Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, August 28, 1993 TAG: 9308280062
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
After ABC assigns a regional game to Lynchburg's WSET (Channel 13), Cox Cable will then pick one of the remaining games to televise on Channel 19, its pay-per-view slot. Salem's PPV games will be available on Channel 38.
Although ABC will offer three PPV choices most Saturdays, the Roanoke and Salem systems will be able to air only one because they have only one PPV channel. ESPN Enterprises will be delivering the games to cable, and ABC commercial breaks will be pre-empted on PPV by electronic scoreboard scrolls with updated scores of other games that day.
Cox Cable will decide which game to air. Subscribers without a Tocom converter box will need to rent one. Salem Cable has an addressable system, so viewers may order games until one hour before kickoff. Cox Cable's PPV marketing coordinator, Barbara Ford, said orders for games will be taken until noon on Saturdays.
The single-game price on each system is $8.95, with a 12-game season package available for $59.95.
ABC is delivering Miami-Boston College to this region at 3:30 p.m. Sept. 4 on WSET. The other regional games are LSU-Texas A & M, Washington State-Michigan and Stanford-Washington.
Cox Cable will air Stanford-Washington, an intriguing matchup of top 15-ranked teams that has been spiced by Washington's recent probation, the resignation of coach Don James and criticism directed at the Huskies' program in the spring by Stanford coach Bill Walsh. Salem will show Washington State-Michigan.
Cox's 52,000 subscribers and Salem's 10,500 subscribers are among 22 million homes nationally that will have access to the ABC/ESPN pay-per-view games.
\ NO. 1 OPENER: The Kickoff Classic begins a four-year, $3.2 million contract on ABC Sports today, when top-ranked Florida State meets Kansas. ABC's top college football duo, Keith Jackson and Bob Griese, will call the game (noon, WSET) at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.
Jackson is beginning his 28th season as ABC's colorful game-caller. Is this finally the year the Seminoles are going to win a national championship after seven years of frustration in the top four of the final polls?
"I like [defending national champ] Alabama," Jackson said. "They have a lot of depth, a lot of people coming back.
"The hook in all of this is Florida. If Florida beats FSU in the final game of the regular season, then Florida will probably beat Alabama in the Southeastern Conference championship game.
"Michigan is loaded. If they can beat Notre Dame, I see Michigan going into the Rose Bowl undefeated. Nebraska will be very good and should have one of its best years. Texas A & M should go undefeated into the Cotton Bowl, but whether they can beat anyone of consequence there, I don't know."
ESPN studio analyst Beano Cook said, "Florida State will lose one of two games - either at Notre Dame or at Florida - which will probably mean no national title."
ESPN's outspoken former coach, Lee Corso, said the national title "will be won by a Florida team" - FSU, Florida or Miami.
Corso, who in recent years has displayed a knack for calling upsets, predicts, "Watch for Brigham Young to beat Notre Dame in Provo and Mississippi to beat Alabama in Oxford." Corso also said he believes a national championship game will be played after the bowls at the end of the 1996 season, which would be the first year of a new CFA television contract.
\ FUZZY VIEWING: If you plan on watching all of the comprehensive U.S. Open Tennis Championships coverage starting Monday, here's a suggestion:
Take two weeks of vacation.
Between CBS and cable's USA Network, about 130 hours will be televised from the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y. USA has scheduled 94 1/2 hours, but is likely to carry more, considering live-match runovers.
Last year, USA aired 101 hours over 12 days, up from the 24 hours in nine days when USA Network first acquired Open rights in 1984. CBS (locally, WDBJ) will show at least 35 hours, capped by an eight-hour show Sept. 11 - including both men's singles semifinals and the women's singles championship - and the men's singles championship the next day.
The first week, other than late-night highlights shows, the Open belongs to USA. The cable network will air 8 1/2 live hours Monday through Friday, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. CBS and USA share 9 1/2 hours Sept. 4, and USA has 9 1/2 hours Sept. 5 (noon-6 and 7:30-11 p.m.) while CBS airs two NFL games. USA has a couple of 10 1/2-hour days at the Tennis Center during the second week of play.
That's a lot of fuzzy bouncing balls to follow, but the analysis of two broadcasters should bring some intrigue to the coverage. USA has John McEnroe, and CBS has Mary Carillo. Each is outspoken and will give viewers their opinions in a New York minute.
by CNB