NEWS LITE : NAMES IN THE NEWS BRYANT GUMBLE CHANGING CHANNELS.

CBS is expected to announce today that it is signing Bryant Gumbel, the longtime anchor of NBC's ``Today'' program, to a contract that will bring him to CBS News.

The network is planning to introduce Gumbel at a news conference today, several executives from CBS and other networks said Wednesday night.

The announcement would conclude a long wooing process that involved NBC, CBS and ABC, all of which were pursuing Gumbel. He resigned from ``Today'' in January after 15 years, the longest tenure of any anchor in that program's history.

Neither Gumbel nor his agent, Ed Hookstratten, returned calls Wednesday night. CBS executives would not confirm that the announcement was being made.

But network executives close to Gumbel said a deal has been concluded. Though the exact terms have not been disclosed, these executives, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that Gumbel was expected to be given a prime-time program on CBS, as well as a news and interview program that would be syndicated to local stations through Eyemark, an arm of CBS.

CBS owns 14 television stations that reach about 31 percent of the television homes in the country. That is the largest group owned by any network, which enables a syndicated show to start with a significant base to build on.

Critics have long identified Gumbel as one of television's leading interviewers. But news-oriented programs have not had much success in syndication in the past.

Gumbel apparently will not be given a correspondent's role on ``60 Minutes.'' Don Hewitt, the program's executive producer, said Wednesday that Gumbel had not been promised a regular role on his program.

The executives close to Gumbel said that the CBS deal was expected to pay him more than $5 million a year, possibly including stock options.

Cage's $446,820 car is low on miles

Oscar-winning actor Nicolas Cage paid $446,820 at an auction Wednesday for a rare 1971 Lamborghini Miura SVJ owned by the late shah of Iran.

Cage, bidding by phone from the United States, paid almost double the estimated value of the car, the crown jewel of the shah's collection.

It was the most expensive car sold in auction in Europe this year.

The car was sold Wednesday in Geneva. A London-based auction house.

Painted a metallic burgundy, it was the first of only four SVJs built. Finished to the shah's specifications, it remained in the Imperial garage and was driven only 1,897 miles in 25 years.

The shah once owned about 3,000 cars, but Islamic revolutionaries seized them after overthrowing him in 1979.

Museum strikes gold

A pair of 100-year-old jeans were hand-delivered to the Levi's Strauss museum Wednesday after the company paid $25,000 for the rare find.

The San Francisco-based company now owns the two oldest pairs of Levi's known in existence.

Company officials plan to clean the newly bought pair - apparently once owned by a coal miner in Colorado - and display it near one almost the same age, but in poorer condition.

The jeans will be encased in glass and placed under 24-hour security at Levi's headquarters, where it will be displayed.

``When we acquire something from the 19th century it's like finding a first folio of Shakespeare or the first pressing of an Elvis record,'' company historian Lynn Downey said. ``I'm just thrilled.''

The acquisition of the jeans is important because the company lost most of its inventory in the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake and fire.

The jeans, which have a single back pocket and a leather patch on the waistband, were found in remarkably good shape in November by someone combing an old mine. The pair dates from 1886 to 1902, when the jeans cost about $1.25.

The person that found the jeans sold them for $10,000. Another investor paid $15,000, and the owners of What Comes Around Goes Around, a vintage apparel store in Manhattan, paid $20,000.

``The biggest market for vintage jeans is Japan, but I wanted to keep them in the country,'' said Seth Weisser, co-owner of the store. ``I called Levi's and overnighted them pictures. They seemed overwhelmed with happiness. They probably would have paid $40,000.''

Campbell, her pelt ousted by

animal group

Naomi Campbell has been ditched from PETA's ``I'd rather go naked than wear fur'' campaign because she dared to wear fur. Twice. Campbell and a few of her fellow human hangers - including Elle Macpherson and Claudia Schiffer - had posed naked and vowed not to model or wear fur - all for the sake of the animals skinned so some too-thin and too-rich matron can toss the remains across her bony shoulders.

So jaws dropped when Campbell sashayed across the runway in animal skin. The first time, she claimed she thought it was fake. Then, when she again furred up at the recent Fendi show in Milan, Italy, the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals didn't even wait for her excuse. It fired her pronto.

``I don't know what you're taking,'' PETA head Dan Matthews wrote to her, ``but it's not an ethics course.'' The British Guardian newspaper spilled the beans by running a photo of Campbell draped in luxurious Russian sable.

CAPTION(S):

3 Photos

Photo: (1) GUMBEL

(2) Levi Strauss paid $25,000 for these jeans, which are about 100 years old.

Associated Press

(3) Model Naomi Campbell fur-clad.