Daily News from New York, New York • 70

TONIGHT 3 i oq WTIOT -4 9HM pjn. (USA) "Brother' KNpar." Two days after bBS aired a movie called "My Sister's Keeper," USA presents an unrelated movie looking at a brother- ixM Study finds basic cable full of baser elements The Parents Television Council has just stumbled on something viewers have known for years: There's raunchy stuff on basic cable. That pronouncement appears in a survey of 33 cable series released yesterday. Cable insiders quickly chal FSKSU Foreign bureau a first By RICHARD HUFF DAILY NEWS TV EDITOR eBS-owned WCBSCh. 2 is going abroad in an attempt to win over viewers in the metropolitan In a first for a New York-area station perhaps for the nation Ch.

2 will open a full-time bureau in Jerusalem next month. 9) Titans game coming down the last play, the Super Bowl averaged a 43.363. The 1996 contest betweei reeji the Dallas Cowboys and Pittsburgh Steelers is the highest-rated Super Bowl MEETING ST. LOUIS: The Patriots' Antwan Harris scoring a touchdown in Sunday's AFC champgionship game. Teams may put up some big numbers lenged the and dismissed the study.

Comedy Central's series "South Park" was labeled the worst series for raunchy content. Cited as the most violent shows were MTV's "Celebrity Deathmatch," an animated series, and TNT's "Witchblade," which stars Yancy Butler. Ironically, much of youngster-oriented Nickelodeon's lineup was noted for having violent including "SpongeBob SquarePants." "It must have been that episode when SpongeBob was attacked by a giant oyster," quipped a Nickelodeon spokesman. Richard Huff Crossing over to drama Psychic John Edward, who claims to communicate with dead people on his series "Crossing Over," is reaching into another TV dimension network prime time. "Crossing Over" producer Studios USA will develop a one-hour drama with Edward.

The series would revolve around a man with psychic powers who leaves a career in medicine to pursue his gift. Donna Petrozzello VYB boosting Sundays The WB will add two hours of programming on Sundays, from 5-7 p.m. this fall, where it will rerun episodes of "7th Heaven," "Gil-more Girls" (starring Lauren Graham) or "Smallville." "We have to explore unique ways to reach an increasingly fragmented audience," said WB president Jed Patrick. The station has hired Kimber-ly Dozier, recently heard delivering news from Afghanistan and Pakistan for CBS Radio, to be Ch. 2's correspondent there.

"As we push to really change the fortunes of WCBS, one of the areas that appeared to us as an opportunity was the Middle East," said Ch. 2 news director Joel Cheatwood. Local viewers have a strong connection to the Middle East, he said, adding that none of the other stations are doing an adequate job of covering that part of the world. Reached yesterday, news directors around the city said they would not follow Ch. 2 in devoting a full-time correspondent to the region.

Cheatwood estimated the cost of the bureau to be "a couple of hundred thousand dollars" annually no small sum, consider- ing the current economic climate. For years, industry analysts say, the knock against Ch. 2 has been that it has fewer people and less equipment than its local competitors. They also note that, with the exception of its noon newscast, the station's newscasts have been a distant third. However, seeing the obvious ties to the local market, the station has spent freely to cover the Mideast region since Sept.

11; Lou Young is currently on his second tour of duty there and will stay on in the Mideast a bit longer, Cheatwood said. Dozier will begin early next month and is expected to be reporting for the station by late February. While Cheatwood's rivals understand the importance of the Mideast, it doesn't appear they'll be opening bureaus abroad. "It's sort of determining that that's where the important news of the world is," said WABCCh. 7 news director Dan Forman.

Not that the station won't cover the area. In fact, Ch. 7 sent Jim Dolan to the Mideast over the weekend. And after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Dolan was sent to Pakistan.

"We go wherever the news is," Forman said. "We don't want to be boxed into one region." Dianne Doctor, news director at WNBCCh. 4, also said she would not open an off-shore bureau. Instead, Ch. 4 will continue to rely on correspondents supplied by NBC News.

"We also don't hesitate to send our own seasoned reporters, like Gabe Pressman, to the Middle East on a regular basis to bring the story home for our viewers," she said through a spokeswoman. OUSALEM-BOUND: Kknberty Dozier wH report for Ch. 2. ST i Wow that the teams are set, experts predict this year's Super Bowl will draw ratings equal to or better than last year's. The game between the New England Patriots and St.

Louis Rams, which gets underway Sunday shortly after 6 p.m., brings together two fairly large TV markets. As for the level of play, "I'm comfortable with the match- up," said sports-television -consultant Neal Pilson, head of Pilson Communications. "I think the Super Bowl ratings largely depend on the quality of the game." A good game, Pilson predicted, could generate a 40 rating (percentage of the nation's 105 million TV homes). A game whose outcome is unclear well into the third quarter could make the numbers go higher. A year ago, the Baltimore Ravens routed the Giants 34-7, with a 40.4 rating61 share (percentage of sets in use).

In 2000, with the outcome of the Rams-Tennessee the last decade, at 46.068. Though a less-than-corrtrietiJJ tive game usually leads tf viewers drifting elsewhere, the Super Bowl is the viewers hip draw in all ojf )iA television. Advertisers have spent asu much as $2.2 million for a 30-second commercial durina the broadcast. a The Super Bowl is as much a social event as it is a viewing experience, drawing serious football fans as well as light television users. Generally, more than 100 million people watch at least part of the game.

"People watch because of the event," said Stacey Lynn Koerner, an analyst with ad buyer Initiative Media. "It should do as well or better than last year." Richard Huff CM Oi 3.