Comcast SportsNet looms as the 800-pound gorilla in Philadelphia area sports coverage.
The all-sports, 24-hour Comcast basic-cable channel, which debuts Oct. 1, will carry Flyers, Sixers and Phillies games, plus morning, afternoon and evening shows that will focus on Philadelphia sports.
Additionally, the Comcast channel will carry Fox Sports Net programming that includes national sports news shows, plus major league baseball and college football and basketball.
Jamey Horan, Comcast's public relations director, said yesterday the channel ultimately will have a staff of about 80 people.
Comcast SportsNet's staff and programming will be overwhelmingly more than the city's network affiliates have on their sports staffs.
A typical sports staff at Channels 3, 6 and 10 includes two or three on-air talents and a similar number of producers.
A person with a lengthy involvement in Philadelphia television calls Comcast SportsNet's presence ``a broadcast revolution.''
The person, who requested anonymity, said Comcast SportsNet ``will change the face of sports forever in Philadelphia.''
The person said the Comcast channel will draw most sports fans away from the five affiliates. He also predicted an all-news Philadelphia cable channel is ``inevitable.''
Despite being outpersonneled, Channels 3, 6 and 10 are taking a business-as-usual approach to their sports coverage. Representatives of the affiliates say they intend to continue covering sports as they have.
Carla Carpenter, news director at WPVI-TV (Channel 6), an ABC affiliate, said, ``It won't change what we do. We concentrate on what we think our viewers want. There's already a ton of competition from ESPN, ESPN2 and CNN/ SI, but they haven't affected our sports. I don't think one more sports channel will make a difference in what we do.''
Al Bova, the new general manager at KYW-TV (Channel 3), a CBS affiliate, said, ``We'll continue to cover sports exactly as we've been doing it. We're serving a broad, general viewing audience. Our audience is interested in the major local and national sports stories.''
Surveys show that for the local 6 and 11 p.m. news shows, sports ranks third on the priority list of most viewers, trailing news and weather.
Steve Doerr, news director at WCAU-TV (Channel 10), is on vacation. Speaking for the NBC affiliate, Victoria Clayton, the station's director of press relations, said, ``We don't plan to change what we're doing. Steve has been building a very aggressive sports department.''
