Cable Networks

A venture announced yesterday between Lanham-based Radio One Inc. and Comcast Corp. to launch a cable network targeting black viewers will benefit both companies, industry experts said. Comcast, the nation's largest cable provider, will be able to tap into Radio One's expertise in marketing to African-Americans. Radio One, the nation's largest radio company directed to black listeners, gains a partner that has proved it can run successful cable stations, such as E! Entertainment Television and the Golf Channel, along with potential access to 21.4 million Comcast subscribers.

Bethesda-based Discovery Communications Inc. said yesterday that it has purchased CBS Corp.'s Eye on People, a fledgling cable channel focusing on people and personalities that has 11 million cable and satellite subscribers.Discovery, which also operates the Discovery Channel, the Learning Channel and Animal Planet, had agreed in July to purchase a 50 percent stake in the CBS channel, which was launched in March 1997."Given the realities of the dynamic, ever-evolving cable programming marketplace, we did not think it made sense to co-manage a network," Discovery Networks U.S. President Jonathan Rodgers said in a statement.

NEW YORK -- In the upper reaches of Madison Square Garden where the most raucous Rangers and Knicks fans convene in more ordinary times, the Democratic National Convention has become a background for music television, comedy and even the views of diminutive sexologist Dr. Ruth Westheimer.During the afternoon, as technicians work in the distant background preparing for the night's speeches, Dr. Ruth tapes segments for the tantalizingly titled show on Nostalgia Network, "It's Never Too Late."

NEW YORK - What do women want? That's what cable television is trying to figure out. Women used to want life as it should be, according to the thinking behind the Romance Classics cable network. Now, Romance Classics, whose centerpiece was a lineup of romantic movies, is set to become WE: Women's Entertainment. It seems the research showed that women are more interested in life as it is, and how to make it easier. Cable viewing is growing by leaps and bounds, and the medium has more and more money to spend on original programming and marketing.

Once upon a time, the Emmys celebrated excellence in writing, producing, acting and directing wherever found throughout the television industry. But this year, one network seems to have, if not a stranglehold, then a headlock on superior programming. Cable's HBO network, which already has set one record by receiving 124 nominations, is expected to sweep tonight's 56th annual Emmy Awards show when the statues are handed out. And a second record stands to be broken: Angels in America, HBO's adaptation of Tony Kushner's Pulitzer Prize-winning play about AIDS and Reagan-era America, is likely to surpass ABC's 1977 landmark Roots (which won nine Emmys)

NEW YORK -- In the last three years, Josh Bernstein rode horses across the Mongolian steppe with nomads, traveled deep into the Amazon to seek out a remote tribe and slept in an igloo on an Austrian glacier to test the conditions faced by Neolithic cavemen. Now he's venturing into another new territory: the Silver Spring-based Discovery Channel, a television network in the midst of its own evolution. Last week, the cable channel plucked Bernstein away from rival network the History Channel, where he has drawn a following as the host of the popular Digging for the Truth series.

In a move that will dramatically expand Discovery Communications Inc.'s exposure, the Bethesda-based cable TV network said yesterday that it will produce original prime-time nature specials for the CBS Television Network.The first of three one-hour, documentary-style specials to be broadcast in the coming year will air this fall, Discovery and CBS said yesterday. The agreement marks the first of its kind for the two networks.Fast-growing Discovery hailed the agreement as a way to reach 28 million non-cable households with high-quality shows, The shows take about 18 months to two years to research, film and produce.

We all have our favorite ways to escape from the pressures of life. Hobbies serve a grand purpose, focusing all our attention when engaged, and thus erasing for a while the irritations, stresses, disappointments and fears that pile up as we go about living. They're better at that than, say, drinking alcohol, since gardening, woodworking and contract bridge don't cause liver damage and shouldn't hinder ones' ability to drive safely. (As an aside, I get a kick out of the oft-heard plea, "He's really a nice guy when he isn't drunk."

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The secret fishing hole is sacred no more. It's being done in - not by a blabby guy at the local tackle shop, but by the electronic marriage of the Global Positioning System and the PDA. The system was developed by the whiz kids at cable giant ESPN to track competitors at big-bucks tournaments such as last month's BASS Masters Classic. The reason is simple fishing math: One angler plus one observer in one boat equals zero audience. That's a far cry from NASCAR racing (which attracts a similar following)

A mall is as good a place as any to see a relic. You can venerate what is left of the dead, grab a sandwich, check out Crate & Barrel and pick up that watch that was in for repair, without ever moving the car.And so they came yesterday to the Grand Court on Level 1 of Towson Town Center, to behold a gown that once belonged to the late Princess Diana and to pay tribute to her as part of the "Legacy of Love National Mall Tour," sponsored by Romance Classics, a...