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TS News - Bulls' Games Barred From Satellite

TELE-satellit News, 22 October 1996

Bulls' Games Barred From Satellite
  DALLAS, Texas, USA, 96/10/10 (SJI Newswire) -- As a result of the NBA's
continuing six-year legal attack on the delivery of Chicago Bulls basketball
on superstation WGN, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has issued a
decision under which the Chicago Bulls' games are temporarily barred from
the national satellite feed.  The case now returns to federal district
court, the same court which has repeatedly rejected the NBA's ongoing
attempts to limit telecasts.

  "Our satellite carriage of WGN has been specifically targeted by the NBA
to test the legal limits of the league's authority over teams' television
rights," said Roy Bliss, President & Chief Operating Officer of UVTV.
"Through ongoing complicated legal maneuverings, the NBA has been able to
expand its monopolistic power to include the WGN satellite audience and deny
Bulls' games to the masses. The NBA's vendetta against UVTV and its WGN
carriage robs cable television viewers of seeing the Bulls in action." 

  WGN is continuing to aggressively pursue every legal avenue and UVTV is
optimistic that the court will ultimately rule in WGN's and UVTV's favor.
Until the federal court rules however, the Bulls' games must be pre-empted
on the UVTV satellite feed, beginning with the Bulls' home opener November 2
against the Philadelphia 76ers.  Games will be replaced by popular
programming such as movies and popular first-run action-adventure programming.

  By: Gary Torrens
  Source: Satellite Journal

(c)TELE-satellit 1996. All rights reserved.
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