SPORTS WATCH : Fan Power

Money talks everywhere, but it is seldom louder than when major corporations are in danger of losing some of it. This is illustrated by the sudden willingness of the National Football League and two television networks to back away from their plan to “scramble” broadcast signals of football games this fall.

The NFL announced its scrambling plan after television stations around the country complained that sports bars and individual satellite dish owners were stealing the broadcast signals. With football fans watching out-of-town games, the stations were missing local advertising and costing the affiliates money.

During a week of escalating threats as fierce as any this side of Baghdad, the NFL, CBS and NBC stood firm in the face of fairness arguments from fans of out-of-town teams. They withstood pleas for pity from sports bar owners. They even weathered pressure from Congress, which said it would investigate the impact on rural dish owners facing an autumn without pigskin.

But then the growing alliance of fans and sports bar owners called for a boycott of beer giant Anheuser Busch Inc., a major NFL sponsor.

Time out. Anheuser Busch, the league, CBS and NBC huddled. The result: indefinite postponement of the scrambling.

This may not please the affiliates, but football addicts everywhere can be proud that they applied the kind of pressure that angry spectators have only talked about during prolonged sports labor disputes.

Football fans, this Bud’s for you.