THE REYKJAVIK SUMMIT: THE AFTERMATH : To Football Fans, Iceland Report Was a TV Blooper

Hundreds of angry sports fans complained to TV networks when special reports on the superpower summit in Iceland interrupted broadcasts of football games, officials said.

CBS and NBC both said they received several hundred phone calls Sunday from sports enthusiasts complaining about the programming breaks. ABC reported about a dozen complaints.

“We had several hundred football fans that called in, mostly Chicago Bears fans,” said George Schweitzer, vice president of communications for CBS. “By and large, these things don’t come up too often. But we have die-hard football fans who, like soap opera fans, would much rather see their own programming.”

Some of the most vociferous fans were Texans objecting to the CBS interruption of the Dallas Cowboys-Washington Redskins game.

“What Reagan and the Russians do is their personal business,” Fort Worth resident Joseph Paul Harris said Sunday. “I don’t care what they’re talking about; I got money on this game.”

“I don’t mean to be ugly, but there is not a thing going on in Iceland,” said S. C. McGill of Fort Worth. “What’s important is what’s going on in Texas Stadium.”