BRIEFS

CABLEWORLD STAFF Outdoor Channel agreed to become the official cable network of the 2003 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, which begins March 1 in Anchorage, Alaska. The Outdoor Channel will air nightly, 30-minute programs covering the progress of the race until it finishes ten to 12 days later. Speaking of dogs, last week USA Network drew the highest ratings in its 20 years of televising the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. The show fetched a 4.2 household rating, up 17% from last year. Moviewatch finalized an affiliation agreement to launch the channel on Insight Communication’s digital package. Moviewatch previously announced distribution agreements with DirecTV and NCTC. Brit Hume signed a new multiyear deal to continue as Fox News’s chief Washington correspondent and managing editor. Conservative talk-radio jockey and author Michael Savage signed with MSNBC to host The Savage Nation, a weekly hourlong issue-oriented opinion show set to air live on Saturdays. MTV picked up Sean (P. Diddy) Combs’s reality series Making the Band II for a second season. Ten new episodes will run this spring. Keith Olbermann joined NBC’s broadcast team for the 2004 Athens Olympic Games as host of coverage on MSNBC and CNBC. Rosie O’Donnell returns for a seventh year to host Nickelodeon’s 16th annual Kids’ Choice Awards. The pint-sized equivalent of the Oscars will air live on April 12 at 8 p.m. EST. (tape delayed for the West Coast). Discovery Channel plans to put Monster House next to its Monster Garage, according to Discovery Networks U.S. president Billy Campbell. The new home remodeling show will air on Monster Mondays beginning in the second quarter.