WAVING THE WHITE FLAG

Although ratings for the Oscar telecast on ABC have been declining, the other channels still consider the night a lost cause for them. (The show starts at 6 p.m. PST, which is prime time in the East and Midwest.)

Only NBC plans serious counter-programming. A spokesman put it bluntly: “We don’t lie down and play dead.” It will repeat “The Dirty Dozen: The Next Mission” (the Lee Marvin mission was the net’s highest-rated made-for-TV film last year) because the “male-oriented” movie will be a good alternative to Oscar glitter.

KCOP Channel 13 will substitute repeats of Benny Hill for its customary 8 p.m. Monday movie because, said a rep, “anybody interested in a good movie will be watching the Academy Awards.”

Otherwise, the TV log is unchanged.

A CBS spokesman was realistic: “Based on past history, we don’t expect to win because the Oscars are a longstanding institution. The opposition can’t win that evening.”