ELECTRONIC MEDIA presents its Special Report on "Sports
on TV," which leads with Phil Rosenthal's examination of
today's sportscaster under the header, "Everybody's A
Comedian." In addition, EM's Steve Donohue profiles the
state of the WTA Tour under the header, "Women's Tennis At
The Top Of Its Game." Heading into Wimbledon last summer,
HBO Sports "decided to increase its ratio of women's to
men's coverage to 60-40 to satisfy viewer demand for women's
matches." The tournament ratings increased 18% to a 1.9
from a 1.6 in '97. HBO Sports Senior VP & Exec Producer
Ross Greenburg said that the "network may up its ratio again
this summer to 70-30." Greenburg: "We'll be heavily
weighted to the women once again in Wimbledon -- no question
about it." EM's Lee Hall gauges the impact of the NBA
lockout on TV partners/advertisers, while Donohue previews
the upcoming MLB season. ESPN Senior VP/Ad Sales Jeffrey
Mahl said that he has signed more advertisers to full-season
packages by March than he had this time last year. Mahl,
noting that McDonald's, Pep Boys, Valvoline and Loews all
bought time: "We are very heavily sold" (EM, 3/22 issue).
