News Shorts

'Fear Factor' wins for NBC
A slew of repeats on CBS and ABC Monday night allowed regular fare on Fox and NBC to win over viewers. The big winner for NBC turned out to be reality series “Fear Factor,” which won its hour with a 6.2, adult 18-49 rating, besting repeats of “King of Queens” and “Yes, Dear.” NBC won the night in adults 18-49 with a 5.6. CBS came in at 5.2, Fox at 5.0 and ABC at 2.3, based on preliminary Nielsen ratings. The 9 p.m. hour was, as usual, secured by CBS’s duo of “Everybody Loves Raymond” and “Becker.” Even in repeats, the two scored a 6.4 among adults 18-49, although Fox’s “Ally McBeal” posted a strong 5.3 for second place. NBC’s freshman drama “Crossing Jordan” continued its winning ways with a 5.8 in the same demo, easily winning the 10 p.m. hour. ABC was left in the dust with the two lowest-rated programs of the night, a new “Who Wants To Be a Millionaire” and an encore presentation of the 1997 movie “Alien: Resurrection.” The average household rating and share for Monday night were: CBS 9.3/14, NBC 8.2/13, Fox 6.10, and ABC 5.1/8.

Connie Chung scoots ABC for CNN
Stung by the defection of Greta Van Susteren to the Fox News Channel, CNN has reached out and plucked an even bigger star to take her place: ABC's Connie Chung. Though the move is not yet quite official, Chung is expected to join CNN as the host of a new 8 p.m. news program. In that slot, formerly occupied by Van Susteren's "The Point," she will compete with Fox News's Bill O'Reilly, whose talk show is currently the most popular in cable. The deal appears to be a good one for everyone involved. Chung gets her first regular primetime gig since 1995, when she was dropped from "CBS Evening News," which she had co-hosted with Dan Rather since 1993. CNN gets a truly high-profile news personality. And ABC, which already employs Peter Jennings, Barbara Walters, Diane Sawyer and Ted Koppel, gets relieved of Chung's $4 million-a-year salary. At CNN, she will reportedly earn between $2 million and $3 million a year including stock options.

Tyson-Lewis bout in doubt after impromptu brawl
The long-awaited Mike Tyson-Lennox Lewis heavyweight fight may never take place thanks to a scuffle that broke out between the two boxers at a press conference yesterday. Lewis, the current heavyweight champion, and Tyson, a former champ and convicted rapist, were in Las Vegas yesterday to promote the April 6 fight, which HBO and Showtime have agreed to air jointly in pay-per-view. As the press event got underway, Tyson approached Lewis and appeared to swing a fist in his direction. Before the two men could be separated, Lewis responded with a blow that left Tyson bleeding from a cut above his ear. One of Lewis’s bodyguards was knocked down, and the president of the World Boxing Commission was taken to a hospital with a concussion after hitting his head on the table during the brawl. Tyson still has to win approval to fight from the Nevada State Athletic Commission, a prospect that seems unlikely after yesterday's events. The NSAC fined him $3 million after he bit a chunk out of Evander Holyfield's ear during a 1997 fight. Tyson claims he was not intending to attack Lewis when he confronted him, only to create drama and interest in the fight.

Turner and NBA seal six-year rights deal
It's official: After some initial grumbling over competition from ESPN, Turner Sports has agreed to a six-year contract with the National Basketball Association. The deal, which will see NBA games spread over ABC, ESPN, TNT and the new NBA/AOL sports cable network, is worth $4.6 billion altogether, with ABC and ESPN contributing $400 million a year on average and TNT ponying up $365 million starting next year. This gives the NBA a 25 percent boost to $765 million a year from the $615 million it had received under its previous deal with NBC and Turner Sports, but is still its smallest increase in TV revenues since 1983. Here's how the games will be split up: ABC will broadcast the finals, five playoff games, 15 regular-season games on Sundays and "NBA Inside Stuff" on Saturday mornings. ESPN will take one conference finals series, up to 22 games in the first two rounds of play, 75 regular-season games, all holiday games and the NBA draft. TNT will air one conference semifinal series, one conference final series, up to 45 games in the early playoffs, 52 regular-season games and all All-Star weekend activities. The AOL Time Warner/NBA network will offer two playoff games and 96 regular-season games.

Rush can hear again, thanks to implant
Rush Limbaugh loves to hear himself talk, and now he can do so again with the aid of medical technology. On Monday, Limbaugh told his 20 million weekly listeners that, after months of deafness, his hearing had been partially restored by way of an electronic device implanted in his skull late last year. However, while Limbaugh can now aurally navigate his way through one-on-one conversations, his listeners' calls still present him with difficulties. If his hearing does not significantly improve, Limbaugh will continue to use the same computer set up to receive listeners' calls that he has relied on since the onset of his deafness. The conservative host claims that his condition, which was brought on suddenly last year by an autoimmune inner ear disease, is improving every day.

Study: TV biggest factor in childhood obesity
Take heart, fat American children. Losing weight is easier than you thought--all it takes is a click of the remote. Excessive television viewing may be a bigger culprit in childhood obesity than lack of exercise, according to William Dietz, the director of the division of nutrition and physical activity at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "There is now an accumulating body of evidence that suggests that the impact of reduced television viewing on food intake may be greater than the impact on activity," said William Dietz, at an obesity conference in London. He cited studies that indicated skyrocketing levels of obesity among teens and children, which mirror their TV viewing levels. The rates of increase for obesity among Hispanic and African-American women and children have expanded most rapidly, keeping pace with the increase of TV viewing time in those population segments. American children dine in front of the TV for a quarter of all meals, according to Dietz.

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