
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, July 15, 1990                   TAG: 9007150090
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: D5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: ATLANTA                                LENGTH: Short

TV VIEWERS FACING 17 BRAVES-LESS DAYS

Not only will some WTBS viewers be faced with a 17-day blackout of Atlanta Braves games starting this month, they also will not be able to watch the Goodwill Games from Seattle.

Officials at Turner Broadcasting System say they know their decision to make the Goodwill Games available only to cable television viewers likely will generate ill will among Atlanta residents who view WTBS over its UHF channel 17.

"I'm sure we will get some complaints," Frank Miller, a TBS spokesman, said Friday. "We're prepared to handle them."

He said station officials decided to show the games only to cable companies that paid $1 extra per subscriber because "the Goodwill Games are a cable exclusive."

About 22 percent of WTBS' nationwide audience, roughly 13 million homes, will not have access to the Goodwill Games, most of them because local cable operators passed on the event.

Beginning July 20, no Braves games will be shown on WTBS.

Two games against the New York Mets, July 21-22, will be available on New York station WWOR for cable subscribers (not in the Roanoke Valley), but that represents the extent of the Braves' live coverage until a Aug. 7 home game against San Diego.

Worse for Braves fans, only three of the 16 games during the Goodwill Games, which run through Aug. 5, will be played at home.

Ted Turner, owner of WTBS, supported the decision to pre-empt the games.

"It doesn't bother me one bit," Turner said Thursday at a cable television convention in Los Angeles. "We did the same thing in '86.

"For the local fans, it's not like you're not going to be able to find out how they did. There will still be radio."

by CNB