Market briefing --- Matt (slow)
Money & Sports --- Mike (slow)
>> on tuesday, the state of connecticut begins its lawsuit against the founder of the cboe% -out firm forester company. wednesday sees general motors’ annual meeting. the c.e.o. rick wagoner will face shareholders who want to know why the company’s market share is falling. opec meets on thursday to discuss increasing its production output and/or quota. we’ll have live coverage from beirut. opec’s president says the group may agree to significantly increase that production quota. finishing out the week on friday, wal-mart with its annual meeting and there’s growing criticism over some of the company’s practices. we’ll be there. fayetteville, arkansas, home of wal-mart. abc and espn are extending continue agreement with the indy racing league. for the details, we turn to bloomberg news reporter mike buteau from our atlanta newsroom with “money & sports.” so we have a big agreement here? what’s it all about? abc and espn, what does it mean for them?
>> essentially what you have is the indy racing league, which puts on the indy 500 and abc has broadcast the race since 1965. this is one of their staple broadcasts, something they’ve done for years. besides the fact that last year the ratings were down, sports obviously are cyclical and i’m sure abc is hoping that the indy 500 regains popularity it’s lost over time to nascar so they sign a new agreement and extend it through 2009. the contract right now is a five-year deal, $65 million. you probably suspect the current agreement might be in a similar range, clearly not in the billion dollar range as with nascar races.
>> it’s interesting what is making its way on tv. we talked about the poker coverage with harrah’s and now we have the indy 500. let’s talk about nhl right now with a lot of pressure with the stanley cup finals underway. not so popular, ratings dropping 15% from last year? that’s a sharp year-on-year drop.
>> right. and considering that the nhl ratings don’t have much further to go and the ratings do stop at zero, in case you’re wondering. down 14% in the overnight. i was down there for games one and two and in tampa people are excited about the tampa bay lightning in the finals and go to calgary for games three and four and calgary doesn’t count in the u.s. ratings which is really hurting espn with the% -stanley cup finals. if you look maybe you got some stars trying to promote the nhl, but these are not mark messier type names. the nhl is like the nba last year. nba ratings were down. you didn’t have two marquee teams. so if you had the chicago blackhawks, the ratings would probably take care of themselves. but the lightning and calgary isn’t doing it.
>> and what’s the status of the strike talks between the nhl and players union?
>> the ratings won’t matter so much. the in fact that the nhl recently locked up a new tv contract with nbc next year bode list. commissioner gary bettman had a press conference in tampa and said there’s no new news and even if there is stuff going on behind closed doors, they’re not telling anybody. the fact that they’re not saying anything and admitting to no progress doesn’t look good for the nhl and it’s a standoff, who’s going to blink first. the owners and the players both say they won’t blink first so you have to wonder if the nhl thinks they have to get it done because ratings are down and they’ll lose money.
>> and byron scott from the nets to new orleans. 15 seconds, can you sum it up?
>> yeah, he’s a guy didn’t mesh well in new jersey and now going to new orleans, with jamal mashburn and darren davis and runs an uptempo team. this is a good move for new orleans.
>> mike buteau from atlanta, thanks, have a great weekend. could it be a low carb option for the uncola-7-up drinkers?
