Philip Morris Still Shows No Sign of Moving Billboards : Tobacco: Marlboro ads in Anaheim Stadium stay put despite an agreement to shift them from view of TV cameras.

Marlboro billboards still are on display at Anaheim Stadium more than two weeks after cigarette manufacturer Philip Morris signed a consent decree promising to move displays so they won’t be shown on television broadcasts of California Angels ballgames.

And it doesn’t appear that the signs will be moved any time soon.

The Justice Department insists that at least some of the five Marlboro billboards must be moved to less conspicuous locations in the city-owned ballpark.

But Philip Morris executives say they’re not so sure. A Philip Morris spokeswoman said this week that “no decisions have been made” about moving the signs.

The company has until at least early August, when the Angels’ season will be more than half over, to submit documents to the Justice Department describing which billboards it plans to shift. The government must then review the list and tell the cigarette maker if those moves will meet the terms of a consent decree the two sides announced June 6.

Five Marlboro signs are on display in Anaheim Stadium, including one atop the stadium’s giant TV screen.

At issue is the extent to which the signs are shown during television broadcasts of Angel games and other sports events.

A 1971 law bans tobacco advertising on the airwaves, but the Justice Department alleged Philip Morris had placed its billboards in locations designed for maximum exposure on television.

In its complaint, the Justice Department had cited Marlboro billboards at Madison Square Garden in New York, Candlestick Park in San Francisco, the New Orleans Superdome and Atlanta’s Fulton County Stadium. The signs at Anaheim Stadium were included in a list accompanying the complaint.

Mike McKay, the stadium’s manager of video scoreboard operations, said stadium officials have received no instructions from the cigarette company or its advertising agency regarding the signs.

McKay and others said they don’t know whether the stadium’s advertising revenue would be affected if Philip Morris moves the signs.

The company was scheduled to pay $185,700 last year, but received a refund after the baseball season was shortened by a strike, stadium records show. Philip Morris also paid $340,000 for an exterior sign near the stadium. The exterior sign was not part of the dispute.

Revenue from advertising is used mainly to pay the costs of running the giant television screen within the stadium, which costs slightly more than $1 million a year, said Kevin Uhlich vice president of operations for the Angels.

The Pond, Anaheim’s other major sports facility, does not accept cigarette advertising, said John Nicoletti, a Pond spokesman.

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Smoking Signs

Philip Morris’ Marlboro ads, including one above the Jumbotron scoreboard, accounted for 12% of Anaheim Stadium’s contracted $1.9-million interior advertising revenue in 1994-95, the most recent information available. Top 10 interior advertisers, and what they would have paid for a strike-free season:

Advertiser Revenue 1. Anheuser-Busch $235,000 2. Carl’s Jr. 228,500 3. Toyota 209,392 4. Philip Morris 185,700 5. Coca-Cola 171,138 6. Chief Auto 160,692 7. Los Angeles Times 155,000 8. Great Western 145,500 9. LA Cellular 92,800 10. KTTV 73,250

Source: Anaheim Stadium