Ace From All Angles

Who were you rooting for in the stirring U.S. Open men's tennis final on Sept. 8 — the all-time Grand Slam king Pete Sampras, looking to add a 14th major to his collection, or his rival Andre Agassi, himself the holder of seven Slams and the most marketable star of the men's game?

You could forgive Steve Bellamy, president and founder of The Tennis Channel, for straddling both sides of the net. Bellamy, after all, had more than a passing shot of interest in the combatants, both of whom are investors and spokesmen for the fledgling TV network, set to launch in December.

Taking a play from a famous spectator on the distaff side of the sport, Bellamy volleyed this comment into the open court: "It was weird to have both of them in the final. Not that I felt like Richard Williams," he said, referring to the coach-slash-dad of Venus and Serena. "But, in a way, I did. Obviously, I wanted both of them to get to the final from day one. I never dreamed in a million years that it would happen, and it did."

A rematch next year could also hold a double benefit for Bellamy. "My only chance of winning the company tennis tournament next year is if I schedule it during the U.S. Open final," he quipped.

It's Raining Fans

This next Wire anecdote is the kind that could inspire the makers of ESPN's "This is SportsCenter" promos to create a spot. However, since The Weather Channel was at the center of this situation, those Weiden & Kennedy brains might be advised to tread gingerly.

Winners of TWC's WeatherQuest Alaska
adventure wrapped up their journey with an excursion to the network's studios in Atlanta earlier this month. For Ellis Jackson, a Deerfield Beach, Fla. resident, catching TWC on-camera meteorologists Vivian Brown, Rich Johnson and Jim Cantore is like catching Jennifer Lopez or Gregory Peck. So excited was Jackson, he went into jumping fits.

"These people are like movie stars to me," he told a TWC representative.

Jackson won the honor for the trips — to Alaska and Atlanta — with an "ultimate weather fan" essay about waterskiing in Florida as a huge cloud appeared to follow his boat across the water. Here's how much of a fan Jackson is: On the Alaska trip (promoting a TWC WeatherQuest
special running this week), he carried a gadget to measure wind speed and humidity, pulling it out often to check both.

And yes, Jackson didn't leave the studio without having his American Idol
"moment" — taping comments about the trip that TWC will run after the special. If TWC will have him, Jackson added, he'll make a return reunion voyage to Atlanta next September.

Christmas In September

Once upon a time, the media and business worlds could wait until after Halloween to begin trumpeting Christmas. Indeed, many companies in both worlds waited until the sight of Santa Claus at the end of Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade to begin the drill.

Not anymore. The elves at American Movie Classics scheduled Miracle on 34th Street
for last Friday evening, Sept. 13. And some retail stores last week were stocking some shelves with Yule decorations, Santa statues and the like.

Those AMC elves might frump at any suggestion that playing Miracle
near the start of TV's fall season is a bad thing. They would point out, amid the frumpiness, some history in AMC's Backstory
segment on the film: 20th Century-Fox released Miracle
in July, and never promoted it to the public or Academy Award voters as a Christmas flick. What's more, AMC did a 24-hour Miracle
marathon last Christmas Day.

Still, no one's beating early-bird Starz!, which gave How The Grinch Stole Christmas, the Jim Carrey-starring flick of a Dr. Seuss classic, a primetime slot last spring — just one week after Easter.

Pearls To Entrepreneur By

Last week's New York Venture Summit featured Kaleil Tuzman, president and managing partner of Recognition Group LLC, a technology-centric venture capital firm.

If his name rings a bell, it might be his connection to Startup.com, the acclaimed documentary about a fallen Web site. Now he's in charge of funding companies out to rise above the Web implosion's remains.

In a keynote, Tuzman listed several mistakes entrepreneurs make on the way to making their ideas into real companies — advice that could apply to entrepreneurs developing new digital channels, video-on-demand, interactive TV, high-definition TV and high-speed Web applications for cable.

Tuzman reminded them to keep focused on the customer.

"I'm not talking about venture capitalists or angel investors as your customers," he said. "I'm talking about the customers of your product or service."

Don't "chase butterflies": focus on doing one thing well. And avoid self-congratulatory behavior. "When you talk about your work before investors or the public, say it first, truthfully and completely," Tuzman advised.