FILLING IN TOURNEY-COVERAGE GAPS.

Byline: TOM HOFFARTH The Media

CBS' Monopoly board for the NCAA men's basketball tournament finally has a ticket to get out of regional jail.

So what's it worth to ya?

Dishing out feeds of the first three rounds to satellite service DirecTV starting this year was a bit of a concession for the network, which is very protective of its $1 billion investment in the tournament. But because of DirecTV's nonthreatening saturation - the up-and-coming service remains in just one of every 22 TV homes - CBS finally agreed to yield.

When the tournament starts Thursday, those who might feel stuck in a so-called ``area of interest'' but really have no interest in watching - for example, a West Coast-based team in Southern California - have the option of a four-channel subscription package with DirecTV's ``Mega March Mania'' for $39 (all of the first three rounds) or $14.95 a game.

Those who don't order it won't see anything different out of CBS, the network reminds everyone, and you probably won't miss anything important. At least, in theory.

``All network coverage is very valuable and CBS is the proper place for the tournament forever as far as we're concerned,'' said Mike Aresco, CBS' vice president of programming for college sports. ``This closes the circle, so to speak, for the diehard fan and the displaced alumni.''

Aresco said he wasn't sure how much of a demand there is for this option, but ``we heard from viewers and read in papers that people want to see other games sometimes, so we ultimately decided it was time to address it on an experimental basis and see how it goes.

``It's created a lot more preliminary work for us, but one of the things we hope this helps do is strengthen our network model and blunt criticism of the network coverage.

``We still believe the best way to watch is on CBS, where you get a seamless journey that gets the fan involved. But this other way, if there's fan interest in one particular game, he can switch back and forth outside the region.''

From DirecTV's perspective, this is a natural extension of its sports pay service. It has offered regular-season packages of games for all four major pro sports, plus college football and basketball, the WNBA and Major League Soccer. The regular-season college basketball package (ESPN FullCourt) was $49 for hundreds of out-of-market games from Jan. 16 to March 3.

``We're comfortable we can pull it off and they felt comfortable with us,'' said Rob Jacobson, DirecTV's vice president of programming. ``This is really one of the last untapped frontiers in sports TV.''

Jacobson agreed that because DirecTV is in 4.6 million of the more than 100 million TV homes ``really played to our favor.'' DirecTV recently purchased PrimeStar and its 2.3 million customers, those folks won't have access on their services.

To get the word out, DirecTV has been running ads on CBS' college basketball programming and promoting it on CBS SportsLine's Web site. It also hired James Worthy, who'll be doing analyst work for CBS during the tournament, as a spokesman.

But there are a few glitches in the DirecTV service:

If you're a UCLA fan and want to see the entire game, even if it's a blowout, CBS remains the only local outlet. DirecTV not only has to black out that game on its service here, but it can't pick it up if CBS switches to another game.

The 10-plus-hours-a-day coverage of the first round on Thursday and March 12 starts at 9 a.m., and that's work time for many. Is it worth it if you're not around to watch it?

And, for those restaurants and bars that have traditionally pulled CBS' wild feeds off the C-band dish for their customers, they have to take the DirecTV package now.

Anyone without DirecTV can buy it (it's even for lease in some places) in time for Thursday's opening tipoff because installation takes three-to-five days after the purchase of the dish. With current promotional packages, that can cost about $200 for both. It can even be ordered online.

Now, about that big-screen TV. . . .

Tournament showtime: Both CBS' and ESPN's selection shows start at 3:30 p.m. Sunday, but when CBS peels off after a half hour for ``60 Minutes'' in the East, ESPN goes another 60 minutes with its coverage until 5:30 p.m.

As has been the case in recent years, CBS has exclusive rights to the first announcement of the pairings and will do so with host Greg Gumbel and Clark Kellogg.

ESPN, which has had its tournament selection show since 1980, takes the NCAA info and minutes later builds its brackets with host Chris Fowler and analysts Digger Phelps, Dick Vitale and Jay Bilas. ESPN also has a special for the women's pairings at 2 p.m.

SOUND BYTES

By Tom Hoffarth E-mail: sptmediaaol.com

WHAT SMOKES

Attention He-Men-Wommin'-Haters Club: ESPN2 has Beth Mowins - yup, a girl - doing play-by-play on the Big Sky Conference title game (Saturday, 7:30 p.m.). She also did ESPN2's play-by-play on the SEC women's championship last Sunday and the Conference USA women's championship on Monday.

Chicago-based One-On-One's nationwide sports-talk feed, heard locally on AM-1540, has Joe McDonnell on a sort-of tryout tonight in the 11 p.m.-to-3 a.m. hole.

Fred Wallin's weekly sports-business talk show has added Ventura-based affiliate KVTA-AM (1520) Saturdays from 4 to 6 p.m. Wallin has been doing the show for the last two years with affiliates from Portland, Ore., to Miami, Fla.

The KLCS-Channel 58 high school coverage has a L.A. City basketball finals doubleheader tonight and a soccer finals doubleheader Saturday - all with Randy Rosenbloom doing the call. Tonight's basketball starts with the girls' title game (Palisades vs. Washington) at 6 p.m. followed by the boys (Manual Arts vs. Fairfax). Saturday's soccer starts with the girls' Southern Section Division IV final (San Pedro vs. Chatsworth) at 4 p.m. followed by the boys' City final at 6 p.m.

ESPN's ``Baseball Tonight'' returns Monday at 7 p.m. with Karl Ravech, Peter Gammons and Harold Reynolds based at the ESPN Club in Orlando, Fla.

WHAT CHOKES

Just when we got used to seeing Joe Buck on Fox's horse racing shows, the network has trotted out Kenny Albert as the new host, starting with Saturday's coverage of the Santa Anita Handicap (Channel 11, 2 p.m.) Nothing against Albert, but. . . . ``I'm sure some viewers will be apprehensive until they see me do it the first time,'' said Albert, working his first horse racing event. ``I faced the same situation when Fox hired me to do the NFL.'' Adds Fox Sports exec producer Ed Goren: ``Kenny can provide an everyman's curiosity in the booth.'' Which is what Buck did, too, ya know?

Fox continues to horse around with its ``virtual finish line,'' a computer-enhanced orange line that's supposed to mark the most important strip of dirt on the track. Except, as they said when it debuted in the Donn Handicap last month, it's not the actual finish line but about six inches short of it. The Donn finish wasn't close enough to make it useful, so maybe Saturday's race will put it to use.

One of radio's most refreshing promotions - put someone up on a billboard and don't let them come down until (fill in the cause here) - has been brought back by the wily publicity-seeking pranksters at AM-1150. Morning news reader Allie MacKay is atop an 1150 billboard on Lankershim and Chiquita in Universal City. She will stay there - if you can believe it- until the Clippers, whose games are aired into a black hole on the station, win their first game. What, was the Vic Jacobs swallowing-goldfish idea already used? Here's something to try . . . aw, never mind. That would imply we care.

WHAT SMOKED ON LOCAL TV

The top 10 Nielsen-rated sports events (with their share numbers) on L.A. television from Feb. 25 to March 3:

Event Date Station Rt/Sh.x

NBA: Houston at Lakers 2/28 KNBC  10.5/26

a-NBA: Clippers at Lakers 2/26 KCAL  9.5/15

NBA: Lakers at Clippers 2/26 KCAL 9.3/13

NBA: Lakers at Phoenix 3/1 KCAL 7.5/14

NBA: Phoenix at Lakers 3/3 FSW  5.3/7

NBA: Utah at San Antonio 2/28 KNBC 4.6/13

NBA: Orlando at Miami 2/28 KNBC 4.5/12

a-NBA: Clippers at Lakers 2/26 FSW 4.0/6

Golf: World Match Play 2/28 KABC  3.9/11

Golf: World Match Play 2/27 KABC 3.4/9

Note: TBS had a 1.4/3 mark for its coverage of the Lakers-Phoenix game on 3/1.

a-Same game, different broadcast.

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)