FIRST OFF . . .

The Federal Trade Commission is studying whether anti-trust laws may have been breached in the National Football League’s new three-year, $1.4-billion television contract with ABC, CBS, NBC and ESPN, the ABC-controlled cable-TV sports network, broadcasting industry sources said. The thrust of the commission’s informal inquiries--which last week included an FTC staff attorney questioning executives of ESPN and losing bidders Fox Broadcasting Co., of Los Angeles, and Home Box Office, Inc., of New York--appears to be the bidding for 16 Monday-night games and the interests, if any, that CBS and NBC may have had in ABC retaining rights to continue broadcasting “Monday Night Football,” as it has since 1970. According to one source, the FTC questions centered on whether there was “pressure on the NFL to keep a fourth network out--i.e., Fox.” In March, ABC beat out Fox for the rights to the Monday games for a reported $7 million per game. Neither the NFL nor the major networks had been contacted by the FTC as of Friday, officials said. A commission spokesman said FTC policy is to neither confirm nor deny whether preliminary inquiries are under way.