No Subject

Subject: Boston Celtics' telecasts: 1998/99 season.

Does anyone know if a new TV contract for the Boston Celtics (that would
 take effect this fall) is about to be signed?

And, does anyone know if this deal would give Fox Sports New England the
 rights to all Celtics games (home and away) not on NBC; with FSNE in
 turn assigning rights to 20 regular-season away games against "weak"
 teams to channel 68?

I would think that decision time would be in the very near future as
 whoever gets the TV rights would have to sell sponsorships and begin
 planning for the 1998/99 season.

While it is true that the Channel 68/Boston Red Sox deal was signed some
 six or seven weeks before the first preseason game of the '96 campaign,
 I heard that WABU lost a ton of money on the Sox in '96 mainly because
 of the late date of acquiring the rights and as a result, they had little
 time to sell sponsorships or market games to TV stations in other parts
 of New England (I heard WABU also lost money on the Sox in '97, but
 losing much, much less than they did in '96 and that they will probably
 break even in '98).

Joseph Gallant

<notquite@hotmail.com>

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