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Area ABC affiliate shuts outworld event

By SHARON GINN

© St. Petersburg Times, published March 24, 2001

Want to watch Michelle Kwan try to defend her world title tonight? Set your VCR.

Rather than air ABC's broadcast of the World Figure Skating Championships women's final from 9-11, WFTS-Ch. 28 is pre-empting it to show a shortened version of the 1991 movie Robin Hood.

The station instead will air the championships on tape delay from 2-4 a.m. Sunday.

Why?

"These at best do a 1.5 to a 2 rating" locally, said Ch. 28 general manager Sam Stallworth, referring to what he called "ice shows."

"The genre is very low-rated. It's just that simple. No matter what we do, when we pre-empt something, we're going to offend somebody."

Recent local ratings for the World Championships don't match Stallworth's projections. Last year the final, also on ABC in prime time, drew a 4.1 locally. In 1999 it drew a 4.0, and in 1997, another preOlympic year, it drew a 6.9 in the Tampa Bay market.

Though in recent years the local rating for the World Championships has averaged around two points lower than the national, it's still better than, say, the local audience for ABC's Saturday movie last week, Waterworld (2.8). A rating point equals 1 percent of households with televisions. In Tampa Bay, one point equals about 15,000 households.

Five markets nationwide are pre-empting the championships: Washington, Baltimore, Fort Wayne, Ind., Monroe, La., and Tampa Bay.

"Obviously we would prefer that our stations (air) all the network's shows," ABC spokesman Mark Mandel said. "Sometimes that doesn't work out. In this case, we firmly believe the World Figure Skating Championships are going to be of interest to viewers across the country in every market."

Ch. 28 this week also pre-empted the network's Monday night movie, Dante's Peak, in favor of a movie of its choice, No Looking Back. When an affiliate pre-empts network programming for local programming, it generally benefits from an advertising standpoint.

Stallworth acknowledged the station had received complaints, and said he made an effort Friday to move the skating final to 11:35 p.m. but could not because of a commitment to a syndicated Academy Awards preview.

In hindsight, "it might not have been the best decision," Stallworth said. But, he said, "we are not not carrying it. People who are interested are certainly capable of watching it."

Russian leads Kwan

VANCOUVER -- Irina Slutskaya's mastery of Michelle Kwan carried through the women's short program Friday at the World Championships.

The Russian, who beat Kwan in three of their last four major events, including the last two Grand Prix finals, was first with seven judges. She built the edge with her speed across the rink; an amazing 16-revolution layback spin that requires only eight turns; and, perhaps, a slight bobble by the American.

"It's not what I would dream of doing," Kwan said. "But, hey, it's not always perfect. Close enough for today."

Third-ranked American skater Angela Nikodinov sat third overall, and Sarah Hughes, the 15-year-old runner-up in the U.S. Championships, was fourth.

In ice dancing, Barbara Fusar Poli and Maurizio Margaglio capped a perfect year with the biggest title of them all.

Fusar Poli and Margaglio became Italy's first world champions, adding to their European and Grand Prix titles.

"In Italy, it's soccer, soccer, soccer, and now I hope it is figure skating, figure skating, figure skating," Fusar Poli said. "This is for the other skaters in Italy and the skaters beyond us."

Marina Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat, world champions last year, finished second despite a more physically demanding program. Irina Lobacheva and Ilia Averbukh of Russia earned the bronze and three-time U.S. champions Naomi Lang and Peter Tchernyshev finished ninth.

- Information from Times wires was used in this report.

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