Newsday from New York, New York • 86

CO CO 2 1 WLNY Adds Sports to Lineup By Elizabeth Sanger STAFF WRITER ON WEDNESDAY NY 55 WLNY-TV kicks off an exclusive series of Big East basketball games adding a new product to its family entertainment fare The Melville-based station viewed in 36 million homes in the tristate area recently bought the rights to six college basketball games and could decide to show four more Marvin Chauvin the chief executive said last week In the swaJuluLLMid first game to be televised Wednesday at 7:30 pm the University of Connecticut will face the University of Pittsburgh The games will not be shown anywhere else in the New York market general manager David Feinblatt said He said the games have attracted msyor advertisers such as General Motors and Man WLNY mostly offers movies and top-rated syndicated shows such as Oprah Winfrey of and Every night at 8 except during the Big East games it runs a movie from its 1500-title video library many which were theatrical hits the only station to run movies seven nights a week in prime Chauvin said Its strategy has apparently paid off According to an October Nielsen report ratings soared 25 percent from the previous year based on total weekly viewer-ship Chauvin said Some of the jump however is due to an increased number of cable homes receiving the channel In previous years WLNY has aired some Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference football games but it generally show many sporting events It bought the Big East games believing they will have appeal to our Feinblatt said If WLNY ring a bell because until recently Long only commercial TV station was known as WLIG-TV It changed its call letters on Sept 1 to avoid confusion with radio and TV stations that also have in the name and to reflect its presence beyond Long Island Chauvin said The represents its Long Island base while the shows its broader reach The UHF channel goes over the air on channel 55 But not all cable systems put it in that slot making promotions more difficult For instance TCI of Brook- Mlctiael Pascucci president of WLNY Channel 55 haven carries it on Ch 3 and Riverhead system it on Ch 8 When cable systems started carrying it as a basic service mapy go up to 55 channels Chauvin noted It expects to be moved to the 55 slot as cable systems expand their capacity WLNY which transmits from Riverhead must be carried by cable systems in the region because of federal laws mandating they carry broadcast stations in their market In its early years Ch 55 struggled for a place on systems and for the moat part was refused In 1990 Cablevision started rolling it out on its main system WLNY thought Cablevision viewed it as a threat to its news operation and movie channels WLNY was started in 1985 by President Michael Pascucci who also runs the publicly traded Oxford Resources Corp an auto leasing company The two companies are in the aam building Chauvin said the station is profitable but because it is private divulge its finances WLNY employs 60 people many of whom work on producing its own shows including a newscast that runs five nights a week One of its public affairs shows is Cutting based on lead Sunday editoriaL -aoa -gs Jericho Investment Counselor Sues National Organization A Jericho-based investment counselor who has persistently criticized the National Association of Securities Dealers is suing that organization for $40 million alleging that the group damaged him by favoring his opponent in a 1993 election to its governing board Alan Davidson president of Zeus Securities Inc and the founder of an alternative industry group the Independent Broker-Dealer Association said he sought membership on the 30-member board because he believes it fairly represent smaller firms His suit in federal District Court in Manhattan charges that the staff and members of its regional district nominating committee published mass notices his qualifications and otherwise campaigned against him in violation of NASD rules and standards for holding corporate elections Davidson who lost the election is asking for $250000 in restitution for his costs during the election $10 million as compensation for future damage to his business and $30 milium in punitive damages Reid Walker a spokesman for the NASD said that suit is a disagreement about the outcome of a contested election" and that under NASD rules nominating committees support the candidate of their Susan Harrigan Software-Development Backer Now Offers More Then Money Paramount Financial Corp once merely financed software development and integration of various computer systems Now the Jericho company provides more than just money it also offers computer services through a subsid- iary Paratech Resources Inc which signed an agreement last month to customize a Computer Associates International Inc product Paratech tailors the product CA-Un-icenter for companies so that they can manage their computer networks worldwide Since 1991 Paramount has provided funds to companies for phones and computer leases as well as software customization Its executives realized they could also profit by offering the services they finance said Laura Joseph director of systems sales for Paratech customers also wanted the company to offer more services she said So last spring Paramount created Paratech which provides network design software development and technical training and support Eventually the company might offer computer maintenance services and PC rentals Richard Dalton Jr Lake Success Real Estate Firm Creates Computer Presentation Sutton Edwards a commercial real estate company in Lake Success has hired ErinEdwards Communications of Glen Head to create an interactive laptop computer sales Sresentation utton will use the display to demonstrate the experience and capabilities to current and potential clients The Berlin Design Group a corporate Visitors Bureau is developing a plan to to attract big meetings' to the region a transportation system to shuttle visitors among the hotels and convention sites Michael Davidson the president announced the plan last Monday at the visitors annual membership meeting our convention sales department sells Long Island they invariably must deal with bow to move MimbiJilHUlsiJ conventioneers around the Davidson told some 150 members of the tourism promotion agency at SportsPlus in Lake Grove inter-hotel transportation system that allows us to overcome this obstacle to bringing larger meetings and conventions to Long Island will be our solution for the Davidson who said the Island is said it would be the first region in the state excluding Manhattan to offer a shuttle service The service will be promoted to meeting planners next year He also noted that the extension of HOV lanes on the Long Island Expressway to the Queens border would help the region overcome its reputation among visitors as a place with long traf- fiq jams Davidson noted that tourism agencies in Miami and Bermuda promoted their destinations in 1994 by attacking Long traffic woes Davidson said the agency is also developing tourist packages combining attractions and lodging facilities something previously left to the private sector Noting that packages have been under development for motorcoach operators for the past two years Davidson said going to up the and develop tourism products and packages to be offered to tour operators travel agents and airlines to attract more leisure travelers Alan Wax Melville MRI Equipment Maker Signs Dealer Distributor Pact Fonar Cum which makes magnetic resonance imaging equipment on Long Island has entered into an exclusive dealerdistributor agreement with Na- tional Imaging lli'H'MWKfl iSSSjEf Ala The deal involves domestic sales of new Quad series MRI scanners The Melville-based manufacturer did not release financial details but said National Imaging Resources is required to fill at least 30 orders for the over the next 12 months ji-ji-- Unger communications company in Port Washington has three new clients Ber-tin is working with Long Island Brand Beverages a new company in Bohemia to launch its Long Island Ice Tea brand of iced tea and sodas Bertin will design bottle labels and develop collateral materials Advertising will include radio and television commericals and billboards Clever Devices a provider of digital audio equipment in Glen wood Landing has hired Bertin to develop trade advertising and promotional and collateral materials Bertin will revamp the corporate identity of Corpex Banknote Co the Bay Shore-based provider of office supplies Bertin will produce a new corporate logo and develop brochures mid promotional pieces Great Neck-based ACS Communications has been working with SL Waber a manufacturer of power protection equipment SL Waber introduced two products at the national computer dealer show Comdex for which the agency developed a direct-response program The new products contain software that kicks in during power outages saving open files SL Waber headquartered in Mount Laurel is a subsidiary of SL Industries Lisa Doll Convention Bureau Sets Sights Bn Islandwide Shuttle System The Long Island Convention and 'i I i'f i Jii 1 i Jsi jiV.