EchoStar Communications Corporation announced that its Dish Network will televise select NCAA Basketball Tournament games in HDTV. The first two games to be aired are on Friday, March 28 from San Antonio, followed by one game on Sunday, March 30 also from San Antonio, two semi-final games on Saturday, April 5 from New Orleans and finally the National Championship game on Monday, April 7. Dish Network customers can view the games on CBS-HD East channel 9453 and CBS-HD West channel 9454 at no additional charge. The CBS-HD games are available to eligible subscribers or those residing in the following 17 cities: Austin, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Greenbay, Wis., Los Angeles, Marquette, Mich., Miami, Minneapolis, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Salt Lake City, San Francisco

Variety is reporting that James Gandofini (Tony Soprano) has dropped is lawsuit against HBO after a brief but very ugly and very public battle over per episode money for the hit mob drama The Sopranos on HBO. Gandolfini was reportedly making $400,000 per episode and wanted, according to some sources, as much as $2,000,000 per episode. That would have made him the most well paid actor on TV. Dollar figures were not disclosed in the report but it is save to assume that Gandolfini’s per-episode fees landed somewhere between the $600,000 HBO offered for Season Five and the astronomically high $2,000,000 fee Gandolfini was reportedly demanding. Gandolfini also insisted that HBO pay the crew and staff for the week of filming that was missed over the dispute. Much like a conflict on the show, the bad blood between HBO execs and Gandolfini will be soon forgotten thanks to the power of money. Now that ...

Being a die-hard Philadelphia Flyers fan living in Los Angeles, I was thrilled last night when I fired up my TiVo to watch the Flyers play the red-hot Vancouver Canucks, specifically because the DirecTV broadcast was the Philadelphia-Comcast feed. All season long, I have been forced to watch out-of-town broadcasts of most Flyers games, listening to the away team’s commentary and play-by-play. The Canadian broadcasts can be pretty good, but the New York, New Jersey and Boston broadcasters are nothing short of insulting to the opposing fans. The Buffalo Sabres’ broadcast is even worse.

For the first time, the standard analog and HDTV productions of the 2003 Masters Tournament will be unified and will provide 18-hole coverage in HDTV's highest definition format. In the largest HDTV production ever, CBS Sports will use 42 high definition cameras and 10 hand-held 16x9 standard definition cameras. The unified productions will be produced in HDTV's highest definition format, 1080i, and downconverted for the CBS Television Network's analog broadcast. This production technique also produces a better quality analog picture. Whether watching in widescreen HD or traditional 4x3 analog, viewers hear the same golf announcers and see the same camera angles, replays and graphics. The 2000 Masters was the first golf tournament presented live in HDTV on network television, and it is still the only major tournament broadcast in high definition.

HDNet is presenting an HDTV broadcast of the Volvo Classic, from the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa, Florida. The event features professional tennis icons Tracy Austin, Jim Courier, John McEnroe, and Martina Navratilova, winners of more than 50 combined Grand Slam Titles. Don't miss the excitement as Austin battles Navratilova, McEnroe takes on Courier, and all four superstars compete in a mixed doubles match - all in spectacular 1080i HDTV. It premieres Saturday, March 8, 2003 at 8:00 p.m. ET / 5:00 p.m. PT. Check the HDNet programming schedule at www.hd.net for encore presentations.