NBC Is Leader of the Pack at Sports Emmy Awards : Television: Network wins nine, edging CBS with eight. ‘MTV Sports’ pulls an upset in anthologies, beating genre-originator ABC’s ‘Wide World of Sports.’

With its prime-time programming mired in third place in the ratings and its news division attempting to overcome one of television’s most embarrassing scandals, NBC’s sports division gave the beleaguered network some much-needed good news Tuesday, leading the sports Emmy Awards.

The network collected nine Emmys--including one for promotional program, which it shared with Turner Network Television for their collaborative “NBA: I Love This Game” series--to lead the 14th annual sports Emmy competition. CBS was second with eight and ABC, ESPN, HBO and NFL Films each received three during ceremonies in New York City.

NBC’s coverage of the Summer Olympics received five awards: outstanding edited sports special, program achievement, graphic design, feature and technical team studio. NBC was also honored for having the best live sports special for its presentation of horse racing’s Breeders Cup.

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CBS was cited five times for its Winter Olympics coverage, for film cinematography, videotape editing, graphic design and technical achievement, with Charles Kuralt winning for individual achievement.

Two of CBS’ highest-profile pieces of sports programming were winners. Its coverage of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament won for live sports series, and its “NFL Today” pregame show was the top studio show.

NBC’s Bob Costas and CBS’ John Madden continued to dominate the announcing categories. Costas was named as outstanding personality: host/play-by-play for the fourth time in the past six years. Madden received his ninth Emmy as outstanding personality: analyst, maintaining his streak of having won every time he has been nominated.

In what arguably was the most unlikely winner, “MTV Sports” won in the anthologies category, ahead of ABC’s “Wide World of Sports,” the genre’s originator; NBC’s “NBA Inside Stuff”; NFL Films’ “This Is the NFL” and HBO’s “Inside the NFL.”

The weekend program, which debuted in January, 1992, focuses mainly on individual sports and is hosted by Dan Cortese.

It was the first time MTV had won an Emmy for programming. The 11-year-old cable music video network had previously won two technical daytime Emmys.

Chris Schenkel, currently in his 33rd season of calling ABC’s high-rated professional bowling telecasts, received the lifetime achievement award.