Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, September 9, 1994 TAG: 9409100010
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Short
At least that's the pitch being made by two groups seeking to launch women's sports cable networks over the next year. And it could become a battleground between the groups.
On one side is the Women's Sports Network, an effort of Michael Weisman, a former executive producer of NBC Sports, and Terry Kassel, a former senior vice president of Major League Baseball Productions.
Weisman and Kassel say the venture is backed by ``tens of millions of dollars'' in capital.
On the other side is Liberty Sports, a programming spinoff of Tele-Communications, Inc., the nation's largest cable system owner. Liberty owns or co-owns 14 regional sports channels and wants to use its roster of women's TV properties to launch a stand-alone network that is as yet unnamed.
NHL participation in the 1998 Winter Olympics at Nagano, Japan?
That could move one step closer to reality with a news conference today in Helsinki, Finland, featuring NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and Rene Fasel, president of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF).
The executives are expected to reconfirm their commitment to a tournament featuring the top international players in the NHL. The plan still requires the approval of the NHL Players' Association and gaining such approval is part and parcel of labor negotiations between the NHL and the players' union.
by CNB