Sports Leagues Warned Over Flight to Cable

Several senators and congressmen said Tuesday that they would take action if too many major sports events went from broadcast to cable or pay television, but two league commissioners promised that free telecasts would continue.

“The lure of big bucks may well prompt sports leagues and teams to completely bypass free TV, writing off those people who can’t afford cable or can’t get it,” Sen. Howard Metzenbaum (D-Ohio) said at a Judiciary Committee hearing on sports television.

“Congress has some leverage here, given the favorable antitrust treatment granted to sports leagues,” Metzenbaum said. “We’ll use that leverage, if need be.”

Metzenbaum and others voiced concern about recent deals giving cable systems exclusive rights to many sports events, such as the 175 major league baseball games to be shown in each of the next four years by cable network ESPN.

CBS, meanwhile, is cutting the number of weekly over-the-air televised baseball games from 26 to 16 but will carry the league playoffs and World Series. ESPN also carries 13 pro football games a season and hundreds of college football and basketball games.

“These developments are cause for serious concern,” Sen. Joseph Liberman (D-Conn.) said. “We are witnessing the development of two tiers of sports programs--those available to the general public and those available to consumers who can pay to receive them on cable.”

Baseball Commissioner Fay Vincent and National Football League Commissioner Paul Tagliabue said cable broadcasts would add coverage for sports fans, not reduce it. Tagliabue said the overwhelming majority of NFL games would stay on free TV.

“We do not see pay-per-view for the Super Bowl for the balance of this century,” Tagliabue said.

Vincent said the number of baseball games available in local markets had increased sharply in recent years and free TV games exceeded cable telecasts by over 55%.

Democratic Reps. Charles Schumer and Thomas Downey of New York said they were upset because the New York Yankees have sold rights to all their baseball games beginning in 1991 to cable television, as have the New York Knicks basketball team and all three local hockey teams this season.