Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.ads From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: ads Fri, Aug 14 1992 Date: Fri, 14 Aug 92 04:30:56 EDT Message-ID: 08-14 0000 DECISIONLINE: Advertising USA TODAY Update Aug. 14-16, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network BASEBALL RATINGS HIT RECORD LOW: Ratings for CBS' Saturday baseball telecasts fell to an all-time low of 3.5, a 26% drop in two years, which gives Commissioner Fay Vincent ammunition in his quest to cut back superstation telecasts. But superstations were carrying about as many games when baseball signed its deals with CBS and ESPN. ESPN games have a 1.6 rating, while superstation TBS gets a 2.2 for its Braves' telecasts. MORRIS TO RUN ADS IN GENRE: Philip Morris confirmed Thursday that it plans to advertise a new cigarette in Genre, a magazine for gay men. Ads for the 85-millimeter cigarette, Benson & Hedges Special Kings, will appear in two fall issues of the magazine. Philip Morris says its new cigarette is not targeted to gays and that the ads will run in nearly 60 other magazines. VALUE, DOLLAR TO LIST CHARGES: Dollar and Value rent-a-car companies failed to disclose mandatory car-rental charges, according to a 1988-1989 Federal Trade Commission probe. The FTC says the firms advertised rates that didn't include charges such as fuel and airport surcharges and charges for additional drivers. Value and Dollar - while not admitting guilt - have agreed to list the charges. NICK PRIME-TIME SATURDAY BEGINS: The big news for kids of all ages is the return of the peerlessly grotesque "The Ren & Stimpy Show" with 13 new episodes. The better news is that, with Nickelodeon's all-original Saturday night "Snick" lineup, it's in pretty good company. This ambitious block of not-for-grown-ups prime time begins Saturday. It runs from 8 to 10 p.m. ET:PT. REN & STIMPY GET COMPANY: Nickelodeon's new Saturday night lineup includes "Clarissa Explains It All," a girl's-eye-view family sitcom. Also on the schedule: "Roundhouse," a hip live-action comedy; "The Ren & Stimpy Show" and; "Are You Afraid of the Dark?," a ghost-story anthology. COVERAGE SAME FOR GOP: TV coverage of the Republican convention will look familiar to viewers of the Democratic gathering in July. NBC coverage begins at 10 p.m. ET the first three nights, 9:30 Thursday. CBS and ABC start at 9:30 Monday, 10 Tuesday and Wednesday and 9 Thursday. ABC's "Nightline" airs each night from the Astrodome at 11:30. VIKINGS' AD KICKS BUTT: Recent Minnesota Vikings commercials talk about former Vikings and casts new coach Dennis Green as having given players a swift kick in the pants - literally. In one ad, a team receptionist is overheard referring to departed players by name - "Mr. (Herschel) Walker is pursuing other interests" - until she concludes with a note on an unnamed player: "We booted his butt, too." THIS AD TURNS HEADS: One Minnesota Vikings ad borrows on TV helmet-cam technology to give a player's eye view of new coach Dennis Green twisting a player's head straight. The ad admits "last year, people thought some of the Vikings didn't have their heads screwed on right." Vikings marketer Kernal Buhler says the team wanted to combine "humor with honesty." Future ads will be more traditional. PHAR-MOR DROPS SPONSORSHIP: Phar-Mor Inc., in the wake of a shake-up related to an embezzlement scandal involving senior management, dropped sponsorship of two LPGA events. Phar-Mor also has expressed interest in pulling its sponsorship of a Chris Evert charity tennis event in Boca Raton, Fla., scheduled for Oct. 31-Nov. 1. OLYMPIC SPENDING TOPS $2.5B: Total worldwide corporate spending on the Barcelona Olympics, including ads and sponsor fees, was $2.64 billion, says Chicago newsletter Sponsorship Report. To give perspective, consider that U.S. consumers spend about $2.8 billion each year on analgesics. PAY-PER-VIEW MAY RETURN: Contrary to earlier reports, Dick Pound, chairman of the International Olympics Committee's TV negotiating committee, says pay-per-view is an option for the 1996 Atlanta Games. "We'd consider cable, pay-per-view or other forms of distribution," he says, "as long as the primary method of telecasts is over-the-air broadcast TV." NORVILLE TO RETURN TO TV: Ex-Today co-host Deborah Norville will return to TV news as a correspondent this fall on CBS' newsmagazine program "Street Stories." Ed Bradley will host the show, which will be seen Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET:PT. Since being replaced by Katie Couric on NBC's "Today," Norville has hosted a radio show, "The Deborah Norville Show," on the ABC Radio Network. CAR DEALERSHIP SETTLES SUIT: The Missouri attorney general's office and a St. Louis Honda dealership have settled charges that the dealership misrepresented a national inventory promotion in an ad. John Chezik Honda East ran an ad promoting a "National Inventory Sell-Off." The attorney general's office contended the national sell-off did not exist. The dealership agreed to pay court costs and $1,000. LIFETIME GOES TO THE MALL: Lifetime plans to debut its third original half-hour game show on Oct. 5 at 1:30 p.m. ET:PT. "Born Lucky" will be hosted by Bob Goen. The show will give shopping mall visitors a chance to compete in a series of timed contests. Advertising Editor: Ed Kelleher. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM