Ted Shaker has gotten Sports Illustrated Television off to a roaring start. After producing a couple of syndicated specials and a series of features on “ABC’s Wide World of Sports,” Shaker hit the big-time Wednesday night with the controversial “40 for the Ages: Sports Illustrated’s 40th Anniversary Special” on NBC.
While some the choices were questionable (Roone Arledge and Howard Cosell, but not Mickey Mantle or Willie Mays?), the one-hour program represented a milestone for Shaker, who left his post as CBS Sports executive producer nearly two years ago.
“Quality television is what this is all about,” says Shaker about his new venture as head of SITV that started eight months ago. “When I left CBS, I took some time off because I felt like a fried egg.” But he got the TV itch again and resumed talks with Time Warner that started in 1990.
When Time Warner officials suggested he head the SITV project, “they were open to and encouraged ideas, no matter what the size,” says Shaker. “I thought this place was great.”
Shaker, while not having the personnel resources he had at CBS, does have some talented help, including Alan Weisman and Paulette Douglas, who help put together the SI 40th anniversary show.
“The company is supportive of all this,” says Shaker, “because they have a brand name (Sports Illustrated) and a reputation that is very special. They’re interested in finding out if its possible to extend it into other media.”
For Shaker, the challenge is discovering the other side of TV from the one he was on. “It’s kind of a revelation to be part of a group where if you have a good idea, they’ll back it,” he says. “I’m thinking how Sports Illustrated Television can become a more credible supplier of quality television.
“I came from the other side of the table. I’m pitching as opposed to catching. We’re as good as our ideas. We’re as good as our last show. As of this point, we have no regular distribution arm. So we go talk (to the network executives) and try to sell our shows. I’m getting to see all sides of that table.”
Shaker has no regrets about his departure from CBS. “That place changed over time,” says Shaker, who took the hint when he was left behind in the network’s 1992 Winter Olympics plans. “It became a different place from when I first worked there. Everything I know about TV, I owe to CBS, and I’m very appreciative of that. But it was time to go.”
Not finished yet: Fox Broadcasting’s recent $155 million acquistion of National Hockey League rights ($5 million more than sports-hungry CBS offered), on top of its $1.6 billion purchase of National Football League rights earlier, is just the start, promises sports division boss David Hill. “As my bosses, (Fox owner) Rupert Murdoch and (FBC President) Chase Carey, have said countless times, we’re determined to turn Fox into a full-fledged network,” says Hill. “Obviously, what we have to do is develop a sports staff. We’re taking an optimistic view of every sport that comes along.” Next up? Wimbledon, followed very possibly by baseball and the 2000 Summer Olympics from Murdoch’s native Australia.
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Baseball could become available as soon as next year, say some sources, because the Baseball Network-the joint venture between Major League Baseball and ABC and NBC-likely will fail to make its two-year sales goal of $330 million, thanks to the players’ strike that wiped out the last seven weeks of the regular season plus the postseason. Each of the three parties has the option to leave the venture then. Adding to its woes, the Baseball Network also now has to provide refunds or make-good spots on other ABC and/or NBC shows to what would have been lucrative postseason advertisers.
Bears numbers: Perhaps because of the first-half rout, ABC’s telecast of Monday night’s Bears-Eagles game had a 16.9 national Nielsen rating and a 28 share, down 15 percent from the 19.9/34 the week before for the “Monday Night Football” opener. Locally, the telecast had a respectable 32.9 rating with a 47 share on WLS-Ch. 7.
Personnel moves: WSCR-AM promotions director Dave Karwowski moves to a similar post at sports-talk rival WMVP-AM. . . . Harry Carson is the latest former Giants player to hit the airwaves, joining ABC as a sideline TV reporter for college football.
Programming notes: WLS-Ch. 7 will carry the Colorado-Michigan game at 2:30 p.m. Sept. 24, while ESPN airs Indiana-Wisconsin at 11:30 a.m. and North Carolina-Florida State at 6:30 p.m. the same day. . . . ESPN and ESPN2 will simulcast the IndyCar race from Nazareth, Pa., Sunday with two different viewpoints. While ESPN will present the race in the standard manner, ESPN2’s coverage will consist completely of six in-car cameras and driver-to-pit communication with occasional summaries by a commentator. . . . Ex-Bear Walter Payton is interviewed about the Heisman Trophy chances of Alcorn State QB Steve McNair at halftime of Saturday’s ABC college football telecast.