BRIEFS

CABLEWORLD STAFF

NBC will be running Olympics coverage on recently acquired Bravo as part of its 24-hour coverage of the 2004 games from Athens. As in past years, coverage will also appear on MSNBC, CNBC and Telemundo. Bravo will have Olympics programming from 9 a.m. till noon and 4 p.m. till 8 p.m. A spokesperson said NBC does not plan to ask operators for an increase in Bravo's license fee to cover the Olympics programming, but said there will be local ad sales opportunities for affiliates.

Cablevision Systems asked the FCC to extend the milestone date for the launch of its satellite to May 31 from March 29. The request will not affect the Dec. 29 date Cablevision's Rainbow unit is expected to launch a national satellite TV service, the company said in its filing. Lockheed Martin is experiencing delays in its preparations of the Atlas V rocket launch vehicle, the company said. Wall Street has been skeptical of Cablevision's satellite venture; several analysts have said Cablevision should sell the satellite to rival EchoStar.

MSNBC officially announced signing former wrestler and Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura as the host of a one-hour live prime-time talk show. Published reports said he was receiving $2 million a year. Details about the launch date, time period and venue for the show were not released by the struggling news network, a joint venture of NBC and Microsoft.

Gemstar-TV Guide International paid $5.7 million to settle an antitrust case brought by the Department of Justice related to the July 2000 merger of Gemstar and TV Guide. The DoJ charged that prior to the merger the two companies fixed prices, allocated customers and violated waiting period requirements. Gemstar admitted no wrongdoing in the case. Although the fine was relatively small for Gemstar, the DoJ said it was the largest fine ever for a ?gun-jumping? case. Separately, Gemstar is expected to file revised financial statements with the SEC by March 31. Janco Partners analyst Stacy Forbes expects the company will take the full amount of time allotted to it to do so.

National Cable Communications promoted Bruce Raisner to VP of customer relations for eBusiness applications, and Michelle Goyette to VP, controller. Also, Peter D'Urso and April Panster have joined NCC's New York sales office as account executives.