Netwoks Locked Out By NBA

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                                [The Boston Globe Online][Boston.com]
                                [Boston Globe Online / Sports]

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                                Networks locked on hold by NBA

                                By Howard Manly, Globe Staff, 10/30/98

                                Coach Willie Maye described the NBA lockout the best. ''It's the big
                                trickle-down,'' the Fox Sports New England color commentator said.

                                At the earliest, NBA games won't start until Dec. 1, meaning Maye will miss
                                eight scheduled Celtics broadcasts in November. ''It hurts,'' he said. ''The
                                lockout hits you where it counts.''

                                It's about the Benjamins (money), on every level, as television stations
                                scramble to fill the void and find programming attractive to a young male
                                audience.

                                Network coverage of NBA games is divided between NBC and Turner Sports. Both
                                networks say they have clauses in their four-year contracts that allow for
                                adjustments in case of canceled games. NBC paid an estimated $1.75 billion;
                                Turner paid $890 million.

                                NBC is probably in the best shape. The network's first games, a Knicks-Bulls
                                and Lakers-Suns doubleheader, isn't scheduled until Christmas, and its Game of
                                the Week series begins Jan. 16. NBC is scheduled to air 32 regular-season
                                games and a minimum of 31 playoff contests.

                                Turner is not doing as well. Between TNT and TBS, Turner already has lost 16
                                games to the lockout. Turner has no shortage of action-packed male-oriented
                                movies, but NBA games represent its main winter sports offering. Turner has 80
                                scheduled regular-season games and 40 playoff matches.

                                Kevin O'Malley, a Turner senior vice president, said the loss of 16 games
                                would not be too severe if the sides can settle by Dec. 1. The lost games
                                could be rescheduled to have a complete 82-game season. But with talks
                                apparently stalled, no one is thinking about those sorts of plans just yet.

                                O'Malley said Turner's contract calls for making up canceled games if
                                possible. It would be easier to insert those games into a season that starts
                                in December.

                                If the games can't be made up, O'Malley said Turner and the NBA would sit down
                                and adjust the dollars and cents. ''Eventually, the product will be made up,''
                                he said.

                                Clear losers in the lockout are advertisers needing a sports vehicle to
                                promote products for the Christmas shopping season.

                                O'Malley acknowledged that Turner will not be able to replace all of the
                                dollars in a ''one-for-one'' fashion. That's true, not only with advertising
                                money but also programming.

                                Fox Sports New England, for instance, plans to air college hockey, basketball,
                                and football games as well as professional women's basketball games.

                                Those games are all right, but it's just not the NBA.
                                <snip>
                                

                                This story ran on page E14 of the Boston Globe on 10/30/98.
                                © Copyright 1998 Globe Newspaper Company.