Restaurant Owner Has Only Boredom to Fight Now

Norm Lebovitz is bored. There is nobody to sue, no media windmills to attack.

Sure, Lebovitz is busy opening two new Sluggo’s restaurants in town to go with the three already in operation. But Lebovitz is more famous for his fights against media powers, his one-man-against-bureaucracy attempts to battle for the rights of TV sports watchers.

First there was his much publicized and ultimately successful attempt to organize protests against a plan by the National Football League to scramble transmissions of games. Then he took on Home Box Office, when the cable giant sued him and hundreds of other restaurant owners around the country, charging them with illegally showing a heavyweight title fight involving Mike Tyson.

Most owners settled with HBO, who payed them an unspecified amount to avoid a court fight. Lebovitz vowed to fight to the death, or at least until he couldn’t afford to fight anymore. He claimed that he legally picked up the fight off a Mexican satellite, and that HBO was simply bullying club owners.

Last week, Lebovitz confirmed that he had reached a settlement with HBO. He couldn’t disclose any details of the settlement, and HBO officials couldn’t be reached for comment, but Lebovitz did acknowledge that the case “didn’t cost me a penny.”

The battle with HBO may be history, but none of the fighting spirit has left Lebovitz. He still doesn’t like the idea that HBO sent private detectives to investigate clubs around the country.

“I still think it stinks,” he said. “I think it is terrible that they can set up people around the country.”

Lebovitz also has been informed that the NFL has no plans to scramble telecasts next season. So Lebovitz, at least for the moment, has no grand battle ahead. But the spunk hasn’t left him.

“If somebody interferes with my principles, I’ll fight them,” he said.

Channel 39’s Bernard Gonzales and Channel 8’s Jody Hammond cover Tijuana for their respective stations, but that didn’t stop them from lending their voices to a commercial for the Baja Tourism Bureau, a state government agency. Some might consider that a basic conflict of interest. Both were paid a small fee for their work on the pro-tourism commercial, which aired recently on local TV.

Both Hammond and Gonzales said last week that they thought the commercial wouldn’t be shown in this area, and they specifically kept their names off the spot.

“I considered it a favor for people who have been helpful to me in getting stories for me that were not necessarily pro-tourism,” Hammond said.

Because the tourism bureau is a “non-controversial” group, Gonzales said he didn’t see any conflict of interest.

Which is more embarrassing, being named Cosmopolitan magazine’s “bachelor of the month,” or having your station do a story on it, referring to you as a “Cosmo Hunk?”

Only KNSD-TV (Channel 39) photographer Michael Peak knows for sure. He is pictured in the current issue, looking appropriately hunkish on the beach, sans shirt.

Peak told the Channel 39 news hounds that he did the piece, after being nominated as a joke by a friend, to promote the two fantasy-oriented books he’s had published. He was interviewed for Channel 39 with the books in front of him.

“Did he just use this program for a book plug?” Marty Levin asked when they cut back to the studio.

Lest anyone forget where he stands on ethics issues, Channel 8 Official Ranter Ted Leitner assured his viewers last Thursday that he always mentions the car company that sponsored last weekend’s local pro golf tournament because he does commercials for one of the company’s local dealers. “At least I’m honest,” he said on the air, in a burst of self-praise. When it comes to car dealers, “Yes, I sold out long ago,” he said. . . .

The lawsuit brought against KFMB-FM (B100) by a local T-shirt manufacturer is scheduled for a non-binding arbitration hearing within the next 90 days. John Kaufenberg claims the station reneged on a promise to buy leftover T-shirts from a support-the-troops promotion last year. . . .

When KBZS-FM (K-BEST) signed a local marketing agreement two months ago with KSON, management stressed that it would be an independent entity, except for the joint sales efforts. But sources say they often deal with the KSON programming and promotions departments when questions arise about K-BEST, leaving the impression that the local marketing agreement makes K-BEST little more than an oldies satellite of KSON. Not true, says K-BEST chief Tim Sullivan. “I’m the ultimate decision-maker” for the station, he said. . . .

Adrienne Alpert will be Jack White’s co-anchor when Channel 10 revives its midday newscast in April. Lisa Kim, who has been handling the early morning newscast, will replace Alpert as weekend anchor. . . .

KFMB-AM (760) is officially looking for someone to host a 6 to 9 p.m. talk show. Only people with at least two years of talk show experience need apply, program director Mark Larsen said, adding that former KSDO-AM (1130) host Michael Reagan is still a candidate. . . .

Irv Harrigan and Jerry G. Bishop are out as the KPOP-AM (1360) morning guys.

CRITIC’S CHOICE

A TIMELY LOOK AT THE PERFECT BODY MYTH

With consideration of breast implants for purely cosmetic reasons moving from the ridiculous and sad to the dangerous, “The Famine Within,” Katherine Gilday’s documentary examining women’s obsession with the myth of a perfect body, is particularly timely and relevant. It screens at the Ken Cinema tonight through Wednesday. . . .

Also, fans of Akira Kurosawa will have an opportunity to see one of his lesser-known visual feasts, “Dersu Uzala,” on a big screen at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at the San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art. Filmed in 1975, it is the tale of an old hunter who leads a party of Russian soldiers through the Siberian wilderness.