Committee Approves Cable TV Bill

The House Energy & Commerce Committee on Wednesday voted 31 to 12 to send to the full House of Representatives a new cable TV re-regulation bill that would prevent the Super Bowl or World Series from being shown on pay-per-view cable.

The amendment represents one of the few times that Congress has tried to legislate major league sports. But congressional sources said that they were outraged by the unwillingness of the NHL to abstain from putting future Stanley Cup games on pay-per-view cable.

Major League Baseball, the NFL and the NBA have pledged that their championship games would not move to pay-per-view cable through the rest of the century.

“This is bad law, bad policy,” said Phil Hochberg, an attorney for the NHL. “There may very well be some constitutional problems with this amendment.”

Although the cable TV re-regulation bill is still a long way from reality--it must pass a full House vote, a conference committee between the House and Senate and a threatened Presidential veto--Hochberg said the amendment may violate free-speech principles.

Two NHL teams, the Minnesota North Stars and Chicago Blackhawks, have put Stanley Cup games on pay-per-view in Minneapolis and Chicago. Hochberg said the postseason Blackhawk games earned $1.75 million and helped cut the team’s losses for the season to $1.5 million.

Technically, the way the amendment is structured, the sports teams are not forbidden from moving their championship games to cable. Instead, the authority to regulate the price is put in the hands of the local cable TV franchising authorities.

The spokesman explained that the prospect of local politicians and city administrators setting the price for pay-per-view sports events would so unpalatable that the measure represents a de facto ban.