HBO’s ‘Call’ Provokes Angry Calls : Television: Clinton’s Lincoln Memorial concert--part of his ‘accessible, free inaugural’--is seen only by a limited audience.

Last week, the Clinton inaugural committee was promising “the most open, accessible and free inaugural in history.” But many angry Americans hoping to tune into Sunday’s splashy concert at the Lincoln Memorial found themselves shut out, unless they were subscribers to pay cable.

That is because the inaugural committee sold the rights to its much-touted “Call for Reunion” concert to Home Box Office for a reported $1.5 million to $2 million--a sum that HBO Vice President Quentin Schaeffer confirmed Monday as “in the right neighborhood.” HBO tape-delayed the broadcast Sunday night.

Those who do not pay for the service generally were unable to see more than snippets of the concert, which was attended by President-elect Clinton and featured top-name entertainment ranging from Aretha Franklin to Tony Bennett.

They missed such moving moments as soprano Kathleen Battle giving a rendition of “We Shall Overcome” on the same steps where, a half century before, Marian Anderson had held a free concert after being barred from Constitution Hall because of her race.

HBO has 17 million subscribers, who pay an average of $10 monthly for the service.

Schaeffer said HBO had unscrambled the signal as “a nice goodwill thing,” so that it could have been available to all 57 million basic cable subscribers across the country. However, unscrambling requires additional action by local cable operators, many of whom could not or chose not to; as a result, including some in Southern California. By HBO’s estimate, only 30 million cable subscribers were able to see and hear the entire event. That leaves 27 million cable subscribers who could not watch the program--plus those TV viewers who don’t get cable at all, which is about 39% of the country.

HBO also allowed other networks to have brief excerpts from each of the performances--with HBO’s own logo imposed over the images--and offered them tape of Clinton’s appearance onstage. Additionally, it made the entire broadcast available to the Armed Services network.

Schaeffer noted: “Our interest obviously is trying to protect the fact that we’ve got subscribers paying for the service, and they want to feel they are getting something special. . . . It’s up to (the inaugural committee) to answer questions about, ‘How can you sell this, etc., etc.’ ”

The incident provoked angry telephone calls to C-SPAN, the public affairs cable network, which could show only the video of the entertainment. “We would have preferred it to be open,” said C-SPAN senior producer Terry Murphy. “This was kind of the welcoming ceremony for Bill Clinton in Washington. . . . We questioned the right of the Presidential Inaugural Committee to close an event that was in a public arena.”

It also brought a new wave of criticism at what is increasingly being described as the selling of the self-proclaimed “People’s Inaugural Celebration,” much of which is being underwritten by interest-free loans from major corporations.

Overall, the staging of Clinton inaugural events is projected to cost about $25 million, which is short of the record $30 million for President Bush’s in 1989, but far exceeding the scale of the $3 million spent by the last Democratic President, Jimmy Carter, in 1977.

Washington Post television critic Tom Shales wrote: “In a spirit of grubby chintziness, HBO even kept a large version of its logo in the upper left-hand corner of the screen throughout its entire coverage of the celebration, thus attempting to turn the whole thing into a commercial for HBO. The logo was so big it sometimes obliterated performers’ faces.”

Richard Mintz, communications director for the inaugural committee, said the organizers had initially hoped to sell the rights to broadcast networks, where it would have been available free to anyone who owned a television. However, he said none of the major networks was interested, in part, because in some areas the concert coincided with National Football League playoff games.

“This was the only way we could make sure that anyone could carry it,” Mintz said.

In addition to its arrangement with HBO, the inaugural committee has purchased two hours of time tonight on CBS to broadcast the Presidential Gala. To pay for it, the committee has sold advertising time during the event.

The Disney Channel has also produced two special inaugural programs aimed at youth. Those programs also will be broadcast today, and will feature appearances by Clinton, Vice President-elect Al Gore and their families. Disney spokesman Cory O’Connor said the channel also will offer the programs to basic cable subscribers.

“That is our hope,” O’Connor added, “but it’s really a function of the local operator.”