bch@unc.UUCP (Byron Howes ) (01/13/84)
There has been a situation occur in North Carolina which should be of concern to those who follow sports closely and are used to free television coverage of their favorite local teams. Late last fall, ESPN announced it was offering a special package of about twenty ACC basketball games to viewers in the ACC area for the nominal fee of from $50 to $75. (You have to understand this area is basketball-crazy. Prime time television is regularly pre-empted for ACC basketball games, and *nobody* complains. On weekends it is usual to see three ACC games back-to-back!) As it turns out, what they were offering was the regular ESPN coverage of ACC games that they rest of the country gets for free, for a fee to this area. For those who didn't pay, ESPN would be blacked out during the times these games were shown. Needless to say, this was not a big hit with the local populace. There was (and continues to be) a great deal of rancor in the newspapers and only about 300 people in the Durham Chapel-Hill area subscribed. Nevertheless, the arrangement was made with the local cable franchisees and the games were shown (or blacked out) until Saturday Jan. 7. On Saturday, suit was brought in Wilmington against the local cable franchise holder allowing that by not broadcasting the "regular" ESPN offerings, they were in violation of the franchise agreement. A temporary restraining order was placed on the cable company by the Wilmington judge, telling them not to black out the ESPN offering to non-Season Ticket subscribers. On Wednesday, a similar Suit was brought in Orange County (the county where Chapel Hill is located) against Villiage Cable of Chapel Hill and Alert Cable of Carrboro and Hillsboro. A similar restraining order was also placed by the judge in Orange County. (Just in time for the UNC-Maryland Game [whew!]) On Thursday, suits were brought across all of the state and similar restraining orders imposed. None of the judges allowed ESPN itself to participate in the suit, allowing that the matter was litigation between the various franchise holders and their franchisers. ESPN contends that the cases are in federal jurisdiction due to FCC rules governing cable television and are taking their case to the N.C. Court of Appeals this afternoon (Friday.) From what we understand, Season Ticket was a pilot project by ESPN to see if they could get local fans to pay for local coverage. In this case, at this time, it has failed dismally. We fully expect that they will try again and it should give everyone who follows television sports some pause to realize that they may have to pay outlandish rates to see local sports events covered by television. -- Byron Howes UNC - Chapel Hill (decvax!duke!unc!bch)