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

TELEVISION

Olympic Honors: NBC topped the 18th Annual Sports Emmy Awards held in New York Wednesday night, taking home 12 Emmys including 10 for the network’s Summer Olympics broadcasts--a record for coverage of a single event. NBC honorees included Bob Costas, named outstanding sports host for the sixth year in a row (and his eighth win in the category). Cable’s ESPN came next in the total Emmy count, with seven awards including best live sports series (“ESPN Speedworld”). Next came Fox--with wins including best live sports special (“1996 World Series”) and outstanding sports analyst (Howie Long)--and cable’s TNT with three Emmys each. Frank Gifford received the TV academy’s previously announced Lifetime Achievement Award for Sports.

Boycotting ABC, Disney: The National Hispanic Media Coalition on Thursday outlined strategies for a boycott against ABC and Walt Disney products and theme parks to protest alleged broken promises by Disney and the network to employ more Latinos. Protest leaders said they have contacted school district leaders to send high school seniors to theme parks other than Disneyland for June graduation night celebrations. They also plan to establish an information effort at the California/Mexico border to tell potential visitors to stay away from Disneyland. The coalition said it is also gearing up a “don’t take the money” campaign to discourage Latino groups to accept donations from Disney and ABC. Coalition leader Alex Nogales also called for the firing of shock-jock Howard Stern from his E! Channel talk show (E! is partially owned by Disney). The group is still upset about a joke Stern made during his syndicated radio show about the murder of tejano star Selena in March 1995. Disney executives declined comment Thursday.

Writing the FCC: The Federal Communications Commission hasn’t heard much evidence of the public’s support of the industry’s TV ratings system. A total of 822 individuals and organizations nationwide (including a group of 23 congressmen) have written the FCC to oppose the industry’s system, while only 28 wrote in favor of the system (and 23 of those 28 were network affiliate stations). The staff of Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) counted the comments. “It’s clear from the public record before the FCC that the industry ratings system is popular only with the TV industry, but practically nobody else,” Markey said. The FCC must approve the industry’s system.

Springer’s New Stripe: Daytime host Jerry Springer--who has a background in broadcasting but has earned his share of critical drubbing for choosing sordid topics on his talk show--has gotten a second job: as a Chicago-area news commentator on “topical issues.” Springer has signed with NBC’s Chicago station to appear on its newscast beginning May 5. But WMAQ-TV General Manager Lyle Banks didn’t seem to have unshakable faith in his new hire: “We’re not sure how long it’s going to last or whether it may move to our other newscasts,” Banks said. “We just want to see how it shapes up. It could be good. It could be bad.”

THE ARTS

Alexander Answers Newt: National Endowment for the Arts Chair Jane Alexander spoke before a Senate appropriations panel Thursday to counter House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s (R-Ga.) earlier suggestion that entertainers become the main financial backers of the arts. “I feel that is a particularly elitist view, in that [the NEA] is really an agency that belongs to all the people in America and if you ask only a few very wealthy individuals [to fund the arts] . . . you are actually becoming more elitist,” Alexander said. Alexander cited the agency’s support for broadcasts by New York’s Metropolitan Opera as an example of how the NEA benefits ordinary Americans. Alexander, an award-winning actress, did not mention Gingrich by name, but was referring to remarks he made at a news conference two weeks ago attended by Republicans demanding an end to NEA funding.

CalArts/Alpert Award Winners: Five mid-career artists--choreographer Victoria Marks, filmmaker Craig Baldwin, composer Chen Yi, playwright-actress Lisa Kron and painter Kerry James Marshall--will each receive the California Institute of the Arts’ Alpert Award in the Arts during ceremonies May 4 at the home of CalArts President Steven D. Lavine. The prestigious awards--named for musician Herb Alpert--each carry a prize of $50,000. In exchange, recipients are asked to take part in a short residency at CalArts during the year.

Two Tenors and a Diva: Supertenors Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras--sans third wheel Luciano Pavarotti--will be joined by pop diva Diana Ross in a May 20 performance in Taipei, Taiwan, that is being billed as “The Super Concert of the Century.” Concert plans, announced by Domingo during a Los Angeles press conference Wednesday night, call for the largest concert event in Taiwan’s history, with an anticipated outdoor audience of 60,000 at Taipei’s Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Park.

QUICK TAKES

The Hollywood Athletic Club will give a public preview tonight of its live music venue with two shows by Billy Vera & the Beaters, at 9:30 and 11:30. Tickets are $12.50. Sunday is the expanded Sunset Boulevard club’s actual opening night, with Brazilian pop singer Katai Moraes performing at 9 p.m. ($8). . . . “Let’s Make a Deal” host Monty Hall will describe the special effects and other visual elements of Tommy Lee Jones’ new disaster film, “Volcano,” in a TheatreVision engagement at Glendale’s GCC Central Cinema, today through Sunday. The technology allows blind theater goers to hear a full description of the film through an earpiece. . . . A Los Angeles judge on Thursday dismissed Paparazzi TV cameraman Henry Trappler’s allegation that rocker Tommy Lee violated his civil rights during an altercation last September outside the Viper Room nightclub. Trappler has also sued for assault and battery and negligence.