Pay-Per-View Cable Taking Jabs in Boxing

Is boxing on pay-per-view cable on its way out?

The pay-per-view card Wednesday night from the Olympic Auditorium was available only on satellite-dish systems, the new little ones and the old big ones, and at sports bars.

The Oscar De La Hoya-Julio Cesar Chavez fight June 7 will be shown only in big arenas.

Bob Arum, promoter of Wednesday night’s card and the June 7 fight, said the main problem with pay-per-view cable is widespread piracy by boxing fans who have “boxes” that illegally unscramble signals.

He also complained about cable systems being slow in paying, in some cases taking up to a year.

In the other corner on the issue are rival promoter Don King and Showtime Entertainment Television (SET). They’re staging Saturday night’s Frank Bruno-Mike Tyson card from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Jay Larkin, SET’s senior vice president, said, “Pay-per-view cable is our most important customer by far. The vast majority of our potential audience is pay-per-view cable.”

Larkin said the show is available in 25 million cable homes nationwide, compared to 2 million to 3 million in direct-broadcast satellite systems.

“Rather than look at old methods [closed-circuit arenas], we would rather look at what we have, fix it, make it work better and get the bugs out,” Larkin said. “We need to educate the public on cable theft. It’s like walking into Macy’s and stealing a sweater.

“Arum is going to closed-circuit because he felt the theft is insurmountable. Bob is trying to make a point--unless the cable industry cleans up its act, he’s going elsewhere to maximize his dollars.”

As for Arum’s charge of cable systems not paying, Larkin said two pay-per-view networks, Viewer’s Choice and Request, represent 90% of SET’s universe, and there is no problem with them. He said there are a few stand-alone systems that are not part of those networks with which collecting has been a problem.

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Add fight: The three-fight undercard Saturday, which includes a women’s fight, starts at 6, with the main event set to begin between 8-8:30.

SET this week added Tommy Morrison to the announcing team. Morrison, the Oklahoma heavyweight who recently was suspended from boxing after testing positive for HIV, and Jim Hill will serve as co-hosts.

The commentators will be motor mouth Ferdie Pacheco and Bobby Czyz, who has become one of the best in the business. Steve Albert will call the blow by blow.

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Tribute: A memorial service was held Thursday in Valencia for Bud Tenerani, longtime West Coast publicist for NBC sports who died last Friday of leukemia.

Tenerani, 67, was described by those who knew him as “the nicest man in the world,” and the description fit. He was always the perfect host, and put a positive PR spin on everything, even his illness, telling friends he was fine, even though he knew he wasn’t.

In recent years, Tenerani was the marketing director at Valencia Country Club. Two days before he died, he called the club from the Norris Cancer Center and told co-workers he would be back at the club in a few days.

He told his wife, Nina, he didn’t want a funeral because he didn’t want people making a fuss over him. He was the one who was always making a fuss over others.

At least his friends talked Nina into having Thursday’s memorial service.

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So what’s new? An ego-out-of-control radio sports talk-show host goes berserk and offends people.

But this time, the host’s show gets suspended.

It might have been OK to call people at UCLA an obscene name, to ridicule Coach Jim Harrick, and hope the Bruins lose, but maybe it was going too far for Scott Ferrall to say his show has 20 million listeners and other shows on the same station have two.

Anyway, XTRA suspended Ferrall’s syndicated show after Monday night’s tirade, and the feeling here is, good riddance.

Said XTRA’s Lee Hamilton: “I’ve said some harsh things, but he went beyond anything I’ve done.”

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Add talk radio: A couple of night-time sports talk-show hosts, Joey Haim and Dave Smith, “the Sports Gods,” on KMAX, hit an all-time low for talk radio not long ago when Haim, in a generally smarmy discussion, accused Smith of incest. Since when is that funny?

They weren’t suspended for that, even though they should have been.

TV-Radio Notes

Channel 9 finally has an Angel announcing team. It is Steve Physioc and Jerry Reuss. Jeff Torborg was the first choice as commentator, but he had to drop out because of a family matter. Then second choice Dave Winfield this week was named a studio host for Fox. Reuss was next in line. Prime Sports is undecided on whether it will use Reuss on its Angel telecasts. . . . Last week NBC announced that Cris Collinsworth would move from the broadcast booth into the studio for its NFL pregame show. This week NBC announced the show would be expanded from half an hour to an hour. Collinsworth does talk a lot, but there may not be a connection.

Word is, Chuck Knox is interested in the Jimmy Johnson vacancy at Fox. Don’t snicker. Knox has a better personality than most people think. . . . Play-by-play announcer Bill Macatee, working today’s NCAA West Regional games in Tempe, Ariz., worked four regular-season games for CBS and three of them, including Louisville-UCLA, were won on last- second shots. . . . NBC reports that its NBA telecasts are averaging a 5.8 rating, the highest since CBS was averaging a 6.0 at this juncture in 1989.

ESPN is carrying the Toshiba Senior Classic from Newport Beach Country Club, beginning at noon today and 2:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. . . . Channel 58, the L.A. Unified School District’s television station available both over the air and via cable, will carry Saturday night’s state high school championship basketball game between Crenshaw and Concord De La Salle live at 8 p.m. Randy Rosenbloom and Geoff Nathanson will call the action.

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Tuning In

A sampling of Los Angeles ratings for sports programs March 9-10, according to the A.C. Nielsen Co.

SATURDAY

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Event Ch. Rating Wide World of Sports 7 4.1 U.S. Olympic swim trials 4 3.8 Golf: Honda Classic 4 3.0 Basketball: Big East final 2 2.3 Bowling: AC Delco Classic 7 2.2 Basketball: Indiana-Purdue 2 1.6

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SUNDAY

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Event Ch. Rating NBA: Chicago-New York 4 6.4 NBA: Phoenix-Orlando 4 4.9 Golf: Honda Classic 4 3.1 Auto racing: NASCAR race 4 2.9 Hockey: Kings-Mighty Ducks 9 2.8 Basketball: SEC final 2 2.7 Basketball: NCAA selections 2 2.6 Baseball: Dodgers-Montreal 5 2.4 Basketball: Big Eight final 2 1.6

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(National rating: 6.2)