The NBA, the Bulls and WGN-TV reached agreement over
its longstanding litigation regarding WGN's carriage of
Bulls telecasts. The NBA has licensed WGN to televise 15
Bulls games nationally for the next four years. Twelve
games will run for the '96-97 season. The deal needs final
ratification by the NBA Board of Governors, expected Monday
(NBA). The league had prevented teams from showing more
than 20 games a year on superstations. As part of the
settlement, no fee will be paid to the NBA, instead the
parties will split ad spots available on the national cable
telecasts. Also part of the resolution is the Bulls and WGN
paying less than half of the league's proposed superstation
tax for the past two seasons. Bulls lead counsel Joel
Chefitz: "Ironically, the Bulls are better off under this
deal than we were in court after all our trial victories
over the NBA (Katten, Muchin & Zavis). The settlement ended
the six-year litigation. Last year, 30 Bulls games were
shown via cable on WGN (Elliott Harris, CHICAGO SUN-TIMES,
12/13). TCI plans to drop WGN from its cable lineup on many
systems around the U.S. at the end of the year. A TCI
representative in Tuscon, AZ, said that the settlement was
"not likely" to affect TCI of Tuscon's decision to drop the
cable station (Dave Eubank, ARIZONA DAILY STAR, 12/13).
