A VISUAL JOURNEY WORTH CAPTURING; IS WOMEN'S PROGRAMMING FINALLY PAYING OFF FOR ABC?

Byline: TOM HOFFARTH The Media

Oh, remember the goose bumps viewers had all across America when the U.S. women's soccer team captured the gold medal at the '96 Olympics?

It's more like goose eggs.

Unless you were there to witness the darn thing (here's the test: who the heck did the U.S. play in the title game?) there wasn't any way to see it. NBC's virtually live coverage of the '96 Atlanta Games might have included a few highlight snippets from the game, but that's about how it covered the U.S. women's softball gold-medal game, too.

Blame the network, which in part is responsible. But in its defense, it really had no data to justify live coverage of a women's team event. With so many other things going on - including a park bombing - that game, as well as the tournament, was lost in the mix.

This comes up again because ABC and ESPN have captured what executive producer Geoff Mason loves to call lighting in a bottle. Both networks have made the U.S. national team's run to the FIFA Women's World Cup soccer title game Saturday a completely different visual journey.

``Absolutely, television is the reason,'' ABC/ESPN soccer play-by-play man J.P. Dellacamera said when asked why more people know about this team today even though the core is the same squad from '96. ``Going back to the 1995 Women's World Cup, we did five games total (on ESPN) and that was it. We couldn't give any kind of overview then. Now by televising every game there's so much media attention - even David Letterman is talking about it every night.''

Dellacamera adds he's ``always disappointed when there's a big event and they don't give soccer full coverage. NBC will have to do it differently in the next Olympics (a year from now from Australia) partially because of the feedback. Those numbers don't lie.''

The early, microscopic TV ratings have finally gotten better. The U.S.-Brazil contest on the Fourth of July was the most-watched soccer telecast ever on ESPN - 2.9 million homes, based on a 3.8 rating. Back in '94, the U.S. men's World Cup win over Colombia was viewed in 2.7 million homes, according to Nielsen research. For the tournament, ESPN has averaged a 1.45 rating (1.1 million homes) on seven telecasts; ESPN2 has a 0.54 rating (347,700 homes) for the 22 broadcasts that included the U.S.-North Korea match on June 27.

And - surprise - buried in those stats is the fact that nearly two of every three viewers are men, who are used to grazing on ESPN and will watch whatever fodder is on.

ABC won't attempt to guess what the ratings will be for Saturday's President Clinton-attended final between the U.S. and China, basically because it doesn't want Nielsen-ratings comparisons to other sports.

``I know ratings are a measure of success in this business, but from what I gather, the programming people who analyze this are thrilled,'' said Mason. ``In my opinion, the ratings are respectable, but what do I know? I'm just worried about production. We've surpassed expectations.''

Going from here: Just as Disney's ABC/ESPN broadcasting combo has helped prop up the men's Major League Soccer as a programming option based on the success of the '94 World Cup, there's speculation that the networks will go one step further to help support a women's pro league - possibly going so far as to own and operate the venture.

``I've heard nothing to indicate it, but in this business of a virtual explosion of programming alternatives, maybe it's a good idea,'' said Mason. ``I'm not surprised by anything.''

He concluded: ``I guess it speaks about a new world where . . . Title IX has made things different and, among other things, catalyzed aggressive approaches that have resulted in wonderful opportunities. This is an example of the kinds of achievements women in sports are capable of. This is only a precursor. You'll see more of them.''

Consider yourself warned.

Down to the last (Media) One: Fox Sports West 2's Dodgers coverage for the rest of the season has been picked up by all Southern California-area cable operators except the 500,000 customers in the Media One area that covers the Hollywood and South Bay areas. A Media One spokesperson doesn't expect an agreement anytime soon and Media One vice president of marketing Scott Tenney is quoted in this week's Los Angeles Business Journal as saying he feels Fox has ``held us hostage'' and it ``looks unlikely that we'll carry the extra games.''

Today, Fox expects to have a reworked agreement with Marcus/Charter, the system that covers Glendale and Burbank and was at the eye of the storm when the increased-cost issue came up several weeks ago. Talks actually began after Fox, acting in good faith, agreed to resume its cable feed to the system last Friday. Hoping to smooth over all hard feelings between the cable company and the customers, Fox and Marcus/Charter will likely co-sponsor a Dodgers-ticket giveaway for new subscribers next month.

Prior to the Dodgers-Rockies telecast Tuesday, which was the deadline for implementing the second 40 games of the 80-game Dodgers package, Fox reached an agreement with Time-Warner, which covers much of the West San Fernando Valley. TCI, which covers most of the East Valley, was on board from the beginning.

SOUND BYTES

By Tom Hoffarth E-mail: sptmediaaol.com

WHAT SMOKES

As much as we'd have loved to hear him rant again four hours a day, Joe McDonnell will stay anchored at KFWB. Two weeks ago, he and Doug Krikorian were all but set to restart their weekday afternoon sports-talk show at One-On-One's KCTA-AM (1540). But after KFWB gave McDonnell a day to think about it, he decided it wasn't worth leaving the stable all-news station. ``It was going to be a revenge thing,'' admitted McDonnell, who salivated at the idea of going up against the station that fired him, AM-1150. ``But why let them still control me? I can do my thing - be a journalist and do commentaries at KFWB. They would have let me out of my contract, but it would be idiotic to blow this job off at this point. Burning KXTA wasn't enough of a reason to leave.''

Let's hope KTLA Channel 5 doesn't give up so quickly on new weekend anchor Claudia Trejos. Based on her first day on the air last weekend, she just has one real shortcoming - she doesn't speak English. Once she gets past that, it'll surely be muy bien, si?

WHAT CHOKES

I want my mummy: Apparently exhausting her talents at Fox after raiding tombs in Egypt, Suzy Kolber has left the network after 2-1/2 years and will return to ESPN in August to co-anchor the 3:30 p.m. ``SportsCenter'' and work as the network's NFL reporter.

Fox Sports' catch-and-release philosophy continues with the announcement that it will televise the $3.5 million Ranger Millennium M1 Bass Tournament in early November. The 90-minute broadcast, which will air before or after that day's NFL telecast, also includes an unprecedented hour of live network coverage from the action. Is Kolber sure she wants to leave so soon?

Something you can count on not making the KTLA Channel 5 ``News At 10'' highlight reel: Recently deposed sportscaster Ed Arnold will be recognized for his 30-plus years of broadcasting and community service with a tribute on Wednesday sponsored by the Los Angeles Sports & Entertainment Commission in downtown L.A.

WHAT SMOKED ON LOCAL TV

The top 10 Nielsen-rated sports events (with their share numbers) on L.A. television from July 1-7:

Event Date Station Rt/Sh. x

Wimbledon: Men's/women's final 7/4 KNBC 7.2/25

Wimbledon: Men's/women's semis 7/3 KNBC 5.3/21

MLB: Dodgers at Colorado 7/5 KTLA 5.0/9

Wimbledon: Men's quarters 7/1 KNBC 4.0/13

PGA: Motorola Tournament 7/4 KABC 4.0/12

MLB: San Fran. at Dodgers 7/2 KTLA3.9/8

MLB: San Fran. at Dodgers 7/3 KTTV 3.6/11

WWC: U.S.-Brazil 7/4 ESPN 3.5/11

PGA: Motorola Tournament 7/3 KABC 3.1/10

Wimbledon: Women's quarters 7/2 KNBC 3.0/10

Missed the cut

WWC: U.S.-Germany 7/1 ESPN2 3.0/8

Note: The July 3 NASCAR Pepsi 400, which received a 5.4 national rating, was 2.0 with a 5 share in L.A.

x One rating point equals 50,092 TV homes in Los Angeles; a share is the percentage of all the TV sets in use at that time.

CAPTION(S):

2 Boxes

Box: (1) SOUND BYTES (See text)

(2) WHAT SMOKED ON LOCAL TV (See text)