Chicago Tribune from Chicago, Illinois • 43

Chicago Tribune. Tuesday, November 22, 1983 Section 4 3 Pro football Television SportsVision merges with ON TV Jan. 1 Move is designed to cut heavy losses i i -6' J. if. Hfc By Linda Kay IN AN EFFORT to stem losses exceeding $7 million, SportsVision announced Monday it will close its North Side studio and merge its pay television operation with ON TV's movie channel.

In addition, SportsVision is negotiating with two national cable systems and will announce within 10 days a sports package for suburbanites hooked into cable. A separate cable deal involving Indiana, Iowa and downstate Illinois is also in the works. "For the last year-and-a-half, we've been trying to get a more efficient sports network," said Eddie Einhorn, co-owner of the White Sox and architect of SportsVision. "We had to straighten this out. We were losing a lot of money.

Now we will be in the black immediately' AS OF JAN. 1, this Is what the consumer can expect: ON TV will absorb SportsVision and offer a mix of local sports, movies and special events on Channel 44. Channel 60 will no longer be involved in the operation. The single-channel service will cost a flat $22.95 per month as opposed to the $36.95 formerly charged for the dual-channel service. Sports programming on ON TV will consist of 200 events: 80 Sox games fa reduction from 112 offered last year, 40 Bulls games, 40 Black Hawk games, 20 Sting games and 20 collegiate basketball games.

SportsVision will produce the events for ON TV. Though the number of Sox games on pay TV will be reduced, the commitment to free TV will remain the same 37 regular season games and three exhibitions. The cable plan, as yet unfinished, will probably approximate SportsVision's current programming 425 events a year, but will likely cost less than the current plan. ON TV is the largest pay television system in the country. Einhorn said he approached the firm two years ago to work on a deal involving both movies and sports, but was turned down and forced to go to the two channel system.

Now, ON TV has changed its tune. "WE'RE BASING this operation on the successful one we have in Los Angeles," said Bob Pshena, vice president of marketing for Oak Media which owns ON TV. "In L.A., we feature the Dodgers, Angels, Lakers and Kings, plus movies. We felt the timing was right in Chicago to do a similar thing. Now we're a complete entertainment There is reallv something for everyone at a very reasonable fee." Einhorn has been working on alternate plans for SportsVision for the past six months and the changes announced Monday were clearly instituted to save money.

SportsVision, with 35,000 subscribers 1,300 of them bars, was losing $300,000 a month. ON TV has 80,000 subscribers in the Chicago area. It is expected to agressively market the new product. "We'll grow to 90,000 subscribers," Einhorn estimated. "The big increase' will be good for our advertisers and more people will see what we're doing." Einhorn refused to characterize SportsVision as a flop.

"We don't know that having 35,000 subscribers makes us unsuccessful," he said, "because no one else is doing what we're doing and we have no empirical data to compare ourselves with. But the problem is it's too costly. We were producing 425 events by ourselves and no one else would buy them. Plus it cost more than $1.2 million to run the studio. Our expenses were way too high." THERE WERE OTHER difficulties.

According to Einhorn, SportsVision was experiencing technical problems under the dual-channel setup and was also falling victim to "pirating and shennanigans." Einhorn estimated that for every paid subscriber, three or four were getting the service for free. "A lot of people were enjoying the services and not paying," he said. Under the new setup, which is a five-year deal, ON TV will pay SportsVision a guarantee for the programming that SportsVision will continue to produce. Neither Einhorn nor Pshena would discuss the sum involved. SportsVision's partners the Sox, Bulls, Black Hawks and Sting owners have agreed to extend their committment to the project.

"When you're a pioneer in something, you're going to be treading water and exploring new areas that nobody else has," said Sting owner Lee Stern. "Nobody likes to lose theTiind of money that's been lost, but we're going forward because we feel that this is the right direction." Kenneth Walker, Atlanta Journal Constitution 'Give that man a touchdown As far as field judge Charley Musser is concerned, Falcons' Steve Bartkowski that was deflected by 49ers' linebacker wide receiver Billy White Shoes" Johnson has just scored the Keena Turner, occurred with two seconds left and gave the winning touchdown against San Francisco Sunday in Atlanta. Falcons a 28-24 victory. Musser called the play after hesita- The play, which began with a 47-yard desperation pass by ting for a few seconds and checking with two other officials. Jets spring up to beat Saints just in time NEW ORLEANS API Punt return specialist Kirk Springs dashed 76 yards for a touchdown with 2:11 left to give the New York Jets a 31-28 National Football League victory over the New Orleans Saints Monday night.

The return capped a 17-point fourth-quarter that erased a 28-14 deficit and kept the Saints 6-6 from moving into a first-place tie with the Los Angeles Rams and the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC's West Divi quarters the first on a 34-yard interception return by linebacker Lance Mehl and the other on Marion Barber's plunge. NEW ORLEANS got two touchdowns in the first quarter ana two touchdowns in the third to lead 28-14 going into the fourth period. George Rogers scored two touchdowns for the Saints, one on a 14-yard run three minutes into the game and the other on a 2-yard run in the third quarter. sion. New Orleans' last hope faded when Morten Andersen's 51-yard field goal try was wide with 19 seconds remaining.

Jets' quarterback Richard Todd hit wide receiver Jerome Barkum with an 11-yard touchdown pass two minutes before Springs' touchdown. Pat Leahy's 38-yard field goal 15 seconds into the final period had brought New York to within 28-17. The Jets 5-7, the last-place team in the AFC East, scored in each of the first two Baseball Homeowners: Borrow from $10,000 to $25,000 or more. Mariners trade Caudill to AJs He appeared in 63 sprained ankle, games. jvJ lPG nOnn nn 1 uuGOIMiDo Miu with arm trouble for parts of the season.

He was 5-5 with a 5.61 ERA. and 10 saves in 43 games. KEARNEY HIT .255 for the A's, splitting the starting catching job with Heath, who was nampered by a bad back. Heath hit .281. Veteran Rick Sweet and rookies Orlando Mercado and Jamie Nelson caught most of the Mariners' games last season.

"Our catchers only threw out something like 25 percent of the runners last season," Keller said. "Obviously, this was our first priority." Caudill originally was acquired by Seattle on April 1, 1982, from the New York Yankees in a trade for pitcher Shane Rawley. Caudill reportedly made a base salary of $350,000 last season. OAKLAND AP Bill Caudill, one of the American League's top relief pitchers the past two seasons, was acquired by the Oakland A's Monday in a trade with the Seattle Mariners. The A's sent reliever Dave Beard and catcher Bob Kearney to Seattle.

A player to be named later will go from Seattle to Oakland to complete the deal. Oakland also announced that catcher Mike Heath has signed a three-year contract. Caudill, who won 6 and lost 18 in three seasons with the Cubs 1979-81, had 26 saves in 1982 and another 26 this year. He was 2-8 with a 4.71 earned-run average this season, after posting a 12-9 record and a 2.35 ERA in 1982. The 27-year-old pitcher earned his 26 saves for a last-place club this year despite being on the disabled list for 21 days with a.

"WE DIDN'T WANT to give up Bill Caudill," said general manager Hal Keller of the Mariners. "I don't take 26 saves lightly. But we felt we needed a defensive catcher extremely badly and we felt we got a good one." Caudill had one of the Mariners' top salaries last season and had speculated that he expected to be traded because he was making too much money. Keller denied that Caudill's salary' was a factor in the swap. "That had absolutely nothing to do with this," he said.

Beard, a 24-year-old right-hander, had a few hot streaks of relief work this year but also was out of action Mm Mets' Strawberry top rookie; Hall 3d 1 You can borrow money to use for whatever you wish with a home equity loan from The Associates. The Associates, a 16 billion NEW YORK AP Outfielder Darryl Strawberry, who overcame an early-season slump with the New York Mets, was named the National League's Rookie of the Year by an overwhelming margin Monday by the Baseball Writers Association of America. Braves' pitcher Craig McMurtry finished second. Cubs' outfielder Mel Hall was third. The 21-year-old Strawberry, who batted .257 average with 26 homers and 74 RBIs, received 18 first-place votes, five seconds and one third for 106 points from the panel of two voters from each National League city.

He was the only player named on all ballots. McMurtry, who had a 15-9 record and a 3.08 earned-run average for the Atlanta Braves, received the remaining six first-place votes and 49 points. Hall, who hit .283 with 17 homers and 56 RBIs, got 32 points. STRAWBERRY, a slender 6-foot-6 left-handed hitter, failed to make the club in spring training because general manager Frank Cashen decided Strawberry could use more time in the minors. But when the Mets got off to a poor start and attendance sagged, Strawberry was recalled May 4 after hitting .333 in 16 games for Tidewater of the International League.

Strawberry became the first Met to win the rookie prize since pitcher Jon Matlack in 1972. Strawberry also ended the Los Angeles Dodgers' four-year domination of the award. Steve Sax won the honor last season, following Fernando Valenzuela, Steve Howe and Rick Sutcliffe. Others receiving votes included outfielder Gary Redus of Cincinnati 8, second baseman Bill Doran of Houston 7 and pitcher Frank DiPino of Houston 6. Gulf Western Company, has been providing financial services to homeowners for over 50 years.

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Eastwood Drive Woodstock, IL 338-3221 1225 W. 22nd Suite KM) Oak Brook, IL 920-0694 ASSOCIATES that Marv Foley, who shared time behind the plate at Denver last year with bright young prospect Joel Skinner, is a free agent and there are indications he will sign with another team. Mullins was on the club's 40-man winter roster and his departure reduces the number of Sox players on that roster to 36. rarily with a broken thumb after he was moved to Indianapolis June 22. But he ended up hitting .241 in 27 games with four homers and 18 RBIs.

He had his only major-league experience last September with the Reds and batted .059 in nine games. Mullins hit .270 with Denver last year in 100 games with 18 homers and '5 RBIs. One reason for the move was THE WHITE SOX picked up catcher Steve Christmas from Cincinnati in a minor-league deal Monday and assigned him to their Class AAA club in Denver. In exchange, the Sox sent infiel-der Fran Mullins to the Reds' Class AAA team in Indianapolis. Christmas, 26, started last year for Tuscon, where he batted .287 in 48 games.

He was sidelined tempo Our money's on you..