Detroit

FALL HOCKEY FEVER IN THE SPORTS-MAD MOTOR CITY COULD BE SNUFFED OUT BY A full-season National Hockey League lockout that would put the beloved Detroit Red Wings on, or rather off, ice. Still, fans can take heart in this year's pro-hoops season as the National Basketball Association champs, the Detroit Pistons, defend their title.

Fox Sports Net is losing ad revenue from not having any Red Wings games to cover. The economic blow could be more severe if the season is cancelled. FSN Detroit is the team's exclusive local rights holder, including 72 regular-season and three preseason games as well as the playoffs. FSN Detroit will also air 38 regular-season and three preseason Pistons games, plus the playoffs. The regional cable sports net also has the rights to 100 regular-season and four spring-training games of Major League Baseball's Detroit Tigers.

This year, Granite Broadcasting's WB affiliate, WDWB, won a high-profile contract to become the new broadcast TV flagship of the Pistons beginning this season. Viacom's UPN station WKBD had been the home of the Pistons for more than 25 years. WDWB will televise 28 regular-season games and three preseason contests. As part of its deal, WDWB will also air original programming around the team, including a new one-hour Pistons show on Saturdays at 7 p.m. The station will also broadcast a weekly 90-second cartoon, called Interplanetary Pistons, with the team's starting five as superheroes.

"The addition of the Pistons, we think, is just going to bring a whole new set of eyeballs to the station," says Sarah Norat-Phillips, WDWB president/gm. As for syndicated fare, WDWB launched Fear Factor at 6 p.m. WDIV-TV, Post-Newsweek's NBC affiliate, also picked up five Pistons games this year, in a five-year deal for select Saturday-night games.

WDIV and Scripps Howard Broadcasting's ABC affiliate, WXYZ-TV, continue to battle for supremacy in the market, which is ranked No. 10 with 1.94 million TV homes. The race is particularly hot in mornings. WDIV beat WXYZ and Fox owned-and-operated WJBK in early morning news in October.

"It's been a record year for us in terms of revenue with the Olympics," says Joe Berwanger, WDIV vp/general manager. "It greatly exceeded our expectations."

Berwanger says that besides the Olympics on NBC, political-ad spending in the market...