Cable Declares War on Black-Box Users

Boxing promoter Bob Arum sent a message to cable television last year when he sidestepped pay-per-view and put the Oscar De La Hoya-Julio Cesar Chavez fight in June on closed-circuit television.

The message: Do something about cable piracy, declare war on the “black box.”

And that’s exactly what the cable industry is doing.

“Short-range, a lot of money was left on the table by not putting the De La Hoya-Chavez fight on pay-per-view,” Arum said. “But long range, it’s worked out.”

Arum figures he was losing $5 million to $10 million on each of his major pay-per-view boxing promotions because so many boxing fans, possibly as many as 50%, have an illegal black-box decoder that enables them to get cable programming without paying.

For the De La Hoya-Pernell Whitaker fight on April 12, TVKO, the pay-per-view distributor, has gotten together with multiple-system operators (MSOs) to find and prosecute people with black boxes.

“It’s a concerted effort,” said Mark Taffet, senior vice president of TVKO. He said there will be a 24-hour tip line for people to report violators, and he also talked, in vague terms, about a “sting” operation. “We have numerous means of finding these people,” Taffet said, without going into specifics.

It’s known that in the Bay Area, during the Evander Holyfield-Mike Tyson fight, violators were caught after they were lured to call by a on-screen promotion that offered a cash prize and a poster.

Mike Bates, director of security for Continental Cablevision, the largest cable distributor in Southern California, said people caught with black boxes usually end up paying between $2,000 and $5,000, plus attorney fees, to settle civil actions.

Taffet warned that people with black boxes may find that their picture gets scrambled at a very inopportune time. “If somebody with a black box is planning on having a lot of people over for a fight party, they had better spend that little extra to get the fight legally or risk losing the picture,” he said.

BOXING, IT’S EVERYWHERE

ABC will have boxing the next four Saturdays on “Wide World of Sports,” beginning this weekend with International Boxing Federation junior-featherweight champion Vuyani Bungu of South Africa making his eighth title defense in a rematch against American Kennedy McKinney at Hammanskraal, South Africa. . . . Delayed coverage of the Santa Anita Derby will also be on “Wide World.” . . . CBS has a David Tau-Oleg Maskaev heavyweight fight on its “Sports Show” Saturday at 2 p.m. . . . Fox Sports West has a boxing card from Albuquerque on Saturday at 5 p.m. . . . The monthly Top Rank pay-per-view ($14.95) fight on DirecTV next Wednesday at 6 p.m. from Las Vegas should be a good one. Emmett Linton faces his former manager, Donald Curry. The two are not the best of friends. Rich Marotta, Al Bernstein and Doug Krikorian call the action.

MORE WEST 2 BLUES

Viewers with large C-band satellite dish receivers are complaining that, in order to get the Dodger telecasts on Fox Sports West 2, they have to pay an extra $100 for a second package of regional sports networks. Glen Gurgiolo, president of Fox Sports Direct, said his Dallas-based company had to do it that way to help absorb the cost of the rights fee for the 40-game Dodger package, believed to be about $6 million per year. . . . The Dodgers have no reason to be concerned about the lack of distribution of Fox Sports West 2. They get their rights fee and don’t have to worry about home-game telecasts cutting into the live gate. . . . Dodger fans are complaining that whenever Fox Sports West 2 televises a Dodger game, there is less of Vin Scully on the radio.

SHORT WAVES

NBC on Thursday announced that Jim Kelly, James Lofton and Jim Mora have been hired as NFL commentators. and that Sam Wyche will move into the studio as Mike Ditka’s replacement. The contracts of Bob Golic and Bart Oates were not renewed. Dick Ebersol, NBC Sports president, quipped that Mora didn’t really need to audition. “Once we saw his ‘we sucked’ clip, we knew we wanted him,” Ebersol said. Mora quit as the New Orleans Saints coach last year after a loss to Carolina and a tirade in which he said, in part, “We sucked, the coaches, the players, everybody. . . . We couldn’t do diddly-pooh.”

Curt Schilling, who pitched so brilliantly against the Dodgers in the season opener Tuesday, was Chris Myers’ guest on ESPN’s “Up Close” show Thursday shortly after signing a new contract with the Phillies. Schilling’s wife, Shonda, and 2-year-old son, Gehrig, were also on hand. It all made for good television. . . . Boston’s Mo Vaughn is Myers’ guest today, and Myers next week will do his shows from Augusta, Ga., site of the Masters. . . . Although early round golf coverage on the USA network is usually delayed, the first two rounds of the Masters next week will be shown live. . . . USA will show a one-hour Masters special Wednesday at 8 p.m.

TBS will have a half-hour special today at 4:05 p.m. on the dedication of Turner Field, the Braves’ new home. . . . ESPN2 offers delayed coverage from the Davis Cup matches in Newport Beach today, with ESPN covering the weekend matches. . . . Chris Evert returns to the broadcast booth this weekend for NBC’s coverage of the Family Circle Magazine Cup. . . . Fox Sports West televises the announcement of the John Wooden Award winner today at 5:30 p.m. . . . Chick Hearn will receive another John Wooden award, the Wooden Lifetime Achievement Award, at the Great Sports Legends Award benefit dinner at the Beverly Hills Hotel next Thursday. Wooden will present the award. . . . Van Earl Wright, formerly of CNN and now with radio station KFWB, will begin doing some fill-in work at Channel 2 this weekend.

During Monday’s NCAA championship game, Billy Packer noted how many successive national championships had been won by Southeastern Conference schools--Florida (football), Kentucky (men’s basketball), Tennessee (women’s basketball, back to back) and Louisiana State (baseball). Jim Nantz then said Arizona had won the national swimming championship, irritating Packer, who believed Packer was trying to correct him. Nantz must have meant to say Auburn, another SEC school, which actually had just won a swimming title.

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What Los Angeles Is Watching

A sampling of L.A. Nielsen ratings for sports programs March 29-31.

SATURDAY

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Event Ch. Rating Share NCAA Tournament: North Carolina vs. Arizona 2 11.3 30 NCAA Tournament: Kentucky vs. Minnesota 2 10.6 22 Baseball: Dodgers at Angels 9 5.1 10 Golf: Players Championship 4 3.0 10 Bowling: PBA National Championship 7 2.8 7 Golf: Dinah Shore 7 2.0 5 Hockey: Kings at Pittsburgh 9 1.9 6

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SUNDAY

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Event Ch. Rating Share Pro Basketball: New York at Orlando 4 5.3 16 Golf: Players Championship 4 3.2 10 Boxing: Buster Douglas vs. Brian Scott 2 3.0 9 Hockey: Mighty Ducks at Detroit 9 1.9 6 Golf: Dinah Shore 7 1.1 3

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MONDAY

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Event Ch. Rating Share NCAA Tournament: Arizona vs. Kentucky 2 19.4 29

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Note: Each rating point represents 49,424 L.A. households.