OTHER NEWS - July 18, 1991

Congressman Wants Games on “Free” TV: Angered that the Philadelphia 76ers basketball team is moving all but seven of its 82 games from local broadcast television to cable, Rep. Peter H. Kostmayer (D-Pa.) proposes lifting pro sports leagues’ antitrust exemption. Kostmayer’s “Fairness to Fans Act,” to be filed today, would punish a league if any of its teams failed to air a certain percentage of games on free TV. The percentage would vary based on a team’s average number of “free” games yearly from 1981 through 1990. But it would not affect Philadelphia because drafters decided to “grandfather” existing contracts.