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WASHINGTON - Just in time for inauguration coverage, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has joined CBS News as a contributor. Rice, who served as secretary of state during President George W. Bush's second term, made her debut on Face the Nation Sunday and will be included in inauguration coverage on Monday. CBS News chairman Jeff Fager and president David Rhodes made the announcement Sunday, saying Rice "will use her insight and vast experience to explore issues facing America at home and abroad.

Even in its glory days, Monday Night Football on ABC climbed only to fourth in prime-time ratings in the 1998-99 TV season. Some years in the 1970s, Monday Night Football did not even crack the top 20. This year, NBC's lushly produced Sunday Night Football , which opens with country star Faith Hill belting out "I've been waiting all day for Sunday night," is expected to lead broadcast TV with the highest average viewership and...

This morning, fans who regularly wake up to WIP 610 may have wondered what happened to Angelo Cataldi's morning show. Where was the ranting about Andy Reid? The ogling of Wingettes? The banter with Al Morganti and Rhea Hughes? And why were these strange voices talking about the Clippers and the Knicks? Today, a national CBS sports talk network took over 610 AM, with the local sports lineup now found just on FM. For the most part. "CBS Sports Radio 610 is also the home for play-by-play coverage of St. Joseph's University Men's Basketball, Villanova Men's Basketball and Football, NFL Sunday Afternoon and Primetime (Thursday, Sunday and Monday Night Football)

A Philadelphia judge has dismissed television news anchor Alycia Lane's former employer, the CBS affiliate in Philadelphia, from a lawsuit she filed against it and former coanchor Larry Mendte. Common Pleas Court Judge Allan L. Tereshko dismissed CBS Broadcasting and Mendte from the suit's defamation claims but kept part of the suit against Mendte alive pending further consideration. Lane's employment at CBS3 was terminated on Jan. 7, 2008, after incidents including her arrest in New York City, during an encounter with police in which she was not charged.

Well, the networks are off on a well-deserved winter break. Not a creature is stirring, except Willie Geist. Time once again for our midseason report card. Let's not beat around the bush. This freshman class, which was pretty small to begin with, is failing. Having canceled Animal Practice and Guys With Kids , NBC is heading into the next semester with only four new shows surviving. And that puts it atop the heap. Obviously, we're marking on a steep curve here. Grade: B minus Fox launched only three series, all comedies.

The TV reality-show machine is again visiting the area in search of talented contestants. America's Top Model will hold a casting call in Wyncote on Friday (women only), and another in Harrisburg on Monday, Dec. 18 (men and women). The Winner Is ... , a new NBC game show, will look for versatile singers in Philadelphia on Saturday, Dec. 15. As for other upcoming TV opportunties, a little traveling will be needed. A new CBS baking show will host tryouts in New York on Dec. 15, while America's Got Talent 's tour won't be closer than Raleigh, N.C., Dec. 15, and Norfolk, Va., Dec. 16, until its New York stop at a date still to be determined.

NBC is basking in what appears to be its first November prime-time TV sweeps win in nine years, though the sweeps period doesn't officially end until Wednesday night and the numbers won't be official for another week. Honchos at the perennially fourth-ranked broadcast TV network have followed the ratings with wide-eyed amazement, waiting for the bottom to fall out. But they have concluded over the last several days that it now appears too late for ABC, Fox, and CBS to catch them.

NBC is basking in what appears to be its first November prime-time TV sweeps win in nine years, though the sweeps period doesn't officially end until Wednesday night and the numbers won't be official for another week. Honchos at the perennially fourth-ranked broadcast TV network have followed the ratings with wide-eyed amazement, waiting for the bottom to fall out. But they have concluded over the last several days that it now appears too late for ABC, Fox and CBS to catch them. The last time NBC won a November sweeps was in 2003, when its prime-time schedule included the iconic shows Friends , ER , Frasier and West Wing . A win would be a big feather in the cap of executive Steve Burke and Comcast Corp., the cable giant that said it would revive the bottom-dwelling NBC prime-time business when it acquired control of NBCUniversal in early 2011.

Looking for new live sports for its 24-hour national sports channel, CBS Sports Network has reached a two-year rights deal with the Arena Football League. Terms were not disclosed, and the contract is much shorter than those for the NFL, Major League Baseball, and major college sports. The deal "satisfies the nation's hunger for football, especially in the spring," said Dan Weinberg, senior vice president of CBS Sports Network. Arena games, including those of the Philadelphia Soul, are played between March and July.

IT TURNS OUT that Alycia Lane tried to return to work in Philadelphia before she recently re-signed with KNBC in L.A. We learned that Lane's agent, Gregg Willinger , contacted Fox 29 and NBC 10 to gauge their interest in the former CBS 3 anchor. Lane referred our inquiry to Willinger, who told us that "several stations in Philly showed interest in Alycia when her contract was coming up with KNBC in Los Angeles. She still has warm feelings for the people of Philadelphia and still has many friends there as well.