Fox Sports Net. - Broadcasting & Cable

With its 22 regional channels reaching 62 million homes, Fox Sports Net continues to expand. Already the sports cable network has outgrown its current Los Angeles and Houston facilities and is in the midst of a major overhaul of both of its operations centers to help support future growth. While Fox has already bought some major equipment for the facilities, Fox Sports Net's Vice President of Technical Operations, Mark Coleman, will have his hands full at this year's NAB.

The network is planning to move into a new Los Angeles master control center by September 1999 and will be expanding its Houston operation, which is expected to be up and running by December. Communications Engineering, Inc., a Newington, Va.-based systems integration firm, is building both facilities.

The two upgraded plants are 601 serial digital component and are based around Sony's Betacam SX format and Tektronix 256x256 routing. They will house all of the master control operations for Fox Sports Net and its regional cable channels, as well as for FX,

Fox Sports Net's new Los Angeles site is around the corner from TCI's National Digital Television Center (NDTC). Since it has a strategic partnership with TCI/Liberty, the sports network plans to move its transmission services from Globecast to NDTC.

Coleman says he hopes to create a seamless interface between the two locations and with its New York partner, Rainbow Media Holdings. Fox Liberty owns 50% of Rainbow Sports, which co-manages several of Fox Sports Net's regional networks.

'We would like to be able to have a virtual network where we could, through our Louth and our HP file servers, call up Los Angeles and Houston and have [the video file] appear at any location,' says Coleman. 'We're also looking to work with some of our providers like HP,' he adds, 'to see how far they have come in their development of WAN connections for our file server technology.'

This year Fox Sports Net has been rolling out its NDS compression system for satellite delivery to cable headends. The headends are equipped with Wegener MPEG-2 based integrated receiver decoders (IRDs).

'Now that we are having all of our product in the digital domain, we would like to be able to look for efficient ways to transport our product across the country for backhaul, says Coleman. 'We will also he looking at delivery systems, whether across land line or satellite, and [using the] efficiencies of the MPEG compression system.'

Compression, he says, has helped the network spend 'the right amount of money in the right place.' Since it began using the NDS 8:1 compression system, Coleman says, Fox Sports Net has turned back seven transponders, and plans to turn back even more transponders this year. Fox Sports Net currently shares 20 transponders with FX and other Fox/Liberty ventures.

Coleman also says he will be looking for digital backhaul services and is interested in seeing what MCI and AT&T have to offer. The network currently uses Vyvx for analog backhaul for live events.

Fox Sports Net uses National Mobile Television's trucks for production. Coleman says he will be looking to see if the company has added anything new to its production units.

Fox Sports also wants to improve its on-air look by adding the latest in broadcast graphics software.

'We use a fair amount of Avid Technology [nonlinear editors], so we need to see how far along they are and to see if there are any new developments in that area,' says Coleman. He will also be looking for software systems that can run regional sports information in the form of a ticker, 'to give it that regional flavor.'

High definition is not among Fox Sports Net's near-term goals. 'As far as I can tell, it's not in our foreseeable future,' Coleman says. 'That's not to say that we won't pick the right time and place to dabble in it.' The network will continue to 'watch the HD phenomenon,' he quickly adds, and upgrade its services whenever the opportunity arises.

FOX SPORTS NET PRIMED TO REVIVE ALL-SPORTS CHANNEL : STATION BREAK WHAT SMOKES.(SPORTS) - Daily News (Los Angeles, CA)

Byline: Tom Hoffarth

Go ahead and poke your head inside the big doors to see what's going on - just like Shaq, Howie and J.B. do on the commercials.

Stage 2 at the old KTTV news studios over on the Fox lot on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood has been transformed into a 5,000-square-foot sports eye-candyland.

Ceiling-to-floor and wall-to-wall banks of TV monitors. A digital ticker scoreline as big as a Westwood theater marquee. A Forum-sized, state-of-the-art video scoreboard hanging overhead. Watch out for that crane - it's a jib camera in the middle of everything, swooping around like a Tilt-a-Whirl.

Toto, we aren't in ``Press Box'' anymore.

Today, when Fox Sports Net comes crashing through the crepe paper, it'll be whooping it up as more than just having its name changed from Prime Sports.

The all-sports cable channel will be at the same place on the tube. The same guys doing the same games - Lakers, Kings, Ducks, USC, UCLA, Clippers, etc. - are back.

But with a Fox ``new attitude'' injection, which started a year ago when Rupert Murdoch's troops scooped up the regional network to help support the backbone of their other now-famous sports dynasty, viewers should forget what used to be and wonder what's going to come next.

Fox Sports News will be the circus hub of activity for Fox Sports Net, which are the seven regional affiliates - including Fox Sports West - that Murdoch bought at the recent Liberty Sports garage sale.

Along with regionals in the Southwest and Northwest, the Rocky Mountains, the Midwest and the East, there are about 20-million cable homes with access. Most, of course, are already plugged in, so it's not like ESPN trying to shove another new and improved juice bar down your throat.

Robert Banagan, the Fox Net V.P. of News, says the toughest part of all this will be coordinating a nightly live jigsaw puzzle with remotes from arenas across the country for updates of games that the other Fox regionals are covering.

``If you're into this, your 6-to-midnight will be spoken for every night,'' said Banagan, the 33-year-old Val Kilmer look-alike who commands a production crew of nearly 200.

The plan starts with a nightly 6-7 p.m. pregame studio show, hosted by Kevin Frazier with former Lakers star James Worthy to comment on the NBA side and ex-NHL headbanger Craig Simpson (what is it with Fox and ``The Simpsons''?) doing hockey insight. It'll feel much like the over-the-air Fox NFL or major-league baseball studio pregame shows - without anyone nicknamed ``Psycho'' or a relative of Harry Caray.

Then comes the game.

Then comes an immediate wrap-up, a combination of highlight packages but spiced up by live player interviews from the locker room and on-site comments from the broadcast teams. If the game ends at 9:42 p.m., no waiting until 10 p.m. for the news, which will be an intricate process of cutaways and standing-by no one of a faint heart should attempt at home.

The ``Fox attitude'' only goes so far, of course. No glowing Ducks pucks. Chick Hearn's partner on Lakers telecasts has not changed his name to ``L.L. Stu-Pac.'' Although it doesn't hurt that Kings analyst Jimmy Fox has that built-in marketing thing going for him.

In head-to-head competition with ESPN ``SportsCenter'' or CNN's ``Sports Tonight'' - plus the 24-hour all-sports news channels each will have launched by year's end - you'd think this sensory overload would put sports junkies into an optical coma.

``ESPN deserves the respect for how they've defined what sports news has become,'' said Banagan, a former feature producer for ``Baseball Tonight'' on ESPN. ``But we're not real competitors with them. What will motivate a Lakers fan to turn the channel after a game if they can get more in-depth Lakers news from our sources?

``We have to play to our strengths - the teams and the loyalty of the fans. And we have here network-quality TV for regional carriers.''

Alan Massengale, an original ``Press Box'' anchor, co-hosts the 10 p.m. to midnight show with former ESPN2 staffer Suzy Kolber. But the fact that less than half of the Prime Sports ``Press Box'' crew are included in the Fox Sports News renovation also indicates the new sign on the Santa Monica Boulevard offices in Century City isn't just for decoration.

``The one thing that won't change here is the local focus,'' said Kitty Cohen, the Fox Sports West general manager, who also hinted about increased high school coverage. ``We've had high-quality production, but Fox takes us to the next level.''

Tom Reilly, the former ``Press Box'' headman who has become the executive producer of assignments and special projects on Fox Sports News, was there at the humble beginning of ESPN's ``SportsCenter'' 17 years ago.

``This is nothing like that,'' he said, as he scanned the scurry of activity from his office.

``Nothing like this has ever been attempted,'' adds Banagan. ``It's not `Press Box' with new graphics. It's an entirely new visually and audio stimulating sports news and entertainment vehicle.''

Which trickles down to the print ads that suggest you boys go ahead and dump your girlfriend if she suggests you're watching too much sports on TV.

Hmmm. Sports or girls . . .

By the way, knuckleheads. It's just a joke. You can take this testosterone 'tude too seriously.

The dispute over why NFL ratings are taking a slide this season. Fox and NBC have been questioning the methods that Nielsen Research uses. Nielsen says its system is working just fine. Now, according to Inside Media, the two say the way Nielsen recruits new families to use the service is messing them up. Nielsen is trying to get more families in its 5,000-home sampling. According to Nick Schiavone, the Senior VP/Research for NBC, this is lowing NFL ratings. ``(It is) skewing homes to better educated, higher income (families) that watch less football.'' No duh.

One city's ex-team is another city's problem. At last count, the Raiders were 6,000 tickets short of selling out Monday night's home game against Denver, meaning ABC would have to black out the contest in the Bay Area if those duckets don't go. Sound familiar? In all three home games this season, the Raiders have failed to sell out, meaning Fox and NBC have had to black out the games locally.

What chokes

The birthing of ESPNEWS out into the big bad world. Initial indications are that Madonna's new baby will be seen by more people. ESPN says 1.5 million homes nationwide will get it - mostly satellite dish owners. Marcus Cable, which has a system in Glendale, says the soonest it'll have the third ESPN channel is Jan. 1. Today at 4 p.m., ESPN will step aside to simulcast parts of the new channel - ESPN2 did some of that Thursday - which gives viewers a snippet of what they could be seeing. ESPN, which reaches 70 million homes, maintains that ``consumer demand'' is the reason for this No. 3 son. It's not a bad idea. The production looks slick and simple. But it's that kind of thinking that has ``Nick at Night'' doing a tribute next week to the comic genius of the late Morey Amsterdam.

The way TV folks size up Fox's World Series ratings. The headlines scream that the six-game series drew a 17.4 mark/29 share - the third-smallest ratings ever for the Fall Classic. That's baseball's image problem rather than a reflection of Fox's production. The prime-time TV ratings for Oct. 21-27 show World Series Games 6, 5, 4 and 3 were the country's top four-rated shows of the week. Which again isn't that impressive when the TV world is littered with ``Townies,'' ``Mr. Rhodes'' and ``Clueless.'' How about the fact that the World Series outdrew NBC's coverage of the '96 NBA finals (16.7)? But wasn't the Chicago Bulls beating up on the Seattle SuperSonics kind of anti-climatic, and didn't this World Series involve the No. 1 TV market and the city that just hosted the Summer Olympics? You see. There's an element of ``Spin City'' to everything in TV ratings-speak.

The ``discovery'' Los Angeles magazine made in its November issue: Scott Ferrall is making noise on the radio!

A half-hearted attempt to enlighten readers about the KLSX-FM Lipstick City self-made phenomenon is mostly a rehash of the hash you've seen before on him - except why he was canned by XTRA-AM. (Actually, a second- and third-listen to Ferrall over the past few months shows that when he mellows out and actually talks to readers, he's pretty darn smart. And no one picks football games like he does.)

CAPTION(S):

Box

Fox's big interactive game plan.(FOX Sports Net to introduce interactive TV) - Broadcasting & Cable

New Sports Active and Sports Extra will let fans use set-tops to select info, camera angles

In 1994, Fox Sports joined the TV sports landscape with lots of bells and whistles and hockey pucks that glowed. Unusual graphics, specially designed animation and even the Fox Box--which allowed viewers to know a game's score from the opening bell--were the Fox Sports signatures.

Now, Fox Sports is trying to make waves again: Coming to a digital set-top box near you in 2001 are Fox Sports Extra and Fox Sports Active, interactive services designed for the couch-potato quarterback to customize his viewing experience, or instantly get the scores and data he wants. Fox will be meeting informally with MSOs at the Western Show in Los Angeles this week to spell out more details.

With the two digital TV enhancements, viewers will be able to use their remote control to A) personalize their on-screen sports ticker; B) watch replays at will; and C) choose from which camera angle they want to watch a live game.

The interactive services also will allow viewers to order a pizza or buy movie tickets or a team's jersey, without even changing the channel. Fox will deal with cable and DBS operators to split revenues or cede commercial time in exchange for carriage.

If Fox Sports' interactive plans work, other Fox cable properties are waiting in the on-deck circle and will likely get interactive bells and whistles by the end of 2001, starting with Fox News and expanding to soon-to-be-launched National Geographic Channel and other co-owned cable networks like Health Net/Web MD, EX and Fox Family Channel.

Fox Sports Extra and Fox Sports Active are designed to accompany the 22 regional Fox Sports Net cable channels and select sporting events on Fox Broadcasting Co., like the Super Bowl or World Series. They are not separate networks or channels; rather they are digital attachments that take up a fraction of the bandwidth that cable operators use to beam Fox Sports Net to subscribers.

Two interactive services could be coming into digital households within the next several months. Logically, because DBS systems--already all digital--could act on Fox's interactive plans almost immediately and also need a competitive edge over cable, it is likely some of Fox's first deals could come there.

Fox Sports' coverage of the Daytona 500 in February will likely be the network's first interactive event. Digital viewers will be given the option to watch the race from cameras mounted in each car and from various vantage points around the track.

With its new contract with Major League Baseball, it's also safe to assume the World Series will he an interactive showcase over the next several years.

'I think people really do want this,' says Fox Sports Net President Tracy Dolgin. 'The most important thing that interactive TV is is a stickiness device for both the TV experience itself and a stickiness device for the programming that's on the TV as well Everything that we are doing to make the TV interactive, just makes the use of the TV more.'

SKY HAS BEEN THERE

Fox Sports programmers in the U.S. are not the first News Corp. entity to get going on the interactive front: Co-owned British Sky Broadcasting in London has been offering 4 million digital customers in the UK similar services for over a year and a half. Already up and running are Sky Sports Active and Sky News Extra, which allow viewers to choose camera angles and replays on popular soccer games and also receive added news coverage, including weather, entertainment and health segments.

'Fox has invested significant money and time and working on this first generation of interactive television services,' says Steven Kuo, Fox TV's senior vice president of business development. 'That's why we think we have a competitive advantage versus the other guys, not only because of the types of genres that we are talking about--sports and news--where we are already strong, but also because of all this expertise that we have within the News Corp. family, especially with Sky's experience in the field.'

Kuo and Eric Shanks, Fox TV's vice president of enhanced programming, have made numerous trips from their Los Angeles offices to London to learn from their colleagues at Sky.

Along with a quickly expanding staff in Los Angeles, the executives have put together business plans for the domestic interactive enhancements.

Fox Sports Extra, which will be the first service made available to U.S. digital viewers, is a combination of data and limited video. With Extra, viewers will tune to their Fox Sports Net channel and then click on the enhancement-pushing the incoming Fox Sports Net feed into the upper-right corner and filling the rest of the screen with what basically amounts to an Internet page of information.

Viewers can customize their own sports ticker and choose what scores and information they want to appear on their screen. During games, Fox Sports Extra viewers will be able to choose from different replay choices and even call up entire first-quarter or selected periods for replays. There are also trivia games and fantasy-league columns filled with statistics on individual players.

'Fox Sports Extra will always be available to viewers. It'll always be there for a quick fix of sports and news services,' says Shanks.

'Fox Sports Active is when you are watching a baseball game or a football game and you are interacting directly with that game. In a football game, for example, if the announcers are talking about one particular player, you can select with your remote which camera angle you want to look at that player with. You control your viewing experience.'

Highlights from the game the viewer is watching, as well as video highlights from other games and different sports, will be available with the touch of a button, Fox executives say.

Because a separate control room will need to be established to handle the video feeds from the game site, Fox Sports Active will not be offered on every game.

Both Fox Sports Extra and Active will be run out of Fox Sports' Los Angeles headquarters. When Fox News Extra gets running late in 2001, Fox's New York City offices will be ground zero for the interactive services.

INTERACTIVE LAUNCH

Getting the interactive services up to speed is one thing. Getting the cable operators and DBS providers to carry them is another. Fox sales executives are hearing plenty of questions from MSOs and DBS providers.

* Will it be a special pay service or regular feature for digital subscribers?

* What kind of advertising possibilities are there?

* How much bandwidth does it take up?

Those questions will all be answered, but the first real stumbling block is just getting the two enhancements up and running on all of the different cable and DBS services. Unlike British Sky Broadcasting, which is a DBS service and a content supplier all in one, Fox executives will only be supplying the content-making interactive distribution a tedious chore.

'It's really a mess right now here in the United States, in that there are no standards,' says Shanks. 'It's good that there is competition, and, hopefully, the best solution will win. But right now, it's almost like we produce the NFL on Fox and it only plays on Sony TVs. What if we had to produce five different feeds, one for a Samsung TV, one for a JVC TV? That's exactly the way it is right now interactively with the different MSOs and DBS operators.' Still, Shanks says, he can have the interactive services up and running within two months of an operators' order--he just needs a green light.

Fox executives say that, at least initially, subscribers won't pay. 'I don't think so. We will defer to the judgments of the distributors,' says Lindsay Gardner, executive vice president of affiliate sales and marketing for Fox Cable Networks Group. 'We will create a business model that works for each distributor, and, from our discussions so far, the vast majority of distributors do not intend, at least for the first few years, to make this an added pay service.

Fox executives say advertising opportunities will be ample and British Sky Broadcasting has been successful with pizza delivery and other impulse buys. With each cable deal, Gardner says, there will be different types of advertising and e-commerce deals, some shared between Fox and the operators.

Fox Sports Extra will take up a minimum 5% of what an analog channel consumes; Fox Sports Active, a minimum of 10% of an analog channel's bandwidth.

'When we walk into the operators' offices, we say something that pretty much floors them,' says Gardner. 'We acknowledge that they are going to be contributing scarce bandwidth, which is precious to them, we know that. And what we basically tell them is, you provide us with the bandwidth we'll provide the service. And we offer some opportunities for operators to take some of our content and brand it themselves.'

WILL THEY COME?

Fox executives are dearly bullish on their new interactive ventures but also very cautious. As one top News Corp. executive likes to say, 'We don't want to kill the golden goose' by rushing the product. Fox executives from Sky say viewers only can take so much at a time.

A Fox in Manchester hen house? - San Bernardino County Sun (San Bernardino, CA)

It's the end of the world as they know it ...

We'd like to tell nervous fans in England that they have nothingto fear from foreign ownership of one of their great sportsinstitutions.

But having been through six years of Australian Rupert Murdoch andhis Fox group controlling the Dodgers ... we advise Manchester Unitedfans to head for the bomb shelters.

The Fox years were the low ebb in Dodgers fortunes since ... oh,1930s Brooklyn. Enormous payrolls, mediocre and unlovable teams,dopey management. (Does the name Kevin 'Sheriff' Malone ring a bell?)

Murdoch never had seen a ballgame until he bought the Dodgers. Hedidn't care if they won or lost. He bought them only to anchor Fox'snew regional sports stations. That accomplished, he was keen to sell.

So, why did American Malcolm Glazer buy control of the famedsoccer club? Perhaps because it might be a great investment. Sportsfranchises sometimes can be like L.A. real estate. Buy, hold for abit, sell for a big profit.

Of course, Glazer might be out to get Man-U back to beingchampions of the Premier League. And Rupert Murdoch might havechecked the National League standings every morning, too.

People from Manchester are called Mancunians. Just thought you'dlike to know.

Have to give Glazer this: He owns the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, andthey won a Super Bowl on his watch. The Bucs never even played in oneuntil Glazer hired John Gruden away from the Raiders.

We're making headway, as a soccer nation, when many of us haveheard of Manchester United. David Beckham's former team. The RedDevils, all that.

However, we're not as far along as Tim Lieweke, boss of AnschutzEntertainment Group, would suggest.

AEG owns the Galaxy, which signed Landon Donovan. At Donovan'sintroduction, in March, Lieweke said he wants to see Major LeagueSoccer become 'one of the top two leagues in the country.'

Which means MLS will have to pass the NBA, or big-league baseballto get up there with the NFL, and that isn't going to happen inAnschutz's lifetime. Or yours or mine, either. Unless we get about100 million more immigrants in the next 10 years, or we live to 150.

Maybe he was just excited to be back in SoCal, but Landon Donovanpicked up on the Lieweke theme, back in March. 'There's somethinghappening,' Donovan said. 'You can jump on now or wait till later.We're part of something special, and I hope everyone realizes it.'

Drew Carey apparently 'realizes it.' The actor/comedian is aGalaxy season-ticket holder, and was at the Home Depot Center forDonovan's press conference.

Carey isn't Jack Nicholson, but it's a start.

In its TV promos, Fox invites viewers to watch 'Landon Donovan andcompany' play. Gotta wonder if ''company' gets annoyed by thatdesignation.

The Milton Bradley Baseball Academy? Two of them, no less. InBaldwin Hills and Long Beach. Maybe not the best idea, consideringBradley's, uh, volatile past. Might be one of those 'kids, do as Isay, not as I do' situations.

It took Angels manager Mike Scioscia a month, but he finally gotDarin Erstad out of the leadoff spot. Erstad has an on-basepercentage of .278 which is fine if you're a backup catcher but ascandal for anyone in the '1' hole.

The average fan probably believes Erstad is a better player thanfellow first baseman Hee-Seop Choi. He's not. Erstad has an on-basepercentage of .278 with 21 runs, two homers and 14 RBI in 153 at-bats ... to Choi's .407, 15, six and 18 in 93.

Early in the season, when Choi was struggling, we asked Dodgersgeneral manager Paul DePodesta how long he would stick with Choi. 'Atleast 300 at-bats,' DePodesta said. 'It takes a while for young guys.It took Cesar Izturis two years.'

Directors need to get away from those tight facial shots offrustrated ballplayers. Don't have to be a skilled lip-reader to pickup on the expletives being uttered by guys (Jeff Weaver) who justgave up homers.

Our ballplayer names of the day: Seattle Mariners reliever J.J.Putz ... and Cubs reliever Will Ohman. As in, 'Ohman, not him again.'

Homer Simpson's favorite ballplayer? Has to be Rockies farmhandScott Dohmann.

Aaron Rice doesn't have the prototypical pro baseball body, butneither did Kirby Puckett, Rice's body double. Rice can flat hitwhich is why he was the conference MVP at Cal State San Bernardino,and why he ought to be signed to a minor-league contract.

Those following the see-saw Phoenix-Dallas NBA playoffs seriessuggest the Suns are in trouble since the eye injury to guard JoeJohnson. Phoenix's bench is feeble.

Kudos: To NBA MVP Steve Nash, for scoring 48 points against Dallason Sunday.

Condolences: To Nash, who needed to score 58 just to forceovertime against Dallas, on Sunday.

Lookalikes: Dodgers legend Tommy Lasorda, Hollywood legend MickeyRooney.

Where are they now? Jeff Conine, the Rialto native, is still withthe Florida Marlins. He's just scratching for playing time since theclub signed Carlos Delgado. Conine, 39 next month, gets $3 millionthis season whether he starts or sits.

They said it: 'The suggestions range from sheer pandemonium, tohurling thousands of beach balls on the pitch, to a Gandhi-esqueprotest of people just walking onto the field and sitting down.' aMan-U fan, on plans to protest Glazer's takeover, as reported by theLondon Sunday Times.

And finally: We're confident Malcolm Glazer knows as least as muchabout soccer as Rupert Murdoch did about baseball.

SPORTS NEWS: ENOUGH TO GO AROUND? - The Boston Globe (Boston, MA)

All sports all the time. ESPN made that concept work very nicely,thank you, even though initial reaction 22 years ago was: 'What canthey possibly show to fill up all that air time?'

Now we come to all sports news all the time.

If CNN and Fox can make it work with news, why can't it succeed insports?

The problem, of course, is getting both numbers to work - viewersand dollars.

For one thing, sports doesn't have cataclysmic events on a globalscale to swell ratings periodically and bring new viewers to thosechannels. Sports events of worldwide interest - Olympics, NBA Finals,America's Cup, World Cup - are covered by rights-holders. So arethere enough folks out there willing to tune in to an all-sports-news station for updates and highlights? The highlights that oncemade ESPN's 'SportsCenter' unique now are available to every localnewscast, even if they have less time to devote to sports.

Does sports generate enough stories that are compelling enough ona national scale to make the entire country tune in? Michael Jordan'sbig, but not that big.

Both ESPNews and CNN/SI have tried versions of the format, racingeach other to be first on the air, perhaps before the long-termplanning was in place. As each approaches its fifth birthday, theyremain works in progress, with only ESPNews remaining true to the all-news format.

ESPNews rolled out its relaunch Sept. 7 from Bristol, Conn. Downat CNN/SI in Atlanta, there is an ongoing process of diversifying thecontent to include live event coverage. With the Sept. 11 terroristattacks, and the cancellation of virtually all sports, the outletsare just now hitting full stride.

That the outlets were able to keep broadcasting and stay true tothe format had to be encouraging.

'ESPNews relied heavily on the vast resources of ESPN's news andinformation-gathering enterprise to focus on how the tragedy impactedsports,' said Mike McQuade, the senior coordinating producerresponsible for ESPNews production and content.

As part of the CNN/SI reorganization, CNN dropped 'SportsTonight,' with anchor Fred Hickman leaving the network. In addition,11 jobs were eliminated, even though the show will continue to air onCNN/SI.

The early race between ESPNews and CNN/SI was to get on the air.Then the goal became to get the channel into our houses. With CNN/SInow just past 20 million homes and ESPNews in 25 million, that questis ongoing. The ultimate question, however, is: How many people willwatch?

During all this time, Fox Sports Regional Network has taken adifferent approach, producing local sports telecasts in roughly 20 ofits 23 markets. Nationally, it is in 74 million homes.

In New England, ESPNews enjoys a double distribution, appearing ondigital cable tiers as well as on NESN, which is in roughly the samenumber of homes as FSNE.

The ESPNews relaunch involves a major graphic redesign. ESPN istryng to cram as much information on the screen as possible.Fortunately, the young male target demographic has the visual acuityto read the television equivalent of a box score on the screen.

'Sports fans have the ability to multi-task when they search forup-to-the-minute scores and stats,' said Bob Eaton, ESPN senior vicepresident and managing editor. Still, he says, the goal is to do it'without creating information overload on screen.' ESPN's bottom-line ticker continues to scroll through national ads, with an indextelling what's coming up next.

At CNN/SI, executive vice president and general manager SteveRobinson is enjoying the push NASCAR's pole qualifying and 'HappyHour' telecasts have given the station. CNN/SI shows the events live,then again in prime time.

'We still feel our strength is in news and immediacy with our CNNconnections, but we also bring good story-telling, especially withSports Illustrated's insider analysis and commentary,' he said.

Still, Robinson's goal is 50 million homes. That would make CNN/SI a more credible bidder for the rights to events that fit thestation's profile and mesh with its NASCAR, WUSA, Wimbledon, and newNational Lacrosse League programming.

The bottom line in all this is an ever-more-intense battle for asports audience that doesn't grow as fast as the number of outletsseeking its attention. And that's before we even get into thenetworks' Web sites.

NESN doubleheader

Next Saturday's Temple-Boston College football game will be a 3:30p.m. start on NESN. Not a bad lead-in to that night's Atlanta-Bruinsgame at the FleetCenter . . . The final week of Red Sox games hasproven tough to place on the screen. Monday through Wednesday's gamesat Tampa Bay are on NESN, as is the nightcap of Friday's day-nightdoubleheader. Thursday night's game in Baltimore and the first gameFriday are on Channel 25. Meanwhile, the Sox are hoping to announcetomorrow which outlet will air Saturday night's season finale (CalRipken's final game) . . . All sorts of events battle for our eyesearly this afternoon, including Sox, Patriots, and two auto races.Sox-Tigers (NESN, 1 p.m.) goes against Colts-Patriots (Channel 4, 1p.m.). Two motor circuits go head to head, with NASCAR in Kansas City(Channel 7, 1 p.m.) up against the Formula One US Grand Prix inIndianapolis (Channel 5, 1:30 p.m.). It's amazing to think the RyderCup would have been finishing up at the same time.

Fox-hunting: a country sport or simply savagery - The Scotsman

Sport: Simon Hart argues why a ban is unjust

WHEN considering the whole issue of hunting with dogs, we shouldstart with the Burns report, which was commissioned to inform thedebate, not to say whether the activity was good or not.

If we consider the report as providing us with a basis of fact -and this was the first such inquiry in 50 years - then we have abetter idea of the truth of the matter.

Lord Burns concluded that hunting with dogs was a form of foxpopulation control, rather than population reduction.

He found a lot of people did it, that most farmers were in favourof it and that groups with an interest in the land - such as theNational Farmers Union and County Landowners were also in favour.

It found that drag hunting was not an alternative and raised somepoints of concern - for example he said there were too many cases oftrespass on the part of the dogs .

Lord Burns did say - and this has been seized on by the anti-hunting lobby - that the activity can seriously compromise thewelfare of the animal, but he qualified this by saying that anyactivity which ends in the death of an animal will compromise itswelfare.

The fact of the matter is that the fox population has to becontrolled. There are several ways of doing this and fox-hunting,which is one of them, cannot be taken in isolation.

Those who suggest the answer is shooting foxes with a rifle donot take into account the practical difficulties. Gun licences canbe difficult to come by, it takes a lot of training to get to thatlevel of marksmanship and, with increasing public access to thecountryside, there is potential for serious accidents.

There is also the issue of jobs. Burns estimated that some 6,000to 8,000 jobs would be directly affected and up to 70 per cent morecould be indirectly affected. And remember this is not only aboutfoxhunting, but all forms of activity involving hunting with dogs.It could affect upland farmers trying to protect their stock usinglurchers, for example.

Foxhunting has become a political issue and it is one which isabout social retribution, not about protecting wildlife. What we sayto those who want to ban it is, yes, you might not like it, but ifwe live in a society that encourages tolerance then you do not havethe right to ban it.

Even Jack Straw, who commissioned the report and who probablyknows more about it than anyone else in parliament, appears tobelieve there is no case for an outright ban.

Introduce legislation or supervision, but to ban foxhunting wouldbe unworkable and unjust.

Simon Hart is director of the Campaign for Hunting

Savagery Les Ward says control should not be barbaric

THE case against hunting with dogs is simple. It is that, in amodern and civilised Scotland, to use dogs deliberately to chase,terrify, attack, cause suffering to and kill wild animals is crueland barbaric.

And if wild animals do ever need to be controlled, it should bedone as humanely as possible.

To the majority of the public, such a statement is not onlyreasonable but right.

Opinion polls time and time again show that an overwhelmingnumber of Scots, both urban and rural, want to see this intolerabletreatment of wildlife with dogs banned.

Not surprising, especially when you also consider that were suchtreatment to be inflicted on domestic animals like the cat or dog,the perpetrators would be universally condemned for their activitiesand quite properly prosecuted in a court of law for cruelty toanimals.

It should therefore always be remembered in this debate that inseeking an end to this uncivilised behaviour, not only are weconsidering animal cruelty but also standards of human decency.

Those who hunt are happy to set a pack of hounds on a fox, seethe animal run in terror for its life and if caught, watch as it isattacked and savaged by dogs, with death the only mercifulintervention. They see nothing wrong in putting terrier dogs downthe underground refuges of foxes in an attempt to 'bolt' the fox,knowing that if the fox refuses to move, either because it isphysically incapable or is defending its cubs, there is a realchance that a subterranean battle will ensue between the fox andterrier which can result in serious injuries for both dog and fox.

They enjoy setting two greyhounds on a hare and cheering as it isturned by the dogs as it tries to escape.

Their biggest cheers are often reserved for the time when thehare is caught and becomes a living rope in a tug of war as it ispulled and torn between the dogs.

The arguments trotted out by those who indulge or support huntingwith dogs are not dissimilar to those put forward many years ago indefence of slavery or putting small boys up chimneys - employment,it helped the economy and it is wrong for the majority to pick on aminority.

The fact is that society's standards of ethics and moralitychange from generation to generation and probably in our lifetime wehave seen greater changes in standards than a any other time inhistory.

Another change is now due - a change that will see, through theProtection of Wild Mammals (Scotland) Bill, the abolition of thebrutal and barbaric practice of hunting with dogs.

Les Ward is chairman of the Scottish Campaign Against Huntingwith Dogs.

Fox Soccer Channel Teams Up with 2ergo to Develop FIFA World Cup™ iPhone Application. - Marketing Weekly News

With anticipation building around the world for one of the most popular events in all of sports, Fox Soccer Channel and 2ergo Americas, a leading international provider of mobile products and services, announced the availability of Fox Soccer Channel's 'Ticket to South Africa' iPhone app featuring coverage of the FIFA World CupTM. The application, sponsored by Audi, is available for download free of charge in Apple's App Store. World Cup™ soccer fans will be able to use the application for comprehensive and personalized coverage of the most widely viewed sporting event in the world, taking place in South Africa June 11 through July 11, 2010.

The application includes latest news, standings, fixtures, photos galleries, venue information, and World Cup history. Once the games begin in June, a scrolling ticker with live scores will appear offering one-click access to in-game match stats, play-by-play information, and video clips. iPhone users can follow all 32 teams and create a 'My Teams' list for quick access to their favorite team's headlines and information. Users can also share World Cup headlines with their friends by posting updates and content to their Facebook pages.

'Avid soccer fans look to Fox Soccer Channel to bring them expert coverage of the world's biggest stage,' said Bhavesh Patel, Vice President of Interactive Media for Fox Sports International. 'Working with a provider like 2ergo ensured that we were providing users a cutting-edge information service backed by their experience in developing high-quality, user-friendly iPhone applications. With our intensive coverage and analysis of the games wrapped into a beautiful and customizable format, we are providing the millions of fans with iPhones everything they need to know about this summer's FIFA World Cup when they want it and how they want it.'

'The growing popularity of smartphones and applications opens up a completely new brand-building channel for media and entertainment companies looking to interact with consumers,' said Michael Scully, Vice President of Marketing for 2ergo Americas. 'Fox Soccer Channel has created a valuable opportunity to reach new viewers as well as build a stronger relationship with existing ones. As soccer fans ourselves, we are thrilled to partner with Fox Soccer Channel to deliver immediate and personalized access to this summer's World Cup action to iPhone users.'

For fans unable to watch the games in person, Fox Soccer Channel's 'Ticket to South Africa' iPhone application will keep them up to date. The application is available on the Apple App Store and is being promoted via an ongoing Fox Soccer Channel advertising and web site campaign. Audi serves as the title sponsor of the application, and iPhone-optimized ads will be served within the application promoting Audi products. About 2ergo 2ergo is a leading provider of mobile software solutions for marketing, business, entertainment, and media. Its product portfolio includes an innovative suite of interactive messaging, mobile internet and publishing, smartphone applications, mobile ticketing and coupons, mobile security, and secure payment solutions to deliver a multi-dimensional approach to mobile marketing and mobile customer communications. 2ergo is used by businesses, brands, marketing agencies, publishers, and mobile network operators to take advantage of integrated mobile communications to increase sales, enhance customer experiences, mobilize business processes, and reduce costs. Brands such as FOX News, AT&T, Yahoo!, National Geographic Channel, O2, Rightmove, Ladbrokes, and Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) have all benefited from working with 2ergo. Headquartered in the UK, 2ergo's international presence spans North America, Latin America, India, and Australia. 2ergo is AIM listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE:RGO). For more information, visit www.2ergo.com. About Foxsoccer.com Foxsoccer.com is America's most visited online soccer destination, serving as the most comprehensive source for year-round soccer with match highlights, headlines, stats, photo galleries and commentary from leading soccer experts and analysts. A complement to Fox Soccer Channel and Fox Soccer Plus, the web site educates and entertains soccer enthusiasts throughout the United States with coverage encompassing England's Barclays Premier League, the UEFA Champions League, Italy's Series A, Major League Soccer, Women's Professional Soccer, the Argentine First Division and the Australian Hyundai A-League, in addition to such global tournaments as the English FA Cup, FIFA Club World Cup™ and CONCACAF Champions League™. In addition, live and on-demand match streaming is available via Foxsoccer.tv.

Keywords: Advertising, Entertainment, Marketing, 2ergo.

THE FOX AND HOUND - The Beacon News - Aurora (IL)

The dish on the Valley's namemakers and nightspotsThe Place: The Fox and Hound English Pub and Grille, 4320 E. New York St., Aurora.

The Skinny: You don't have to wear knickers or believe in a parliamentary government to get in here.

Just bring your wallet and and appetite for food and fun.

Located north of the Fox Valley mall, this nightspot seats more than 400 people and divides into three rooms separated by beautiful glass partitions.

To the right is the green room, which could also be known as the sports room.

It's where the air becomes thick with testosterone as men shout their battle cries for their favorite teams.

To the left is the burgundy room.

Aristocrats can be found smoking cigars, drinking cognac and complaining about stock over games of pool.

In the middle is the dining room, decorated with a casual theme, with booths and tables and a gorgeous wrap-around bar.

The Entertainment: Fox and Hound caters to the kid in all of us.

There are more than a dozen pool tables and a half-dozen dart boards.

These tables are free of charge from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday.

From 2 to 7 p.m. any day of the week, they cost $6 an hour.

After 7 p.m., the price goes up a few more dollars depending on which day it is.

When it comes to sports coverage this pub has enough TVs to carry every single game in the country, with screens left over so that others can watch Friends or E.R.

The Fox and Hound also shovels out a monthly party planner crammed with parties and drink specials.

At 8 p.m. on Thursdays and Sundays a live band lets loose.

There's a good chance you will be able to catch Nick Moss and the Fliptops turn it up Chicago blues style.

Or come out April 1 for their Halloween party.

Their last Halloween party was so crazy they simply have to have another in April because people can't wait 'til October.

The Background: The opening of The Fox and Hound took place on December 28, 1997. It opened as part of a chain of 36; this is the only Fox and Hound in this lovely state.

So What's The Rumpus: There are two little words that hold a lot of truth to them at Fox and Hound and they are: superb service.

Christy Mackenzie, part owner and manager said, 'What we strive for is the service.

Everyone can serve beer and burgers, but we focus on the service.'

With at least 16 servers and five bartenders on duty, the employees help to create The Fox and Hound's inviting atmosphere.

There is no such thing as a dead Tuesday night or an overcrowded Friday night at this hotspot.

There is always just the right amount of people here to visit, play pool or watch the big game with.

The Crowd: Ages range from 21 to 65 and there is no dominating age group. Just check out the bar.

You have those with a full head of hair, those going bald, those who are bald and those going gray all drinking beer and sharing Rogaine stories.

With table tennis and pool, no one can feel out of place.

The Fox and Hound does, however, drop the hammer on those 21 and younger at 5 p.m., when they begin checking IDs at the door.

Location: The Fox and Hound's fox hole is off of New York Avenue in Aurora, next to Sportmart and Burlington Coat Factory in the Yorkshire Plaza.

Need To Know: Fox and Hound allows for private parties and also does a bit of catering.

Questions, call (630) 236-9183.

Gary Schaefer has a smile that goes from White Castle to the Nile. To reach the sixth member of 'N Sync, send e-mails to garyschaefer

TYSON DEAL PUTS FIGHT FANS IN PAY-PER-VIEW TV CLINCH.(SPORTS) - Albany Times Union (Albany, NY)

Byline: ED SCHUYLER JR. Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA The next time Mike Tyson visits America's living rooms it will cost arm-chair fans.

A free Mike Tyson became a figure of the recent past Saturday night when he knocked out Buster Mathis Jr. and cleared the way for his first step toward a goal of again becoming the undisputed heavyweight champion.

It will be a pay-per-view journey, and, if you believe Frank Bruno, it will be a bad trip.

Tyson's challenge to WBC champion Bruno, public knowledge for some time, was formally announced Sunday for March 16 in the MGM Grand at Las Vegas.

``He needs to be told the truth and on March 16th he'll learn the truth,'' said Bruno, who suggested it was a faded Tyson who belted out Mathis in the third round before an estimated crowd of 8,000 at the Spectrum.

The live audience paid as much as $500 a ticket. A nationwide audience paid nothing to watch on the Fox Network. Philadelphia was not blacked-out.

``A guy from England is coming to kick his butt,'' said Bruno, adding that Tyson will be facing a better fighter than he stopped in the fifth round Feb. 25, 1989, when Tyson was the undisputed champion.

``I don't care who it is,'' Tyson said of his next opponent. ``I'm not afraid of anyone. I'll fight anywhere.''

At the MGM Grand on SET, Showtime's pay-per-view arm is where Tyson is expected to fight his next five matches if he keeps winning. He also will be getting much bigger purses than the $10 million he got for beating Mathis.

Promoter Don King envisions Tyson winning the WBC, WBA and WBA titles and then engaging in a gold-mine match against Riddick Bowe. Lennox Lewis of Britain, a former WBC champion, could enter the picture should he fight and beat Bowe while Tyson is competing in the ``King Tournament.''

Bruno, WBA champion Bruce Seldon of Atlantic City and Frans Botha of South Africa, all are promoted by King. Bowe is not.

Bruno, Seldon and Botha were introduced in the ring before the fight. One ringsider noticed that they were standing side-by-side and not in a row like tenpins.

Bowe attended the boxing show in Madison Square Garden on Friday night, and said he had no interest in making the trip to Philadelphia to watch Tyson. He smiled and said he would watch at home for free.

Asked who he thought would be his toughest opponent among Bruno, Seldon and Botha, Tyson said, ``You never know. I might fight the guy who everyone might think is the toughest of the three, and he might get knocked out in 30 seconds. I might fight the guy everyone thinks is the weakest of three and he might go for 12 rounds.''

Tyson was pleased with his stay in Philadelphia, where he fought for the first time, and with the reach of the crowd that cheered him mightily when he was introduced, and there were more cheers after the fight . . .

``I've been through some serious adversity recently,'' Tyson said. ``I just came out of prison and I'm just happy to be accepted.''

While the 29-year-old Tyson served three years in prison, his absence from the ring was actually a little more than four years before he returned with an 89-second victory over Peter McNeeley. With his victory over Mathis at 3:52 of the third round, Tyson has fought a little less than 3 rounds in 4 years.

But he doesn't think he needs another fight before facing Bruno.

Mathis crowded Tyson for the first two rounds and had him missing badly, with his left hook. Mathis, however, lacked the punching power to make Tyson pay for his misses.

The knockout came after Tyson backed Mathis up with a right uppercut and followed with a left hook and two crushing rights to the head that dropped Mathis on to his back.

Tyson said not all of his wildness with his left was due to ring rust, but that some of the misses were calculated.

HARKIN, SENATORS ENCOURAGE FCC TO ERADICATE SPORT BLACKOUTS RULES UNDER CONSIDERATION SHOULD BENEFIT FANS, REGARDLESS OF WHERE THEY LIVE. - States News Service

WASHINGTON -- The following information was released by Iowa Senator Tom Harkin:

Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) has joined Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) in urging the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) to end the sports blackout policy. The Senators sent a letter to FCC Commissioners, who are finalizing a rule on such blackouts arguing in favor of fans that are not able to access National Football League (NFL) and Major League Baseball (MLB) games.

'Fans are the lifeline of professional sports and Iowans are frustrated by these arcane, anti-consumer rules,' said Harkin. 'Football fans deserve to watch their favorite team play whether a stadium is full or a contract is being disputed. Baseball fans should have access to games regardless of which state they live in. I am proud to join my colleagues in urging the FCC to take a broad look at sports blackouts and to consider comprehensive reform that ensures fans' access to sports programming.'

Blackouts occur when games are not shown on television due to stadium capacity or a dispute-related issue with the team. Today, sport blackouts in the NFL happen if a stadium is not sold out within 72 hours of kickoff, and thus the broadcaster in the team's home market is prohibited from showing the game. The NFL experienced 16 blackouts in 2011, 23 in 2010, and 22 in 2009.

FOR FOX, IT'S HYPE-HYPE HURRAY : DAYLONG BLITZ PROMISES, BUT CAN IT REALLY DELIVER?(SPORTS) - Daily News (Los Angeles, CA)

Byline: TOM HOFFARTH The Media

One of the ways to define the word ``hype'' - and not even in relation to the Super Bowl - is that it's the pursuit of profit over performance and anticipation over delivery.

We dredge up the annual media question concerning hype for the greatest show on earth presented by the greatest TV sport in America because, it seems, we have a new answer.

A seven-hour-plus pregame show, thanks to those party animals at Fox.

Fox has 11 shows and 16 hours of Super Bowl programming - including the Super Bowl itself - in the 35 hours between 11 a.m. Saturday and 8 p.m. Sunday. However, that doesn't count the Super Bowl-themed episode of ``The Simpsons'' where News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch and Fox broadcasters Pat Summerall and John Madden are among the special guest voices.

The title of that episode, by the way, is ``Sunday, Cruddy Sunday.''

Estimates are that Fox will take in as much as $180 million in Super Bowl ad revenue from all day Sunday, which justifies all the programming from a business standpoint.

But from a content consideration. . .

``Without going into an exercise in semantics, I'm not sure what hype stands for. . . is it hyperbole?'' asked Fox network president David Hill, not trying to sound hypersensitive when asked this week if the endless amount of puffery justifies the means.

And, yes, the term is short for hyperbole.

``Well, there's nothing hyperbolic about this,'' Hill continued.

``It's the single-most-popular event in the world. People are more concerned about its outcome than anything else. All we're doing is what newspapers have been doing and that's mirroring the public's interest. And in the final analysis, that's part of our job.''

Adds Ed Goren, Fox Sports' executive producer: ``The audience tells you what is hype and what isn't. If they're buying the papers and advertisers are buying ads in the supplements, it's not hype, it's good business. And it's entertainment.''

With that said, maybe it's once in a blue moon over Miami - and check the calendar, 'cause that's what we're dealing with - that a Super Bowl pregame hypefest three hours longer than the previous longest pregame hypefest can be justified.

Especially by those who put it on.

Scott Ackerson, Fox's pregame show producer, said he actually had enough material to run another half-hour. There was discussion about starting the whole carnivorous TV carnival an hour earlier with an exercise show and a food show, but even Fox couldn't stomach that.

Yet.

``You've got to keep in mind we don't expect a huge part of the audience to watch all seven hours,'' said Ackerson. ``Anyone who does - my mom and dad could be the only persons - might find they have wasted their time. But if they do, they'll enjoy the broadcast and get something out of it.''

Fox analyst Madden, who helps fill in the pregame with his 90-minute ``All-Millennium Team'' that'll pull some Forrest Gump movie magic and have him interview Vince Lombardi and includes musical interludes with Ice Cube and Mack 10, admits that the hype might be useful for this game since it'll help viewers learn about the Atlanta Falcons players.

Concludes Madden: ``With all the parties going on, what the heck would you rather be doing leading up to the Super Bowl than watching stuff about it? It's not as if you'd say, `Doggone, it's Super Bowl Sunday, I'd like to watch some bowling.' ''

Or, in this case, Super Bowling.

More hype: Fox Sports Net - especially Keith Olbermann - should benefit most from the overexposure at Super Bowl week events.

In Miami to anchor the Super Bowl news while others stayed back in Los Angeles, Olbermann also has a part in the pregame festivities. He's hosting an ``All-Access'' (not ``All Excess'') show Sunday at 9 a.m. that goes behind the scenes of Fox's broadcast and intends to answer the question: How does a network cover a game like this? Self-serving, maybe, but informational nonetheless.

Olbermann also has a live Internet-only show at halftime on Fox Sports' website (http://www.foxsports.com).

But the Fox marketeers have more. More than 50,000 temporary Olbermann tattoos have been distributed around the South Beach area of Miami. Also, Good Humor trucks and pushcarts wrapped in the Fox Sports News logo with Olbermann's face will give out more than 50,000 free ice cream treats this weekend.

Which should provide a delirious irritant to more than just skin-rashed, lactose-intolerant beach-goers.

Even more hyperventilation: Hill was asked in a media conference call if he was sensitive to a tune-out factor for folks who happen to see Fox stars sitting in nice seats at the Super Bowl - stars who are there for overpromotion of entertainment programming. And, basically, would we see fewer of those camera shots Sunday?

``Not really,'' Hill said. ``A personality is a personality is a personality. If you see Jack Nicholson at a Lakers game, you've got to show him, right?''

Except the difference is Jim Lampley's golf partner actually bought his courtside seats and wasn't planted there by a network pushing the next episode of ``Beverly Hills 90210,'' which, incidentally, has Jason Priestly hosting another one of the pregame shows.

``I can't tell you we haven't got Fox stars coming in on the TV and movie side and we'll be taking shots of them,'' said Hill.

Just as we'll be taking shots at them.

SOUND BYTES By Tom Hoffarth

WHAT SMOKES

Remembering the ``other'' O.J.: In ESPN's SportsCentury project, in which a panel of journalists picked the 100 greatest athletes of the 20th century, O.J. Simpson has come in at No. 49. A half-hour profile of the former USC and NFL star is featured today at 6 p.m. in the weekly countdown to the top two, which will be shown on ABC in late December. ESPN has taken some flak for it and will address Simpson's off-field life in the show, but it's his athletic achievements here that are being, uh, celebrated. Says former Rams star Deacon Jones in the show: ``You gonna take all your cheers back? Nothing he did outside the game has anything to do with his contributions to the sport. Not one iota. Now, if you hate him over here for what he was accused of, you understand, then hate him over there, but over here you have to give him his dues.''

WHAT CHOKES

A $14.95-per-game charge - as an alternative to the $39-per-package price that DirecTV is charging for its supplemental coverage of CBS' first three rounds of the '99 NCAA Tournament. Viewers who ordinarily wouldn't get the game they wanted now have the option of watching it on the small satellite dish service. Buy the entire package and the customer gets 34 games for $39, which is by far the greater savings over the one-time buy games that loyal fans would be more inclined to take. The other interesting aspect: DirecTV's recent merger with PrimeStar does not affect this package, but both services are going to be offering ``NBA League Pass'' for $69 through Feb. 11. There's also a free preview week starting Feb. 5 that gives subscribers up to 40 NBA games.

A new stack of ballots in the Daily News ``Q-T'' sportscaster poll has resulted in the postponement of releasing the results. We apologize.

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SUPER BOWL OBSERVATIONS FROM MY LIVING ROOM.(Sports) - Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Byline: NORMAN CHAD Columnist

FOR THE 39TH consecutive year, they played the Super Bowl; for the 39th consecutive year, I watched it. There was the usual array of quirky commercials, replay reversals and ex-presidents, and, in the end, the New England Patriots established themselves as the most unlikely dynasty since the Van Patten clan ran roughshod over Hollywood in the mid-1980s.

Anyway, I took notes.

11:25 p.m. PT: If I knew Tim McCarver was going to show up on Super Bowl Sunday, I would've watched 'Kung Pow: Enter the Fist' on FX instead.

11:42: Here's the thing about Terry Bradshaw: In the 17th century, he might've been the village idiot; in the 21st century, he's a potential running mate for Hillary Clinton.

11:57: Kelly Clarkson on that pregame stage didn't exactly give me that Beatles-on-the-'Ed Sullivan Show' feel.

12:33: We get a preview of the upcoming Fox Soccer Channel. Thanks for the warning.

1:59: They just ran a Heineken commercial that scared me more than 'Apocalypse Now.'

2:13: At my MLS Cup party, I remember drinking too much Yoo-hoo.

2:38: Bill Belichick swears by Sun Tzu's military treatise, 'The Art of War.' Couch Slouch swears by Gallagher's concert film, 'Gallagher - Melon Crazy.'

3:31: If they wait any longer until kickoff, the NHL season might even start.

3:34: We probably could fix Social Security for less money than we spend on the Super Bowl coin toss.

3:38: To be honest, I wouldn't have been surprised to see Terrell Owens playing if he were in a body cast.

3:46: My neighbor says I make too much noise when I'm watching football. Yeah, like she doesn't shout during 'Iron Chef.'

4:16: One of my ex-wives calls in the second quarter. Of the Super Bowl. Needless to say, this is one of the reasons she is one of my ex-wives.

4:17: By the way, the next time I'm married, I'm including the TV Guide subscription in the pre-nup.

4:22: Best I can tell, we are a nation of Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and Subway. I'm not sure this is what the constitutional framers had in mind.

4:39: If I promise to watch every Fox show it promotes, will it promise to stop showing me the promos?

4:41: Man, Cris Collinsworth sure can yap it up.

4:41:30: You know, but I discovered a long time ago - you put a nut in front of a squirrel, he eats it; you put a microphone in front of a broadcaster, he talks into it.

4:48: Actually, I thought Freddie Mitchell looked pretty good in warm-ups.

4:52: If Bill Belichick's a genius, how come he can't wear a headset right?

4:58: Hey, careerbuilder.com - let's see what you can do with my resume and references.

5:20: When they introduce 'Sir' Paul McCartney at halftime, my Super Bowl guests - the Captain and Tennille - openly snicker.

5:46: With 11:26 to go in Super Bowl XIV, Vince Ferragamo threw an incomplete on third-and-8. It remains the only play in Super Bowl history I have missed.

5:54: Sure, Tom Brady's got his Super Bowl rings, the actress girlfriend and movie-star looks. I've got TiVo.

6:25: Nothing personal against Robert Kraft, but I hate seeing rich people high-five.

6:53: Is it possible the Eagles left their no-huddle offense at the team hotel?

7:15: If you look up 'uphill' in the dictionary, you'll see a photo of the Eagles on their own 4-yard line with 46 seconds left and no timeouts, trailing New England by three.

7:16: Just think - if the Patriots had been around in the 1400s, they might've given the Ming a run for their money.

Ask The Slouch

Q. With college football over, what does Trev Alberts do until the fall? (Mark Coale; Virginia Beach, Va.)

A. As a rule, he spends the offseason constructing small dioramas depicting his favorite formations in his favorite stadiums.

Q. Do you believe Phil Jackson will return to coach the Lakers? (Benjamin Frank; Amsterdam, N.Y.)

A. I believe Phil Jackson will relocate to Nepal, live in a straw duplex hut and open a holistic hardware store before he returns to coach the Lakers.

Q. Have you ever stooped so low as to bet Arena Football League games? (Barry Granik; Waukesha, Wis.)

A. Heck, I used to bet the over/under on the rabbi's sermon at Saturday services. Of course, this was when I was more spiritually inclined.

Q. With the increase in injuries to players hit in the face with penalty markers, do you think it would be a good idea for the NFL to switch from yellow flags to lemon meringue pies? (Terry Kane; Ravenna, Ohio)

USC NOTEBOOK: IT'S OFFICIAL: FOX THE STARTING QB.(SPORTS) - Daily News (Los Angeles, CA)

Byline: Scott Wolf / Daily News Staff Writer

The obvious became reality Saturday when USC announced that sophomore John Fox would start at quarterback in the season opener Sept. 6 against Florida State.

USC coach John Robinson made the official decision one day after Fox had the best performance among the quarterbacks during the Trojans' first scrimmage at the Coliseum.

In fact, the decision was made probably before Friday's scrimmage.

Fox participated in 32 plays Friday night while sophomore Quincy Woods took only 17 snaps.

Fox threw 20 passes, completing nine for 97 yards and one touchdown. Woods completed 2 of 4 passes for 29 yards and no touchdowns.

``We started out wanting to make it a competition on the field and we did that,'' Robinson said. ``John established himself. He'll be our starter. We hope to get Quincy in games. And we feel Mike (Van Raaphorst) has a very good future.

``They all took it well. It happens in every position on a daily basis. People succeed and don't succeed. Every position is alike, it's not different. I agree that this one (quarterback) is more interesting, though.''

Asked if one of his quarterbacks could transfer, Robinson said, ``sure.''

Woods and Van Raaphorst said they have no plans to transfer.

For Fox, the announcement was the culmination of a remarkable comeback. A year ago, he was No. 5 on the depth chart. But he rededicated himself to football since last winter and was the most impressive quarterback in training camp.

``I was hoping of course that I would start,'' Fox said. ``That was my dream. I didn't come here to watch. That's why I worked so hard in the summer.''

Now that he is No. 1, Fox said he did not feel any additional pressure.

``I'm not worried about losing my job,'' Fox said. ``I don't plan on losing my job.''

An obviously downcast Woods tried to put the best face on the decision.

``I'm disappointed, but it's something I've got to live with right now,'' Woods said. ``It's the coaches' decision. They feel it's the way it should be.''

All three quarterbacks have been told by the coaching staff that they will play this season, and offensive coordinator Hue Jackson reminded Woods on Saturday that he is ``only a play away'' from becoming the Trojans' starting quarterback.

Sport on TV: 30 SECONDS? THAT WILL COST YOU $2 M; FROM ALAN McKINLAY LIVE AT SUPER BOWL XXXVI.(Sport) - The Mirror (London, England)

Byline: ALAN McKINLAY

TELEVISION coverage of the Super Bowl over here is as grand, overblown and simply fascinating as the event itself.

Dave Hill, the head of Sky Sports before taking charge of Fox, its much bigger brother in the USA, once said: 'For one moment, for three hours, the world watches America in awe. I could die happy on Monday for me to be involved in a Super Bowl production on Sunday.'

Well, Hill gets his wish tomorrow - although for his sake hopefully not on Monday - as Fox will screen the big game live to 800 million worldwide.

The promotional leaflet says: 'Fox's presentation will weave a compelling, cerebral and visceral mix of music and pageantry with down home football.'

That's what ITV were missing out on in their Premiership coverage. If only Des Lynam and Co had paid more attention to the cerebral and visceral, it would have been far more compelling.

Tomorrow is about far more than whether the St Louis Rams can beat the underdog New England Patriots. For a start, it is the advertising industry's Super Bowl as well. The five most-watched programmes of all time are all Super Bowls, and companies have been made or broken by their advertising during the game. Last night on Fox there was an hour-long programme dedicated simply to the best Super Bowl adverts over the years.

An internet poll went for last year's Budweiser effort, where posh college kids rang each other and yelled 'I say, what is occurring with you?' as an update to the famous 'Wasssup?' ad.

And with more women watching the NFL's championship game than ever before, the adverts reach a wide range of viewers. The Super Bowl has been the Holy Day of testosterone for three decades, but not any more. This year, over 40 million women are expected to watch Super Bowl XXXVI, a far bigger draw for female viewers than the traditional favourite, the Academy Awards, which draws 27 million.

All that exposure comes at a price. A 30-second ad during a top-rated show like 'Friends' costs $250,000, but the same slot during the Super Bowl is $2m.

CAPTION(S):

TRAGEDIES SIGN OF TIMES DESPITE SHAMEFUL ATTEMPTS BY ANTI-HUNTING GROUPS TO LOBBY OTHERWISE, RECENT TEEN SHOOTINGS DON'T POINT OUT NEED FOR GUN CONTROL, THEY POINT OUT NEED TO ADDRESS WHY OUR SOCIETY IS BECOMING INCREASINGLY ISOLATED.(Sports) - The Wisconsin State Journal (Madison, WI)

If we measure credibility by a person's ability to objectively seek facts and answers while dealing with gut-wrenching emotions and heartache, we found few measurables in recent weeks as ``experts'' groped to explain the Jonesboro shootings.

The fact is, though, no one can explain why two boys would ambush and kill schoolmates. We point to broken homes, disjointed love, warning signs, unheeded threats, gun availability, TV violence and brutal video games, but all we really have are theories, frustrations and trite assumptions.

The only thing certain is that anyone who claims to know what turned Drew Golden and Mitch Johnson into little killers probably has an agenda apart from the tragedy. Which brings us to the Fund for Animals and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Most people will read about a tragedy, and then wonder what can be done to understand and prevent further misery. PeTA and the Fund for Animals, however, saw it as opportunity to exploit. Anything for the cause.

PeTA heard one of the killers was a hunter, and then sent out press releases titled ``Does Violence Begin with Hunting?'' The Fund for Animals, meanwhile, is now demanding that state agencies curtail youth hunting programs. Have these groups no shame? An Arkansas town is emotionally gutted by an irrational act, and animal-rights activists simplify and capitalize.

The fact is, a hunting background is a rarity in killers and mass murderers. Timothy McVeigh, Jeff Dahmer, Ted Bundy, Richard Speck, James Armstrong, David Spanbauer, Sirhan Sirhan and other infamous, murderous warts were not hunters. And perhaps the worst of all, Adolf Hitler, was an anti-hunting vegetarian. I'll argue that a person who is properly trained to hunt, fish or trap will typically have more appreciation for life and the web of life than those who don't.

Everything I've read about Jonesboro makes me weary of expert commentators and grave-dancers like PeTA. American society is often selfish, paranoid, withdrawn, fractured and urbanized, and yet we try to say kids are ``desensitized to violence'' because they watch Fox TV and play ruthless video games.

Cripes, those are symptoms, not disease. Look how we live. Just two generations ago, we frequently saw a grandparent living in the same home with a family. And almost everyone shared bedrooms with siblings, sometimes many siblings. Parents were authoritative, and not just in their own homes. Few children had a bedroom to themselves, and few master bedrooms came with private bathrooms.

Homes were built with porches in the front yard, not the back. People sat on those porches and watched the world go by, often waving at strangers in cars. Neighborhoods frequently got together for summer parties, and the adults knew each other and everyone's kids. Today, we frequently wouldn't know our neighbors if they butted in front of us at the video rental store.

In short, it wasn't that long ago that living in America meant working to get along inside and outside your home. Now we build houses and neighborhoods to help us avoid situations and relationships that require interaction. We don't want to feel responsible for each other, and we like to blame our heartaches and problems on anything but our own isolation from each other.

It would be easy to blame guns and hunting for Jonesboro. But humans have always hunted, firearms have been around nearly 500 years, and semiautomatic rifles have been around nearly 100 years.

Talkin' Hawks!: Live blog of Seahawks-Chargers game.(Seattle Sports Blog) - Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Matt Hasselbeck scrambles away from Chargers linebacker Shaun Phillips in the first quarter of Saturday's preseason game. (Getty Images/Stephen Dunn)

If you can't wait to talk Seahawks, this is the place as I'll provide running thoughts on tonight's preseason opener between Seattle and San Diego throughout the game.

Feel free to add your own comments and toss out questions. There's a lot going on in Seattle sports tonight with the Mariners taking on the Yankees at Safeco and the Sounders trying to bend Beckham down in L.A., but hey, if you're a Seahawks fan, it's Go Time!

While we're waiting to go, here's a link to my Five Things to Watch in tonight's game. Let me know what you're excited to see ...

Curt Menefee

6:30 p.m.: Lots of new things this year with the Seahawks and the first you'll notice is Curt Menefee on the broadcast. The host of Fox NFL Sunday will be doing play-by-play on all four Seahawks preseason games as Vern Lundquist opted out this year.

Menefee is in the booth with Warren Moon, who'll provide the color analysis.

7:05: Opening kickoff already reveals one of the interesting competitions: Olindo Mare vs. Brandon Coutu for placekicking duties. One of Mare's strengths is length on kickoffs. Coutu gets the first shot and kicks to the 5. Not bad, but he'll need to be able to reach the end zone with some consistency if he wants to replace the vet.

7:07: Hey, is that a pass rush we see right off the bat from Cory Redding? Three-and-out by first unit, got to like that!

7:12: First offensive possession fizzles when Duckett stuffed on third-and-1. Not what you want to see from your short-yardage back. And then Jon Ryan booms a beautiful 54-yard punt, but as often was the case last year, that's one where you'd rather see a little touch instead of kicking into the end zone.

7:22: Seahawks get lucky on dropped pass by Antonio Gates, but Darryl Tapp returns the favor on ball in his hands. Seattle has been practicing that zone drop by Tapp. Worked great there except he dropped an easy interception. That and Ken Lucas was called for illegal contact on the play.

7:30 Seattle's second offensive possession shows a couple decent runs by Jones, but bogs down when Sean Locklear gets beat by OLB Shaun Phillips and Hasselbeck has to throw it away on second down, then Hasselbeck seems on wrong page with Carlson on incomplete pass on third. That's probably it for Hasselbeck: 3-for-5 for 27 yards. First quarter ends in scoreless tie.

7:44: Seneca Wallace gets a series with the No. 1 offensive line, but isn't helped when Ray Willis called for lining up illegally on 3rd-and-10. Rookie Deon Butler catches two short passes, but dances too much on second one and gets buried. Nice punt coverage by WR Logan Payne though. Looks like it's backup time for defense with No. 2's in pretty much across the board.

7:53: So much for the No. 2 defense. CB Kevin Hobbs looks lost on 32-yard pass down to the 7 and Michael Bennett scores on 2-yard dive moments later. CHARGERS 7, SEAHAWKS O.

7:59: Welcome to the NFL, Deon Butler. Rookie WR blown up on big hit by San Diego DB Steve Gregory. Butler pops right up, which is nice to see, but it'll be interesting to find out if he's big enough to deal with NFL DBs over time.

8:06: Gotta love Housh, who says in sideline interview on TV that he wishes he could go back in game to deal with Gregory after he celebated the hard hit on Butler, but that he probably would have got kicked out of the game if he had. This guy is definitely going to be interesting.

Seahawks tight end John Owens hauls in a touchdown pass from Seneca Wallace. (Getty Images/Stephen Dunn)

8:15: Seahawks put together a 12-play, 61-yard scoring drive, which they should since their No. 1 offensive line is still in against Chargers' backups. But encouraging to see a couple very good catches by Courtney Taylor and an excellent TD catch by blocking TE John Owens on a play-action pass from Seneca Wallace from the 2. SEAHAWKS 7, CHARGERS 7.

8:22: Chargers miss 34-yard FG on what they think is last play of half. Mora notes two seconds still on clock and yelling at refs that Seahawks should have the ball. Apparently he wants to use every play he can get in this preseason, though Wallace then takes a knee. So, uh, exactly what was the point?

8:25: As promised, Mora used rookie Curry through first half as a rush-end in pass situations, but the 248-pounder made little impact. Will be curious to see how long that role continues as it seems he might be more valuable as a LB in the nickel scheme, given his speed and coverage ability, instead of getting lost against massive LTs.

8:44: Second half starts with total second-unit in for Seahawks offense, except starting RG Max Unger sliding to center. Nice pass from rookie QB Mike Teel to Ben Obomanu, but Mike Hass -- who has looked great in camp -- drops ball right in his hands. That one hurts ... as did the crunching shot Justin Forsett just took to his knees on a great open-field tackle.

9:04: First turnover, an interception by Teel. Thought Obomanu could have made a better play on the ball, but it was behind him and he wound up tipping it up to the DB. Teel has made a couple nice throws downfield, but looks a little erratic, as should be expected for a rookie in his first game facing live bullets. Seahawks get the ball back though on a nice strip by DE Baraka Atkins.

9:10: There's the Hass we've seen in camp with a nice 18-yard TD catch on a perfect ball from Teel. Nice bounce-back play by both youngsters. Good to see. SEAHAWKS 14, CHARGERS 7.

9:15: Speaking of bounce backs, CB Kelly Jennings -- who got physically beat by a bigger receiver earlier in the game -- comes back with an interception when he jumps the slant route. No, it won't quiet all his critics, but it was a nice play by a guy who usually is in the right spot, just isn't always big enough to win the battles.

9:29: Nice interception by Nick Reed -- who just keeps making plays at DE -- sets up Coutu field goal. SEAHAWKS 17, CHARGERS 7.

9:49: Another 38-yard Coutu FG. Another sideline interview. Another blown coverage by Seahawks DBs who'll never be on the final roster. Gotta love preseason football. SEAHAWKS 20, CHARGERS 7.

9:55: 69-yard TD drive by San Diego makes it SEAHAWKS 20, CHARGERS 14 with 3:42 to go. I'm more concerned with the indecision of Butler on the ensuing kick return as he's been looked at both on punts and KOs and the Hawks could use a boost there so Nate Burleson doesn't have to do so much.

10:09: It's a final. Seahawks' second-unit defense dodges a couple bullets -- and keeps pretty good pressure on the QB -- on final drive to preserve the 20-14 win.

Quick impressions: Didn't look like any injuries, which is huge. Like most preseason openers, evaluation of first units is limited. None of the young receivers had big nights, but Taylor made two nice grabs and I keep liking what I see from Hass. Teel was better than I expected at QB and Reed just makes plays on D-Line, but neither likely plays much in regular season. Same with Michael Bennett, an undrafted DE.

Tour of Oakland's Fox Theater reveals 'Herculean' effort - Oakland Tribune

FADED starlets are seldom seen again on the movie screen. Thesame is true of former cinematic he-men. But the Fox Theater willlive another day.

In an amazing restoration story, the Fox will reopen this fall,when there wasn't the slightest possibility of that occurring not somany years ago.

'It is beyond a miracle,' said Patricia Dedekian, board presidentof the Friends of the Oakland Fox. 'It's beyond my wildest dreams.The word is 'Herculean.' It's been that kind of effort.'

The Fox was a premier Oakland theater, certainly architecturally,from its opening in October 1928 until its closing in August 1966.

Since that time, the Fox had been engaged in numerous deathdances with wrecking balls, somehow managing to escape demolitionevery time. Thus, the Fox can match Harry Houdini as an escapeartist.

And, miracle of miracles, the Fox will throw open its now-chained doors with a gala October event -- exactly 80 years from itsoriginal opening, and 42 years and two months from its being shutdown with permanent overtones.

Congratulations, Oakland!

While cities across the nation have razed famous entertainmentpalaces, Oakland has renovated not one, but two marvelously ornatetheaters -- the Paramount in 1973 and now the Fox.

The new Fox won't be a movie theater, which was the original planwhen cowboy actor Tom Mix rode his horse Tony on stage for its 1928debut.

This time around, the Fox will be a live entertainment center,with musical concerts and possibly even musicals as the Fox's largestage could hold a Broadway production. But the original 3,200-seating capacity will be reduced to

2,500 to make room for dances.

Jerry Brown's successful charter concept, The Oakland School forthe Arts, moves permanently into the Fox in fall. A restaurant andbar will adjoin the Fox, adding to the growth of Oakland's Uptownnight life.

On Wednesday, I stepped inside the Fox for the very first time.It was like walking into a theater in Egypt, although itsarchitectural design is described as 'Brahminical Temple of NorthernIndia.'

The two Buddhas with their incense pots fronting the Fox's stagelet everyone know that this isn't the 'moderne' art deco look of theParamount.

The Fox's cement walls have been antique-painted to resemblewood. Part of the ceiling's lighting is projected through starburstglass shapes. Although the theater's renovation is far fromcomplete, just to observe its basic beauty, and what might have beenlost, elicits an emotional reaction.

'It's amazing,' said Ira Goldman, who's in charge of qualityassurance/control for project developer Phil Tagami. 'This buildinghas been around for a reason.'

Beauty. Business. Culture. Class. Oakland pride. All thosereasons.

And to think that many developers looked at the Fox and thenlooked away. Erma DeLucchi of Oakland bought the Fox at a 1978auction for $340,000, more so as a holding pattern, preventing thetheater from being razed.

One year later, the Fox was added to the National Registry ofHistoric Places, which secured it from demolition. In 1996, theOakland City Council bought the Fox for

$3 million, perceived at the time as a foolish gamble.

Then the city hired Tagami, a restoration artist who hadredeveloped many historic buildings in Oakland. He conceived a planto bring the Fox back to life, much like the phoenix, but bypreserving its classic look.

The Paramount's renovation ran $1 million. The Fox's restorationis costing $60 million, thereby resulting in grumblings amongOaklanders about more unwise city spending. They haven't forgottenthe Raiders fiasco.

However, the Fox won't sack the taxpayer. Private donations plusvarious federal, state and short-preservation grants will pay forthe Fox.

Four financial partners are invested in the Fox: Bank of America,National Trust for Historic Preservation, Charter School DevelopmentCorporation and the Fox Oakland Theater Corporation.

Because Bank of America has invested $19.1 million, it will ownthe Fox for seven years. After that, the city of Oakland assumesownership. The theater's marquee, Tagami has assured, still willread 'Fox Oakland' and not 'Bank of America's Fox Theater,' likethose ballparks and arenas who've embraced corporate sponsorship.

Speaking of ballparks, there was a plan to build a downtownballpark that would have placed the Fox behind center field. Brown,who knows zero about sports, killed the idea as mayor in order tobuild housing in the area. That's why the A's announced their moveto Fremont on Brown's watch.

But having the Fox back will soften the A's leaving, when and ifit happens. Tagami began work on the Fox project 11 years ago,although Turner Construction Company didn't start the actualrestoration until January 2007.

Friends of the Oakland Fox, a nonprofit civic group, was formedin 1999 to aid the Fox's recovery, including fundraising, eventhough most of its few hundred members hadn't been inside thetheater in its previous life.

'The roof was leaking, homeless people were camped inside, and itwas deteriorating,' Dedekian recalled. 'We wanted to make sure itwasn't turned into a bowling alley.'

Goldman looked behind walls and found remnants of the past -- apopcorn box, a 10-cent Mars candy wrapper, a DeCicco's bonbon box, aJujubes cover and a Baffle Bar wrapper. How many of you ever had aBaffle Bar?

Better yet, how many of you ever ate one at the Fox? Forty-twoyears is a long time ago. Maybe you necked with your sweetie in thelarge balcony. Perhaps you watched your first John Wayne movie atthe Fox. Possibly you saw your last movie there before shipping outduring World War II.

But if you're old enough to recall going to the Fox in the early1920s to watch a silent film, you're in the wrong Fox Theater. Theoriginal Fox opened Aug. 25, 1923, between 17th and 19th streets andlater was taken over by the Orpheum.

It's the second Fox Theater, at 1819 Telegraph Avenue, that isbeing restored and without losing its original Middle Easternbrilliance.

Only 'restored' doesn't seem the operative word.

'Saved' would be the more appropriate terminology.

Dispute May Leave Orange County, Calif., Cable Subscribers without Fox.(Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News) - Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

Jan. 4--Cox Communications' 230,000 Orange County cable customers could soon be forced to live without 'Ally McBeal,' 'The X-Files' and 'The Simpsons.' Not to mention those 'When Animals Attack' specials.

A dispute between Cox and Fox has already prompted the cable company to drop Fox channels in parts of Texas, northern Virginia and Cleveland. If the dispute isn't resolved by Jan. 31, Orange County customers also would lose Fox.

It would mark the first time the company has ever dropped a network from its Orange County offerings, said Kip Simonson, Cox vice president of marketing and sales.

But local spokeswoman Martha Ann Zajic said, 'We're hoping there can be some type of negotiation over the next (month) so there's no impact to our customers here in Orange County.'

Trabuco Canyon resident Ron Stocking said he and his wife, Kim, watch news on Fox every night, and that he watches football on the station.

'That's our main news station,' Stocking said. 'I'd be real bummed if I lost my football coverage. Fox is one of the major networks as far as I'm concerned.'

Nationwide, about 400,000 cable subscribers have lost their connection to Fox channels because of the disagreement.

Cable companies need permission from network stations to retransmit their signals. They renegotiate those contracts every few years.

Fox has refused to let several Cox Communications systems nationwide retransmit its programming because Cox declined to add two other Fox channels, FXM, a Fox movie channel, and Fox Sports World.

'We see digital TV giving customers the power of choice,' said Fox spokesman Tom Tyrer. 'Cox disagrees, and they've cut their customers off from these popular local stations in order to prove it.'

Cox had asked Fox for a 90-day extension on the deadline for negotiations, Zajic said. When Fox refused, Cox had to drop Fox in several markets on Jan. 1.

Adding the two extra stations would take up space in Cox's transmission capacity. The company provides 214-channel television programming, as well as phone service and cable access to the Internet.

'We don't have unlimited capacity,' Simonson said. 'The (two extra) channels will take spectrum we don't have just to hand out willy nilly.'

Orange County has a different deadline for renegotiating transmission agreements because, in a previous negotiation, deadlines were extended so agreements could be reach ed, Simonson said.

Such negotiations normally are conducted at the local level, he said. But so far, Zajic said, Fox has demanded that all Cox markets agree to take the extra channels.

'We can't be held hostage by Fox Corporation's greed,' said Cox spokeswoman Ellen East.

Cox hasn't yet decided what it will show in place of Fox's channels locally if Fox is dropped.

Cox customers typically cannot buy service from other cable providers. Their only other option would be to disconnect the cable and rely on an old-fashioned antenna, or switch to satellite television, which recently received permission to retransmit network television.

Trabuco resident Stocking said he can't get television or radio reception without cable. He said he'd consider satellite if the prices become more competitive.

But satellite companies could soon find themselves in a similar position when they have to renegotiate with network stations, Simonson said.

'This is an invitation for (satellite companies) to come in and advertise in those markets,' said Jessica Reif-Cohen, an analyst with Merrill Lynch. 'Obviously, (Cox or Fox) will have to back down.'

'This speaks to control -- the cable operators don't want to be told what to do. But cable is vulnerable to satellite in channel capacity,' said Tom Eaton, an analyst with Paine Webber. 'The real winners here are the satellite TV providers.'

Cable companies do not pay to retransmit the signals of TV-network stations, analysts say. But the networks have pressured cable operators to run their specialty channels, such as ABC's ESPN and NBC's MSNBC, in exchange for retransmitting the signals of network stations.

To see more of The Orange County Register, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.ocregister.com

McQuarrie rises in Fox Sports ranks. - Multichannel News

Assuming greater day-to-day operational duties, Dermot McQuarrie has been promoted to the post of senior vice president and assistant general manager at Fox Sports International, officials said last week.

In his new job, McQuarrie will have more responsibility for Fox Sports World, while continuing as executive producer and head of programming for that network, as well as Fox Sports en Espanol and Fox Sports Latin America.

'With the continual growth of soccer, and the appreciation of soccer in the United States--both through [Major League Soccer] and the European and Latin American soccer--I see my duties being to continue to encourage this growth on the programming side, the promotional side, and the marketing of the channel [Fox Sports World] out to those fans who already watch, and hopefully out to fans who currently don't watch,' McQuarrie said.

McQuarrie, who had previously served as vice president of programming for Fox Sports International, will continue to report to David Sternberg, executive vice president of emerging networks for Fox Cable Networks and general manager for Fox Sports International.

BRIT TV VET

A British Broadcasting Corp. and Grampian Television veteran, McQuarrie won acclaim when his exclusive report on an oil-rig blowout in the North Sea in 1977 was seen live in 109 countries.

Since joining Fox Sports International in 1997, McQuarrie has played a crucial role in developing and producing original series such as Fox Sports Noticias, Diario Fox Sports, Fox Sports World Report, MLS Wrap and the soon-to-debut Fox Football Friday.

In addition to his domestic responsibilities, McQuarrie also oversees program acquisitions for the Fox Pan American Sports joint venture encompassing Fox Sports-branded networks in Latin America.

McQuarrie said he looks forward to the challenge of having more responsibilities at Fox Sports World.

'There is no doubt in my mind that over the past seven years that I've been working for Fox that there has been a constant increase in the awareness of soccer, in the appreciation of it,' he said.

'You've only got to look at the commercials that you see nowadays. They've got kids in soccer uniforms ... you'll find a soccer ball being involved in commercials as much as, in some cases more, than a baseball or an American football. I believe there's a great future for World and a channel that's concentrating on that sport.'

RIGHTS MAVEN

McQuarrie, a native of Scotland, has forged sports-rights deals throughout Latin America and is fluent in Spanish.

On a recent train trip, McQuarrie started talking to a little boy in Spanish.

'His father turned around and asked me in Spanish, 'Are you Argentine?' I said, 'No I'm Scottish,'' he recalled.

You are what you watch; Entertainment choices reflect political leaning.(NATION) - The Washington Times (Washington, DC)

Byline: Jennifer Harper, THE WASHINGTON TIMES

It's not imaginary: Political philosophy strongly shapes our preferences in television and leisure time.

'Red-taste' conservatives love Fox News, are suspicious of Hollywood and ignore arty programming, while 'blue-taste' liberals adore NBC, embrace commentary and flock to Hollywood movies, according to new research.

'The difference between conservatives and liberals goes much deeper than politics, involving much deeper patterns of thinking and behavior,' said a survey of close to 4,000 adults released yesterday by Zogby International and the University of Southern California (USC).

'It's quite likely that if conservatives like it, liberals hate it,' the survey said.

Eight out of 10 liberal respondents, for instance, admit that they are entertained by material that is in 'bad taste.' Among conservatives, 40 percent emphatically said they were 'never' entertained by such things.

And while more than three-quarters of conservatives said TV programming and movies 'very often' contain political messages, just 4 percent said they take away any meaningful lessons. They also get territorial over politically charged content: Twenty-two percent of conservatives said they never enjoy entertainment that reflects values other than their own; 7 percent of liberals agreed.

Sixty-eight percent of liberals seek out entertainment that contains political themes and commentary. Half of them also favor arts programming, compared with 17 percent of conservatives.

Seventy percent of conservatives watch Fox News daily, compared with just 3 percent of liberals. NBC is their broadcast network of choice, watched by 70 percent of them.

Like their politics, the two groups have 'polarized' entertainment tastes, the survey found.

'Liberals say they like entertainment with a political flavor, while conservatives eschew such programming out of suspicion that it is tainted with a liberal bias. Instead, they favor news or reality television. Conservatives love sports programming, in part because there's no way to inject liberalism into a football game,' the survey said.

The two groups are in concert in some areas, though.

Majorities on both sides agree they can spot that ideology: Sixty-six percent of conservatives and 55 percent of liberals said if they know a person's taste in entertainment, they can accurately predict their political leanings.

'Tell me what you watch and listen to and read, and I'll tell you how you vote,' noted Martin Kaplan, director of the Norman Lear Center at USC, where analysts spent five months poring over the findings.

In addition, more than 70 percent of respondents from both sides watch the news of their choice daily.

In general, conservatives favor live sporting events over movie theaters, theater, museums or art galleries. In fact, 21 percent said they never go to the movies, compared with 8 percent of liberals.

In music, conservatives favor classical, country and rock in that order - but more than 90 percent ardently shun reggae, Latin, world beat or punk fare. Rock rules the liberals, favored by more than two thirds - followed by an omnivorous mix of 'almost every other music genre,' including rap, folk, Latin and other styles.