Arts and entertainment reports from The Times, national and international news services and the nation’s press.

TV/RADIO

Cable for Kids Week: Several cable networks, including the Disney Channel, USA, Nickelodeon, Independent Film Channel, Bravo and American Movie Classics, will join forces next winter for “Educating Our Children,” a weeklong programming initiative focusing on issues facing children in the United States. A follow-up to last year’s “Voices Against Violence Week,” the week will aim to showcase the cable industry’s commitment to education and quality children’s programming by featuring original programming, educational movies, documentaries, public affairs shows and news programs geared toward children. Plans also call for the participation of the White House, classroom tie-ins and a related scholarship/grant program.

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Fistell Back on Air: Former KABC-AM (790) talk-show host Ira Fistell, who pleaded no contest last November to misdemeanor hit-and-run charges stemming from a fatal car crash after which he left the scene to host his radio program, has surfaced at classical radio station KKGO-FM (105.1), where he serves as entertainment editor and reviews concert performances at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Hollywood Bowl and other venues. Fistell’s broadcasts air on KKGO each Friday at 11:29 a.m., and are also heard on sister station KNEWS-AM (540 and 1260) on Fridays at 12:17 p.m. Fistell was fired by KABC in September; the station said at the time that his firing was not related to the hit-and-run incident.

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Grant’s Back Too: Elsewhere on radio, conservative talk-show host Bob Grant is back on New York’s airwaves, promising the same kind of fiery comments that have drawn national criticism and angry protests. Less than two weeks after New York’s WABC-AM fired Grant for insensitive comments about the plane crash that killed Commerce Secretary Ron Brown, he debuted Monday on rival station WOR-AM. The Rev. Al Sharpton, who has jousted with Grant on the air, was outside the WOR studios on Monday and said he would organize a boycott of advertisers. At least one advertiser, the Dime Savings Bank, reportedly canceled its ads on WOR “in direct response” to Grant’s hiring. Grant has previously referred to blacks as “savages” and used a crude sexual epithet to refer to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He once said he hoped President Clinton would “exchange bodily fluids” with an HIV-positive immigrant. Grant insists, however, that he is not a racist and that his comments have been taken out of context.

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‘X-Files’ on Radio?: “The X-Files” stars Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny will take to Los Angeles’ skyline and radio airwaves today with the unveiling of a 20-by-60-foot “talking billboard” at the corner of Sunset and Crescent Heights boulevards. The billboard, which will urge passersby to “turn to 1610 AM on your radio . . . NOW,” will broadcast a special program of continuous sound bites, music and “hidden messages” from the hit Fox series. The broadcast will be heard within a half-mile radius of the intersection for the next two months.

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‘Geraldo’ Settlement: A man who claimed he was unwittingly reunited with his birth mother on the “Geraldo” show in 1993 has settled a breach-of-contract lawsuit against the host and his production staff. Brent Jasmer had alleged in his L.A. Superior Court complaint that he agreed to appear on the show only if no reunion took place on air. Settlement terms were not disclosed.

MUSIC

Palimony Suit: A man describing himself as the former lover of Van Cliburn claims in a Texas lawsuit that the celebrated pianist broke a promise to share his income and may have exposed them both to AIDS by having sex with others. Thomas E. Zaremba, 48, seeks unspecified damages, saying his companion of 17 years intentionally inflicted emotional distress on him and reneged on an agreement to give him half his income in exchange for Zaremba’s services as a business and personal consultant. Zaremba’s attorney, who said the couple’s relationship ended in 1995, said the men had not tested positive for the AIDS virus. Cliburn, 61, vaulted to fame in 1958 when he won the Tchaikovsky International Music Competition in Moscow. Cliburn’s attorney, who had not seen the lawsuit but had read a summary of it, said he “unequivocally” denies Zaremba’s allegations.

QUICK TAKES

Actor Ernest Borgnine, who starred as skipper Quinton McHale in the 1962-66 TV comedy “McHale’s Navy,” has signed up for a part in an upcoming movie version of the show, Borgnine’s publicist said Tuesday. Tom Arnold (“True Lies” and “Nine Months”) stars as McHale in the big-screen version. . . . It will cost $93.5 million to reconstruct La Fenice, the Venice opera house that was gutted by fire in January, according to a report from a Venice-based industrial association. So far, about $41.9 million has been earmarked for the reconstruction from government grants and contributions. . . . More than half of the 4.5 million copies of “Waiting to Exhale” shipped to retailers last week by FoxVideo sold in the video’s first five days of release, coming close to the number sold by the Oscar-nominated “Apollo 13” (about 2.75 million) in its first five days of release last November. . . . Disneyland and Walt Disney World Resort today will change the name of the parks’ Tom Sawyer Island attractions to Tom and Huck Island for the month of May. The change coincides with the release of Disney’s video “Tom and Huck.”