In the game of cable-channel poker, ESPN has seen Prime SportsChannel’s bid for a second network-and raised it.
The scheduled launch of ESPN2, originally set for Nov. 2, has been moved up to Oct. 1, the same date as NewSport’s planned debut. While ESPN officials deny the change was precipitated by Prime SportsChannel Network’s all-sports news channel, the coincidence couldn’t be ignored.
“We just wanted to get this started as early as we possibly could,” ESPN executive John Walsh said. “The building is going up. Some of the personnel’s in place. And our affiliates thought the earlier we could do it the better.”
ESPN President Steve Bornstein went a step further. “NewSport was not a factor in our decision,” he said.
But both networks now claim they want to get up and running by Oct. 1 for the same reason-the National Hockey League season begins then. For ESPN2, the NHL will be supplying three nights of prime-time programming. For SportsChannel, the Blackhawks will be using NewSport as its spill-over channel.
But ESPN2 already has moved ahead of its Prime SportsChannel competitor. It has struck a deal-through its parent company, Cap Cities/ABC-with Continental Cablevision, the third largest cable operator in the country. Continental will carry the new channel, while ABC won’t seek payment from Continental for retransmission fees from its broadcast stations.
(Under new federal cable laws, broadcast networks have the right to negotiate a fee from operators for carrying network programs on cable systems. While some cable executives have balked at paying for the signals they now get for free, network officials have been equally adamant about seeking those fees. Needless to say, neither CBS nor NBC officials are happy with ABC’s latest move.)
In the meantime, without such network clout (although a partner with NBC), Prime SportsChannel still is in negotiations for NewSport. But even in a 500-channel cable universe, can there be too much prime-time sports programming?
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“There’s a great deal of uncertainty of what the 500-channel is going to look like,” Walsh said. “Even though we’ve seen some leveling off of sports ratings, we know there’s a terrific appetite for sports news. We’re all anticipating in the next 10 to 15 years, there’s going to be some sea change in sports on a regular basis.”
But it won’t happen soon. At least not locally. One area cable operator executive said his system wouldn’t be carrying either new sports network. “We’re full,” he said. As for the 500-channel future, “probably anything we add will be on an a la carte basis.” Meaning subscribers will have to pay (50 cents to $1 a month is mentioned) for additional programming.
– ESPN has named acerbic “SportsCenter” anchor Keith Olbermann to co-host ESPN2’s three-hour prime-time sports news program “SportsNight.” Olbermann will be joined by Suzy Kolber, a former weekend sports anchor and feature reporter in West Palm Beach, Fla. A third host for what Walsh promises will be a free-wheeling show will be named later.
“I’m looking forward to getting involved in a new operation,” said Olbermann, who joined ESPN in March 1992 after six years in Los Angeles. “The way my input has already been sought is very, very encouraging.” Olbermann, a groundbreaking veteran himself with CNN and then Headline News, said he’s used to being the guinea pig, although “an ego is a terrible thing to waste.”
– “Naked Sports: Four Portraits,” an abbreviated version of the six-hour sports documentary done earlier this year by ITV and Oxford Television for European consumption, makes its U.S. debut on Showtime at 9 p.m. Saturday. The profiles are of exiled Reds owner Marge Schott, the Dallas Cowboys, boxing promoter Dan Duva and Michael Jordan.
In the Jordan segment, the Bulls’ superstar explains he really wanted to wear Adidas shoes when he left college, but Adidas “couldn’t even come close” to matching the Nike offer. The Air Jordan marketing blitz is examined, including its effect on youngsters, leading Tribune prep columnist Barry Temkin to remark, “Kids buy into the false dream and then the dream betrays them.”
– All-Star notes: A not particularly exciting game helped CBS to a not particularly exciting 15.6 national Nielsen rating and a 28 share, up 5 percent from last year’s 14.9/27. While the past two years’ shares are the lowest ever, and the ratings are the lowest since the 1969 game in Washington (the most recent All-Star Game daytime telecast), the game helped CBS win the night. . . . The local ratings might have dipped because WBBM-Ch. 2 insisted on blocking the screen several times with large-sized newscrawls warning Downstate viewers of impending thunderstorms and then to give out the night’s lottery numbers.
– Housecleaning: Turner Sports has bought the TV rights to the U.S. Olympic Festival for the next three years, starting with the July 24-Aug. 1 games in San Antonio. TNT will telecast 10 hours, while Prime Network airs 20 hours in the first joint venture between two cable networks. . . . ESPN, which had carried the Festival in the past, will concentrate instead this summer on the World University Games with six hours of live coverage Saturday and Sunday.