Cosell’s ‘SportsBeat’ Show Canceled by ABC-TV

“SportsBeat,” Howard Cosell’s Sunday afternoon interview show, has been canceled by ABC-TV.

A network spokesman said Saturday that the last SportsBeat show is scheduled for Dec. 15. The show has consistently ranked near the bottom of the sports television ratings, although it offered the only regular forum on any network for in-depth interviews.

Cosell created controversy in his autobiography, “I Never Played the Game,” which recently was excerpted in TV Guide. In the book, Cosell criticized people with whom he worked at ABC.