Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Tuesday, July 26, 1994                 TAG: 9407260286
SECTION: LOCAL                    PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY MARC DAVIS, STAFF WRITER 
DATELINE: NORFOLK                            LENGTH: Medium:   55 lines

CABLE NETWORK SUES OVER FIGHT BROADCASTS HBO ACCUSES 3 BARS AND A BILLIARD PARLOR OF AIRING THE MATCH ILLEGALLY.

   Home Box Office has thrown the opening punch in a legal brawl against three
Virginia Beach bars and a pool hall, claiming the businesses stole a broadcast
of a title fight by hometown hero Pernell ``Sweetpea'' Whitaker.
   HBO sued the four businesses Friday in U.S. District Court, seeking up to 
$260,000 from each.
   It appears to be the first time that the cable giant has sued local 
businesses for theft of its signal.
   HBO claims that the River House, the Reef Lounge, Bay Billiards and the 
Azalea Inn II illegally received a broadcast from New York of Whitaker's 
welterweight title bout against James ``Buddy'' McGirt on March 6, 1993, and 
showed it to customers.
   ``HBO is very vigilant about protecting its signal,'' said the company's 
attorney, Jeremy D. Margolis of Chicago.
   But three of the businesses - all but the River House, which declined to 
comment - said they got the fight on their TVs by accident.
   ``We had no idea how it came on there,'' said Carolyn Farabee, manager of 
the Reef Lounge. ``It was strictly by accident. The girl was trying to find 
something on another channel and all of a sudden there was the fight on TV.''
   Azalea Inn II owner Harold Owens told the same story. He said he received a
partial broadcast of the fight that night - sometimes without sound, sometimes
without picture - but he had not requested it. Only five or six customers were
at the bar, he said.
   ``I didn't do it deliberately,'' Owens said. ``It's not like I went out 
there and advertised it.''
   HBO files many similar lawsuits nationwide to protect its broadcasts, 
Margolis said. Businesses that are sued usually settle out of court. In 
November, for example, a bar and a pawn shop in Northern Virginia each paid 
$5,000 for alleged violations.
   Most HBO title fights, like the Whitaker-McGirt bout, are available only to
homes, not bars or restaurants. In this case, Margolis said, HBO came to 
Virginia Beach in a random enforcement action, and not because of Whitaker's 
local connection.
   Gregory A. Giordano, a local attorney for HBO, said it is hard to defend 
businesses against such lawsuits. ``It's not like all of a sudden they say, 
`Goodness gracious, look! I'm receiving the fight!' You've got to have a 
descrambler.''
   But the Reef Lounge, Bay Billiards and the Azalea Inn II claim the fight 
did pop up on their TV screens unexpectedly.
   ``We have no idea how it got on our line,'' said Farabee, the Reef Lounge 
manager. ``We just have basic cable.''