Bruins Part of a Glitch in Windows ’97

UCLA has been on Fox Sports West 2, which reaches a little more than a third of the Los Angeles market’s 5 million television households, and FX, which reaches even less.

The Bruins have also been on ABC and Channel 9.

But on Saturday, the nation’s 13th-ranked football team, a winner of five in a row, is not on live television at all.

In this day and age, that’s hard to believe.

How did this happen? There is no one simple explanation.

The Saturday lineup includes Washington State-Arizona on ABC at 12:30 as a regional telecast, USC-Oregon on Fox Sports West at 7:15 as the Fox Sports Net’s Pacific 10 game of the week, and Washington-Oregon State on Channel 9 at 3:30 p.m. as the Fox Sports Net’s secondary syndicated game.

Fox Sports West 2 was more than willing to take Saturday’s UCLA-California game but faced two hurdles. It needed UCLA to change the start time from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. because ABC has exclusive rights to

the 12:30-3:30 window, and it needed a conference exception because Fox Sports Net’s Pac-10 contract specifies a 3:30-6:30 window.

UCLA officials had already picked a 12:30 kickoff for its homecoming game because it is more desirable than 3:30. Also, they did not think the conference would grant a second exception. Earlier in the season, an exception had been granted Fox Sports West 2 for Houston-UCLA.

Since Fox Sports West 2 is part of the Fox Sports Net, the West 2 people didn’t see a problem in getting a second exception.

But the Pac-10 did.

“We told the Fox people to slow down a little,” said Duane Lindberg, assistant Pac-10 commissioner in charge of electronic communications. “We made an exception for Houston-UCLA, but there are contractual considerations and ramifications on all our member institutions.”

For instance, Washington and Oregon State expect to be the only Pac-10 schools on TV in Los Angeles at 3:30, and Channel 9 expects the same. That’s why putting UCLA on a cable network at the same time, even one with limited exposure, is not contractually permitted.

Should there be such rules and restrictions involving exclusive windows, or does the Pac-10 need to do some window cleaning, giving the schools and television entities more freedom to give viewers what they want?

Lindberg said that will be one of the topics when the Pac-10 athletic directors meet in Los Angeles Nov. 5.

In the meantime, what do Bruin fans do Saturday?

Well, they can listen to Chris Roberts, Billy Ray Smith and Matt Stevens on AM 1150, or better yet, they can go to the Rose Bowl and see the game live.

Also, Fox Sports West 2 will have two delayed telecasts, Saturday at 10:30 p.m. and Sunday at 5 p.m.

On Nov. 1, Channel 9 will televise UCLA-Stanford.

MORE COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Why do conferences grant exclusive windows in the first place? It’s money, lots of money.

Fox Sports Net, which has been paying the Pac-10 $13 million a year for 18 games, just extended the current contract from 2000 to 2006, a deal that immediately raises the annual rights fee to about $17.5 million.

A basketball contract extension through the 2005-2006 season will provide Pac-10 schools with about $50 million over the next nine seasons. . . .

Ever notice that occasionally a college game on cable gets abruptly interrupted by a commercial break? For instance, during last Saturday’s Michigan-Iowa game on ESPN, Michigan was driving for a momentum-shifting touchdown early in the third quarter and was deep in Iowa territory when Brian Griese went back to pass and, with the ball in the air, on came a commercial break.

Michigan was lining up for a kickoff before ESPN returned to the game.

What happened in this case, and a few others, is an ESPN computer tone triggers an automated insertion system. Automation, don’t you love it? . . .

The USC-Notre Dame game on NBC Saturday got an impressive 8.7 rating in Los Angeles but only a 3.2 nationally. Florida-Auburn on CBS got a 4.5, and ABC’s regional coverage averaged a 3.0.

WORLD SERIES WOES

Low ratings aren’t the only thing plaguing the World Series. A source said that 32% of the commercial spots for Games 5, 6 and 7 remained unsold Thursday morning. . . .

The national rating for Game 4 Wednesday night was a 15.5, second lowest ever for a Game 4. The Series is averaging only a 14.4. . . .

One problem is the season is too long. Who wants to see baseball played in snow and cold? . . .

NBC’s Don Ohlmeyer has apologized for saying his network was rooting for a four-game sweep, but what he said was the truth. . . .

The work by the NBC announcing team of Bob Costas, Joe Morgan and Bob Uecker has improved as the postseason has progressed, but the telecasts are still overproduced. There are so many replays and taped segments it sometimes is hard to tell what is live and what isn’t. . . .

The one thing NBC doesn’t give viewers--the score all-the-time graphic--is the one thing it should. . . .

There have been complaints about the Series radio coverage on XTRA being difficult to pick up in certain areas, particularly the West San Fernando Valley. Lancaster’s KAVL 610 is also carrying the Series, but its signal doesn’t cover much of the Los Angeles basin. Santa Barbara’s KTMS 1250 covers even less. . . .

If the Series goes seven games, the Chicago-Miami NFL game scheduled for Miami’s Pro Player Stadium on Sunday will be moved to Monday night. ABC would televise it in South Florida and the Chicago area, with ESPN’s Mike Patrick and Joe Theismann announcing, and DirecTV’s “NFL Sunday Ticket” would also offer it. ABC’s main game is Green Bay-New England in a Super Bowl rematch.

IN CLOSING

There was simply no reason for Bob Trumpy to alienate UCLA fans last Saturday when, at the start of the USC-Notre Dame game, he said, “USC is the only football team in town worth talking about.” It sounded like something a radio talk-show host would say to stir up a controversy. Trumpy used to be a radio talk-show host, which may help explain why he often speaks before he thinks.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

What Los Angeles Is Watching

A sampling of L.A. Nielsen ratings for sports programs Oct. 18-20.

SATURDAY

*--*

Event Ch. Rating Share Baseball: World Series, Cleveland at Florida 4 14.6 29 College football: USC at Notre Dame 4 8.7 24 College football: Oregon State at UCLA 9 4.3 10 Pro basketball: Chicago Bulls vs. Olympiakos 4 3.3 10 Boxing: Hector Lopez vs. Angel Beltre 9 3.3 6 College football: Miami at Boston College 2 2.7 9 College football: Florida at Auburn 2 2.7 8 College football: Washington at Arizona 7 1.3 4

*--*

SUNDAY

*--*

Event Ch. Rating Share Baseball: World Series, Cleveland at Florida 4 17.6 32 Pro football: Denver at Oakland 4 17.5 40 Pro football: Jacksonville at Dallas 4 12.0 30 Pro football: San Francisco at Atlanta 11 7.9 19 Hockey: N.Y. Islanders at Mighty Ducks 9 1.3 2

*--*

MONDAY

*--*

Event Ch. Rating Share Pro football: Buffalo at Indianapolis 7 17.1 27

*--*

Note: Each rating point represents 50,092 L.A. households.