Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, August 19, 1995 TAG: 9508210018
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Showtime Event Television expects more than 1 million subscribers to the pay-per-view card of four fights from Las Vegas. Tyson's bout against Peter McNeeley may be considered a mismatch, but Roanoke Valley viewers seem as intrigued as anyone.
Ann Luther, marketing coordinator at Cox Cable Roanoke, said that system's subscribers have responded to this Tyson bout like no PPV boxing show aired previously. The number of homes ordering at the advance price of $39.95 approached 300. The price rose to $45.95 Friday and today, and although the card airs at 9 p.m., Cox will have order lines open (1-800-578-BIG1) until 10 p.m.
``I'd like to see us reach 1,000 [homes],'' Luther said. ``I don't know if we can, but I think it's possible.''
The national trend on PPV buys is to wait until the day of the event. Luther said that Roanoke subscribers are a divided lot - about 50 percent order in advance. Early Thursday, when Cox had 260 Tyson orders in the books, Luther was asked how many subscribers most PPV boxing shows attract three days before a fight.
``Usually, about four,'' Luther said. ``One way to tell the interest is the number of calls we've gotten through our regular customer service line, and not just the 800 number. That usually doesn't happen.''
The national PPV record for boxing is the 1.4 million buys for a 1991 Evander Holyfield-George Foreman bout. There's no question Tyson's return will be at least No.2 on that list. There were only about 8 million PPV-equipped homes in 1991, about one-third of today's addressable U.S. universe.
Cox Cable Roanoke hasn't signed into the Nov.4 conflict, when two heavyweight shows are scheduled head-to-head. Tyson is scheduled to fight Buster Mathis Jr. in a Showtime PPV bout, while Time Warner's TVKO has a Holyfield-Riddick Bowe headliner.
RINGSIDE: The fight that boxing fans want to see is Pernell Whitaker against Roy Jones Jr. They'll certainly meet next Saturday at the Atlantic City Convention Center, but while Whitaker will put his welterweight title on the line against Gary Jacobs, Jones will be ringside for Home Box Office as an analyst for the 10 p.m. bout. Jones' next outing comes Sept.30 on HBO, defending his super middleweight title against No.1-ranked contender Tony Thornton in Pensacola, Fla., Jones' hometown.
CORSO CALLS: ESPN college football studio analyst Lee Corso is known for his outspokenness, and now locals will be able to hear Corso on the radio, too. WSLC (610 AM) has added Corso's Sunday night call-in show to its schedule. The former coach's one-hour weekly show makes its debut Sept.3 at 7 p.m. and runs through November. WSLC has Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer's call-in hour starting the following night at 7.
MORE WVU: Add WFNR Radio (710 AM) to Roanoke's WFIR on the West Virginia football network. The Christiansburg station carried Mountaineers' games last season, too, but wasn't mentioned when a WVU administrator was asked about Virginia stations carrying WVU games in last week's column.
AT ESPN: ESPN is again expanding its ``SportsCenter,'' increasing what has been the 2:30 a.m. show to one hour with a 2 a.m. start. That's the show that is rerun six times most weekdays between 6-9 a.m. and 10 a.m.-1 p.m. The change begins Aug.29.
The network also is altering its Sunday morning programming block, moving ``The Sports Reporters'' earlier, to 10:30 a.m., with SportsCenter at 11 leading into the expanded, 75-minute ``NFL GameDay'' at 11:45. ``NFL Matchup'' returns at 9:30 a.m. beginning Sept.3, the NFL's opening day,
Former Georgia Tech coach Bill Lewis has surfaced as the primary analyst on college football telecasts on ESPN2, which has a Sept.2 opener of Texas-Hawaii at midnight. ... ESPN also has added a Philadelphia correspondent to its news team. Sal Paolantonio, a former political reporter and Philadelphia Eagles' beat man at The Philadelphia Inquirer, goes into TV full-time.
HOOPLA: CBS Sports is boosting its regular-season college basketball schedule, feeding the frenzy for its exclusive NCAA tournament coverage. The network will air 50 games, up 15 from last year, involving 52 different schools. In addition to its Big East and Big Ten home dates of the past, CBS has added Southeastern Conference coverage and has 11 appearances by teams in the new Conference USA.
The schedule begins Dec.2 with a doubleheader of UCLA-Kansas and Kentucky-Indiana. Virginia's Jan.28 game at Connecticut is part of a 3 p.m. split-national exposure with Kansas-Nebraska.
AROUND THE DIAL: CBS Radio (WFIR, 960 AM) will air a midweek special baseball broadcast Sept.6, with play-by-play from Camden Yards of the California-Baltimore game - when Cal Ripken is scheduled to break Lou Gehrig's consecutive games record. ... There's good news for ticket holders for the ACC Tournament. The March 10 championship game will be moved up to 1 p.m., from 3 in recent years, a better time for traveling fans, the NCAA basketball tournament selection committee and Raycom and ESPN, the TV carriers. ... New Virginia athletic director Terry Holland will get less than 10 dates as an analyst from ESPN starting this season. He can no longer work ACC games for that network and Raycom/Jefferson Pilot, due to conflict of interest. ... North Carolina may have lost Jerry Stackhouse and Rasheed Wallace early to the NBA, but the Tar Heels will still have plenty of TV presence in 1995-96. UNC will have at least 25 of its 29 regular-season games on the tube.
by CNB