Deal Keeps DirecTV Beaming

DirecTV is in the middle of an ownership mess but it appears that the company will retain exclusive rights to “NFL Sunday Ticket.”

Two sources told The Times that, barring unforeseen roadblocks, there will be an announcement in the next couple of weeks on a new exclusive deal with DirecTV.

It will probably run through the 2005 season, after which the NFL’s contracts with ABC, CBS, Fox and ESPN expire.

DirecTV’s current exclusive “NFL Sunday Ticket” deal expires after this season.

There has been speculation that the pay package could be headed for digital cable exclusively, or some combination of satellite and digital cable. But it appears that’s not going to happen.

Denver Bronco owner Pat Bowlen, the chairman of the NFL’s television committee who was in New York for NFL owners’ meetings this week, declined to comment regarding re-upping with DirecTV.

But it’s known he has been advocating some changes -- in particular an a la carte aspect to the package. He told the Rocky Mountain News in late September that fans of particular teams should be able to buy season passes for their team’s games.

“You shouldn’t have to buy the whole package,” he said.

“NFL Sunday Ticket,” which has been around since 1995, allows subscribers to watch every NFL game. The cost of the season package is $179 for existing subscribers. It’s believed there are now about 1.5 million subscribers.

DirecTV is being sold but the Federal Communications Commission three weeks ago blocked a $16-billion merger between EchoStar, which owns the Dish Network, and DirecTV. An effort is being made to get the FCC to reverse that decision.

“Sunday Ticket” has been one of DirecTV’s main weapons in its battle with cable television for subscribers. Maintaining the package is important to the company, no matter who owns it.

Meanwhile, it was announced this week that the Dish Network, still a DirecTV competitor, has begun offering the “NBA League Pass” package. It’s also available on DirecTV and most digital cable systems through In Demand.

Super Station

Another major development in sports broadcasting -- at least in Southern California -- is happening in radio. It appears likely that within the next few weeks, Clear Channel radio stations KXTA (1150) and San Diego-based XTRA (690) will combine into one “super station.”

The same programming will be carried by both stations, although what that will be remains to be determined. It’s a safe bet it will include Jim Rome in the mornings and Lee Hamilton in afternoon drive time.

UCLA and the Clippers will be part of the programming too. But what will happen to XTRA’s San Diego State rights is not known. The combined programming figures to be geared more to the larger Los Angeles audience.

Once the stations are combined, programming will be heard loud and clear everywhere in the broadcast radius. Now, KXTA’s signal is weak in southern Orange County and XTRA’s signal is weak in some areas of the San Fernando Valley.

Best of Both Worlds

Pat Haden was 11 in 1964 when his father took him to see Notre Dame play USC at the Coliseum. The Irish, 2-7 the year before, were 8-0 under first-year coach Ara Parshegian and on the verge of a national championship. But the Trojans, trailing, 17-0, at halftime, won the game, 20-17, on a touchdown pass from Craig Fertig to Rod Sherman.

“Being raised as a good Catholic, I was a Notre Dame fan,” Haden said Thursday. “It broke my heart. I was destroyed.”

These days, Haden is in his fifth season as NBC’s Notre Dame commentator. He’s also a USC alumnus and recent inductee into the USC Athletic Hall of Fame.

Saturday, he’ll be working Notre Dame’s home game against Boston College for NBC. Since regular partner Tom Hammond is recovering from heart surgery, Dan Hicks will be handling the play-by-play.

After Boston College, the Irish play Navy and Rutgers. So they very well might be undefeated and on the verge of a national championship under first-year Coach Tyrone Willingham when they come to the Coliseum to play USC Nov. 30.

That game will be televised by ABC, so Haden will be there as a spectator.

“I’m just glad that it appears the game will mean something, that USC-Notre Dame has regained its national prominence,” Haden said. “Of course as an alum, I want USC to win the game. As a broadcaster, I don’t root for Notre Dame. I don’t root for anyone. But it’s a lot more fun doing the games when the team is 8-0.”

Clipper Deal Dead

The Clippers, who make their debut on Channel 5 Sunday, were unable to make a deal with Fox Sports Net 2 and negotiations were called off Thursday.

Andy Roeser, the Clippers’ executive vice president, said, “Perhaps we can work out something for next season, but for this season our broadcast package will consist of 25 games on Channel 5. We’ve talked about all kinds of deals and nothing seems to work for both sides.”

Roeser said Fox Sports Net 2 offered 25% less than it paid last season.

Steve Simpson, Fox Sports Net’s general manager, said, “Of course we would have liked to have gotten a deal done. But in light of the new NBA television deal and how it affects local rights holders, local rights aren’t worth what they once were.

“The value they were after and the value we perceived they were worth weren’t close. It came down to two major issues -- term and price.”

Short Waves

In a Times story this week about the NBA’s new television contract, under which most regular-season games will be on cable television, it was noted that 37% of the L.A. market does not have cable. NBA Commissioner David Stern pointed out that when you factor in satellite homes in the L.A. market, 24% don’t get cable channels. Also, first- and second-round Laker playoff games on ESPN can also be televised by local carriers Channel 9 or Fox Sports Net. Of course, first the 0-2 Lakers have to make the playoffs.

Recommended viewing: Emmitt Smith is featured in a one-hour NFL Films special today at 5 p.m. on ESPN2, and Jerry Rice is the topic on another excellent edition of “Beyond the Glory” on Fox Sports Net Sunday at 8 p.m. ... “Shell’s Wonderful World of Golf” makes its debut on its new home, the Golf Channel, Thursday at 5 and 8 p.m. Phil Mickelson and David Toms square off in the first two-hour show.

Radio Notes

Former USC announcer Larry Kahn’s Sports USA Radio network, which has been delivering college broadcasts each Saturday to about 100 stations, begins an NFL schedule Sunday with St. Louis at Arizona. Kahn and former Seattle Seahawk quarterback Dave Krieg call the games, which will carried by KLSX-FM (97.1) in Los Angeles

Steven Cohen and Nick Gerber’s weekly two-hour “World Soccer Weekly,” carried locally by KMPC (1540) Sundays at 7 a.m., becomes the first show of its kind to be nationally syndicated in the U.S. this weekend. Beginning Sunday, it will be carried by 75 stations in 68 markets through a distribution deal with Sports Byline USA.

In Closing

The 42.1 and 61 share for Sunday’s Game 7 of the Angels’ World Series triumph was the highest baseball rating in Los Angeles since the fifth and final game of the 1988 World Series between the Dodgers and Oakland A’s got a 45.5/66.