2 . EVENTS

A bike tour and race will be held on August 26 and 27 (Sat & Sun.). At 5:30 am, the riders will leave Tian’anmen Square and ride the first 35 kilometres as a training leg. Then the next 55-kilometre-leg, from Yanjiao to Jixian, will be the first competitive part of the tour. The riders and their bikes will then be takern from Jixian to Changli.

The second racing leg of the tour will be from Changli to the seaside of Nandaihe, covering a distance of 20 kilometres. Saturday night includes the stay at Nandaihe and supper. Sunday morning is free for play at the seaside. At noon all the people and their bikes will be taken back to Beijing.

Cost: 200 yuan          

Telephone: 4675027

The Brazilian Football Club will play Beijing Guo’an Team at the Workers Stadium on August 26. The club has four national team players. Also coming is 1994 US World Cup star Romario who has promised to play for at least 45 minutes.

Ticket prices: 60; 100; 150 yuan

Time/Date: 4:30 pm, August 26 (Sat. )     

Telephone: 5012372

The Third National Rock Climbing Competition will be held on August 26-27 at the Huairou Mountain-climbing Training Base. More than 10 teams from Beijing, Wuhan, Dalian, Jilin and other places will take part in it. A Japanese team will give an exhibition climbing. Free for spectators (观众).

Take a long-distance bus from Dongzhimen to Huairou.

Time/Dates: 9-12 am, August 26 and 27

Telephone: 7143177, 7144850, Wang Zhenghua

3 . Sports account for a growing amount of income made on the sales of commercial time by television companies. Many television companies have used sports to attract viewers from particular sections of the general public, and then they have sold audiences to advertisers.

An attraction of sport programs for the major U. S. media companies is that events are often held on Saturday and Sunday afternoons—the slowest time periods of the week for general television viewing. Sport events are the most popular weekend programs, especially among male viewers who may not watch much television at other times during the week. This means the television networks are able to sell advertising time at relatively high prices during what normally would be dead time for programming.

Media corporations also use sports to attract commercial sponsors that might take their advertising dollars elsewhere if television stations did not report certain sports.   The people in the advertising departments of major corporations realize that sports attract made viewers. They also realize that most business travelers are men and that many men make family decisions on the purchases of computers, cars and life insurance.

Golf and tennis are special cases for television programming. These sports attract few viewers, and the ratings(收视率)are unusually low. However, the audience for these sports is attractive to certain advertisers. It is made up of people from the highest income groups in the United States, to certain advertisers. It is made up of people from the highest income groups in the United States, including many lawyers and business managers. This is why television reporting of golf and tennis is sponsored by companies selling high-priced cars, business and personal computer, and holiday trips. This is also why the networks continue to carry these programs regardless of low ratings.   Advertisers are willing to pay high fees to reach high-income consumers and those managers who make decisions to buy thousands of “company cars” and computer, with such viewers, these programs don’t need high ratings to stay on the air.