The Oregon Association of Broadcasters and the lawyer for KVAL want the University to wait at least three weeks before releasing a final policy regulating how TV stations can film Duck games so the mountain of criticism against the policy can be recorded in the public record.
Joel DeVore, the attorney for Fisher Broadcasting, said he found he could make the request while searching for a way to add the numerous letters and editorials against the proposal into the public record of the decision-making process.
The proposal aims to restrict broadcasters to 20 seconds of game highlights and 20 seconds of interviews during the 48 hours after any Duck game. Special shows outside a daily sports report during news broadcasts would receive 30 seconds of each.General Counsel Melinda Grier said the University is still in contact with broadcasters across the state, but she wouldn’t say whether or not the University would grant the request. She added that no date has been firmly set for the release of the final policy.
The idea to limit coverage stems from a long-standing dispute between the University and local television stations. ESPN Regional Sports, in the middle of a five-year exclusive contract with Duck sports, allows footage to be aired on KEZI, Eugene’s ABC affiliate. Both ESPN and ABC are owned by the Disney Corporation.
But CBS affiliate KVAL, which held the University sports contract until the 1999-2000 school year, continued to show Duck football game footage on its “Inside the PAC” show, which highlights all teams in the Pacific-10 Conference.
ESPN and KEZI feared the show had unfair access to their contracted footage and “Inside the PAC” resembled KEZI’s “The Mike Bellotti Show.”
Of the top ten football schools, none have official rules regarding broadcasting similar to what the University is trying to implement, DeVore said. The University of Florida has an unwritten rule asking broadcasters to limit their footage to four minutes per story, he added.
The University held a hearing on July 11 to gather public input, but the letters sent by local and national media organizations, and the editorials by The Oregonian and The Register-Guard, all in opposition, were printed after the meeting, which marked the end of a public-input period.
So far, the request for a 21-day extension to add the criticism has fallen on deaf ears. Athletic Director Bill Moos, who will make the final decision on the proposal, was out of the office Wednesday. Assistant Athletic Director Dave Williford is out of town all week, and Dave Heeke, the associate director for external operations is on vacation until the end of the week.
But last week Moos said the proposal would look different than the current version that has aroused so much ire from broadcasters, and Williford said Monday the final edition should come out this week.
Despite signs the policy will be tempered, OAB CEO Bill Johnstone said his organization will not step down. Johnstone previously said his organization will take the policy to court if passed in its current form.
“We’d like to go back to the way it was before and have the industry police itself,” he said.