Judge OKs net signal deal

Satcasters will continue to carry programming

By CHRISTOPHER STERN

WASHINGTON -- A Miami federal judge has signed off on an agreement between broadcasters and satcasters to keep network signals beaming in to more than a million homes that were slated to be cut off today.

Under the deal worked out between the two trade groups, satcasters can keep the network signals beaming until Feb. 28, 1999. On Sept. 30, Judge Lenore Nesbitt ordered Primetime 24 to shut off its network feeds to approximately 1 million subs because they violated broadcasters' copyrights.

The lawsuit was brought by CBS and Fox affils after watching many of their viewers sign up for DBS service, which allowed subscribers access to network signals from other markets. But after winning the case -- and an order by Judge Nesbitt requiring Primetime 24 to shut down the network links -- key members of Congress told broadcasters to back down.

The elected officials worried that their constituency would be angry about losing access to network programming. It was the congressional pressure that led to the agreement between satcasters and kept the signals beaming to a million homes today.