TV & VIDEO - Oct. 18, 1989

Paul Newman has filed a $5.45-million suit against Home Box Office Inc., claiming the cable television giant undersold “Fort Apache, the Bronx”--the New York police drama that Newman made for HBO subsidiary Time-Life Productions in 1980--so that it could rent out other HBO features. Ronald Rosen, Newman’s attorney, said HBO charged a rental fee of only $1 million for “Fort Apache” in a deal with Procter & Gamble Co. that included 192 other films. Newman maintains that the film’s true value through licensing was $4 million. The suit filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles alleges breach of contract and antitrust violations and seeks $5 million in punitive damages, plus $450,000 that the actor claims he lost in fees.