DISNEY PULLS A POWER PLAY; FOX READY TO SURRENDER FINAL YEAR OF NHL DEAL.Byline: TOM HOFFARTH The Media Disney, about to make the NHL NHL Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, see there officials the happiest guys on Earth, should find out any day now that its preposterous decision to throw $600 million at the league so it can retain full custody of the TV rights starting with the 1999-2000 season has been approved. As a bonus - or is it a curse? - it'll probably come gift-wrapped with the '98-'99 season as well. The deadline passed a week ago for incumbent NHL rights-holder Fox to match Disney's offer (all it has to do is agree to pay 90 percent of the offer). Fox might be crazy, but it isn't stupid. The network hasn't officially passed, but consider it a pocket veto. The delay in the announcement is caused by Fox's attempt to hit the dump button on the $45 million final year of its five-year, $155 million deal. Fox has lost about $12 million on last season alone. Rupert Murdoch knows all about overpaying for sports TV rights if it means establishing a hold on something worthwhile. A few years ago, Murdoch's troops were convinced the NHL could be the sport of the '90s - they even went so far as to approve a glowing-blue puck. But then those pesky ratings showed - again - that a national package of games, even if sold to viewers as regional broadcasts, aren't worth more than a bunch of shaved ice. Might as well show live coverage of the Miramar Air Show every weekend. Disney's desired need to spend $350 million for the NHL as a staple to ESPN ESPN Entertainment and Sports Programming Network and ESPN2 programming (in addition to a $250 million deal for ABC ABC in full American Broadcasting Co. Major U.S. television network. It began when the expanding national radio network NBC split into the separate Red and Blue networks in 1928. ) is greater than Fox's need to fill a few Saturday or Sunday afternoons in mid-winter. Fox already has what it wants from the NHL - regional team coverage on the Fox Sports Net (with 19 of the 20 teams in the U.S.). Fox will gladly give Disney the package and laugh out loud as it pays three times what Fox feels the deal is worth. And don't think Ted Turner won't have a say in all this Murdoch-Eisner mess eventually. His Atlanta Thrashers join the league next season. NOT-SO-SMALL SOLDIERS In the sports-media octagon, there are plenty of us who actually enjoy getting our brains kicked in once in awhile. Some will even rush out to buy one of those cute little 18-inch DSS (1) (Digital Signature Standard) A National Security Administration standard for authenticating an electronic message. See RSA and digital signature. (2) (Digital Satellite S systems because we enjoy paying hundreds of dollars a month for sports programming. Expect the small dish sales to ignite even more. Because the NFL NFL abbr. National Football League NFL (US) n abbr (= National Football League) → Fußball-Nationalliga is starting up soon? Hardly. Try tonight's Commando Knockout Challenge II, live from the Crown Coliseum in Fayetteville, N.C. (Think Ultimate Fighting Championship This article covers the organization itself. For the inaugural event which went by the same name, see UFC 1. Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is a U.S.-based mixed martial arts (MMA) organization, currently recognized as the largest MMA promotion in the world. meets ``Officer and a Gentleman'' without Debra Winger mucking it up.) Assuming you missed Commando Knockout Challenge I, a brief debriefing: Two teams of 11 military men - Team USA vs. The World Team - slug it out in a ring shaped like (what else?) a pentagon. They can use whatever hand-to-hand combat discipline they feel will achieve the desired effect during the three-round battle. So who's the referee, some guy from Switzerland? The U.S. team will have Navy Seals and Army Special Forces, not George Peppard and Mr. T. The World Team has Russian KGB KGB: see secret police. KGB Russian Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti (“Committee for State Security”) Soviet agency responsible for intelligence, counterintelligence, and internal security. , British SAS (1) (SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, www.sas.com) A software company that specializes in data warehousing and decision support software based on the SAS System. Founded in 1976, SAS is one of the world's largest privately held software companies. See SAS System. and Lebanese Special Commando Force members. In their last battle on Jan. 31, Team USA rallied for a 6-5 victory. How? Don't ask. We won't tell. So let's get this straight: The UFC can't get a license to hold its human cockfights anywhere on U.S. soil because it's considered too barbaric, but if you're on Uncle Sam's payroll, then it's perfectly fine to find some back alley on Tobacco Road to settle these non-Cold War disputes in a manly fashion? Again, they'll deliver an 11-fight card, and each can go the full three 1-1/2-minute rounds. Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is get a dish, turn to USSB USSB United States Satellite Broadcasting USSB United States Shipping Board USSB Upper Single Sideband Channel 905 at 6 p.m. and pay $14.95. Or don't, and go out to see ``Saving Private Ryan'' again. BLAH, BLAH, BLAH AM-1150 will carry Clippers games this season - if there is one - and do so with a new radio voice. The team recently decided not to renew the contract of analyst/play-by-play man Rory Markas. . . Major League Baseball's decision to take back three Sunday night games in September from ESPN that the network had planned to farm out to ESPN2 because of its coverage of NFL games could mean - do you believe in miracles! - one extra Dodgers game shown locally. Channel 5 has first dibs on the Sept. 6 Dodgers-Giants game from Dodger Stadium, but with a 5:05 p.m. start, Fox Sports West 2 will likely get it. ESPN has the scintillating scin·til·late v. scin·til·lat·ed, scin·til·lat·ing, scin·til·lates v.intr. 1. To throw off sparks; flash. 2. To sparkle or shine. See Synonyms at flash. 3. Philadelphia Eagles-Arizona Cardinals matchup that night as the opener to its new full-season NFL Sunday night package. . . No more Tom Kirkland on Fox Sports Net. The anchor has packed up the family and relocated to Salt Lake City, Utah For ships of the United States Navy of the same name, see . Salt Lake City is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. The name of the city is often shortened to Salt Lake, or its initials, S.L.C. , where he'll be the sports director of NBC affiliate KSL-TV. . . Fox sends Saturday's Houston-Chicago baseball game to 48 percent of the country - Randy Johnson starts for the Astros, but Kerry Wood doesn't for the Cubs, going tonight instead. L.A. is among the 29 percent who will take in another potential Dodgers humiliation to the Braves in Atlanta. SOUND BYTES By Tom Hoffarth WHAT SMOKES Since Monday, Time Warner Cable This article or section needs sources or references that appear in reliable, third-party publications. Alone, primary sources and sources affiliated with the subject of this article are not sufficient for an accurate encyclopedia article. in the West San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. has snuck snuck v. Usage Problem A past tense and a past participle of sneak. See Usage Note at sneak. in ``sneak peek'' of ESPN Classic (formerly Classic Sports Network) on Channel 65. Just be warned the freebie runs out at the end of the month. Meantime, all living and breathing viewers are required to call (800) 585-PEEK to let those who monitor such things know that they in fact saw the promotion (even if they're not in Time Warner's coverage), fully embrace the idea and want it added to the system ASAP (chat) asap - As soon as possible. , even (and especially) if it means knocking out the Fox Family Channel. WFTV, the ABC affiliate in Orlando, Fla., has moved the kids' show called ``Young America Outdoors'' from 1 p.m. to 9 a.m. so it can carry live the ArenaBowl XII - HEY, THAT'S AN INDOOR FOOTBALL GAME - between the Orlando Predators and Tampa Bay Storm The Tampa Bay Storm are a member franchise of the Arena Football League. History Along with their traditional rivals, the Orlando Predators, they share the Arena record for the longest tenure by a franchise in a single market area. . If the kids don't want to watch, they can go outside and play. WHAT CHOKES With the addition of live coverage for all four U.S. regional finals that lead up to the most terrifying TV experience any 12-year-old kid must endure this side of having to stand next to Summer Sanders on a Nickelodeon Channel game show, ESPN2 has officially reached the full saturation level at the Little League World Series tournament. The nine pre-final tournament games on ESPN2, starting with two Sunday, are punctuated with team coverage of a made-for-inferior-cable TV All-Star Game as well as a hitting contest Friday, which has traditionally been the only day of the week that the tykes get any sort of free time to enjoy spit-wad contests and drop cherry bombs in the Williamsport, Penn., restrooms. Whatever happened to ABC just covering the final game as part of ``Wide World of Sports'' - and witnessing the robust Chinese Taipei kids drive the U.S. coach to drink in the tiny caged dugout - and then moving on to some cliff diving from Acapulco? WHAT SMOKED ON LOCAL TV The top 10 Nielsen-rated sports events (with their share numbers) on L.A. television from Aug. 13-19: Event Date Station Rt/Sh. (x) NFL: Dallas-New England 8/17 KABC KABC Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children 7.8/15 NFL: Oakland-Green Bay 8/16 Fox 7.5/17 NFL: Seattle-San Fran. 8/15 KCBS KCBS Kansas City Barbecue Society KCBS Korea Christian Book Service (now called KCB; Seoul, Korea) KCBS Kerala Catholic Bible Society (Kerala, India) 6.8/16 PGA Championship: Final rnd. 8/16 KCBS 6.2/15 PGA Championship: 3rd rnd. 8/15 KCBS 5.4/15 Dodgers-Atlanta 8/14 KTLA KTLA KCBS TV in Los Angeles 4.6/9 Dodgers-Atlanta 8/15 Fox 4.1/12 Angels-Toronto 8/14 KCAL 3.9/9 Angels-Toronto 8/13 KCAL 3.2/7 Acura Tennis final 8/16 KNBC KNBC Kings Norton Bowling Club 2.0/5 (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 By Tom Hoffarth (see text) (2) WHAT SMOKED ON LOCAL TV (see text) |
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