Sunday Ticket expanded its distribution into the Bahamas via
Cable Bahamas Ltd. (NFL)....Raycom Sports and The Sporting
News will jointly produce, distribute and market TV
programming in '98 and '99. The programming will include
eight one-hour specials branded with TSN's name and hosted
by Pat O'Brien (Raycom Sports)....Speedvision will provide
more than 11 hours of live coverage of the 24 Hours of Le
Mans (Speedvision)....Rosie O'Donnell will narrate
Lifetime's "Intimate Portrait: Rebecca Lobo" before the WNBA
season-opener on June 11 (Lifetime).....In Minneapolis, Jim
Souhan profiles the sports book industry: "Few sports books
are printed in mass quantities or make big profits.
National publishers find few sports subjects worthy of
books. ... Yet sports books fill stores in seemingly
increasing numbers, because sports figures increasingly
crave control over their stories" (STAR TRIBUNE, 5/19).
