ESPN and ABC will now force TV viewers to buy really big TV sets to accommodate the split screen advertising of its Indy Car races. A new advertising scheme by ESPN, called Side-by-Side, means advertising will run in a split screen with the racing action - all to make sure viewers miss not one passing car or pit spot. ESPN will begin this with Sunday's Toyota Indy 300.

The barometer may be dropping for Sinclair Broadcast Group, possibly caused by the heavy rain in the syndication and local TV ad business. Maybe a good pro-business sitcom is the answer for a sunny day. Sinclair president David Smith says the biggest threat is the lack of syndicated programming to fill programming holes on its stations' schedules. He blames consolidation among the big TV programmers and a lack of entrepreneurial spirit.

Finally I can dream about whiskey while watching news reports of car bombs exploding in Baghdad. Or of bourbon while watching reports of Barry Bonds and steroids. Or of Cristal while ruminating over whether Chris Rock's host material at the Oscars was somewhat tame. Mostly, I'll be watching CNN and thinking: vodka. According to The New York Times, CNN will become the first national cable television news network to accept commercials for distilled spirits. Grey Goose vodka is running a schedule on the network.