AND THEN THERE'S THE FOXY COMPETITION.

Byline: TOM HOFFARTH The Media

If ESPN started it all, Fox wants to have the last word.

Granted, without ESPN's ``SportsCenter,'' there probably wouldn't be a Fox Sports News. But according to those who are the prime competitors for cable-sports viewers, the trick for the ``little company that could'' is to keep its foothold in a very slippery TV environment.

``It's very tough to stay on top because TV is a business where the genres go on but shows don't,'' said John Terenzio, the executive producer of the Los Angeles-based Fox Sports News.

``In TV, longevity is always a scary thing because you feel eventually the run will end. The audience is constantly looking at the new products that arise from the genre. To stay on top is very hard, but that's the challenge.

``ESPN deserves the credit. They're a fantastic cable network and have the strength to keep going strong. But they will have to change with competition to survive.''

In the last five years, Fox Sports has spent more than $1 billion to build a regional sports network geared to do what ESPN does and beyond. Its 22 regional cable stations reach 58 million homes compared to 76 million for ESPN. The third major competitor, CNN, also reaches 76 million homes, but its sports-only CNN-Sports Illustrated channel goes to only 15.2 million homes.

``On one level, we're all the same for the viewer, just as the nightly news is on CBS, NBC and ABC,'' said Terenzio. ``We try to occupy along with a system set up over the prime-time hours that delivers regional news, rather than having a single national sportscast that repeats throughout the night.

``The ratings clearly indicate there is room for both of us. We're still going through a growth spurt. I think competition is great for everyone. David Letterman and Jay Leno are better than if just one of them were the ones to replace Johnny Carson. We see ways they've adjusted to us. It's all the normal growth pattern. And who benefits? The viewer.''

At one point, ESPN tried to emulate Fox's regional blueprint. Two years ago, it introduced plans to start ESPN West, which would be the cable home for the Angels and Mighty Ducks. Three months before its scheduled launch, the plans were scrapped.

ESPN West's failure, industry analysts agree, is a large reason Disney is about to sell both teams.

CNN, meanwhile, has been a distant competitor to ESPN and Fox. Although CNN established credibility first with its half-hour sports-highlight shows inserted into an all-news format, the focus has remained with national news.

``We understand we can get blown out by a live major sports story - they're the monster because they're all-sports,'' said CNN anchor Bob Lorenz, who does many West Coast, 11 p.m. ``Sports Tonight'' shows as well as anchoring NFL and NBA studio shows. ``They may have set a standard for sports programming, but there's no reason to think we can't (do it) and often do it better.''

Because of those three cable beasts, local TV sportscasts continue to become less and less important, unless they play their strong hand - coverage of local sports.

Fox Sports News plans next year to add a local segment from its 22 regional channels incorporated into the national newscast. ESPN hasn't revealed any plans to do the same but hasn't ignored that aspect.

``We can't cover the depth of what goes on locally on our `SportsCenter,' so that puts the challenge back on us,'' said Dick Glover, ESPN's executive vice president of programming. ``Our goal eventually is to be the one source for everything from a rec-league schedule or college football's national championship.''

Bill Seward, a former KCOP and KCBS sportscaster in Los Angeles, went to ESPNEWS because he felt the career path was better laid out.

``With the way ESPN is pointed, it will be increasingly difficult for local sportscasts to keep its audience,'' said Seward. ``In certain markets, the local sportscaster can develop a decent following, but the sportscast itself can't keep up when there's a big dish beaming news 24 hours a day. Who are you going to turn to?

``In a 500-channel universe someday, with the way our lives go, we don't have the ability to watch news at a scheduled time, but something like ESPNEWS will be able to always be there.''

Fox Sports News' most visible and vocal anchor, Keith Olbermann, may have the most unique perspective on this subject, having worked at both CNN and ESPN, plus in the Los Angeles market at KCBS and KTLA.

``It's always been the winner's right to (write) history, and ESPN has been the one writing history,'' said Olbermann.

``Everything in TV is reputation and inertia, and they have a few more years to go to steer out of the skid they've been in. I believe they're totally unprepared for the next wave that TV has to adjust to. I see ESPN as already having peaked.

``Nothing is nationally dominant anymore. If I'm planning ESPN, I'd have ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNEWS divide into an East, Central and West time zone. Otherwise they might collapse under their own national weight. Look what's happening to all news organizations.

``ESPN doesn't have a monopoly anymore. We can quibble about who's got more viewers, whether it's a 5-to-1 ratio or 100-to-1. But a year ago, no one talked about any of that.''

They sure do now.