Judge sides with WIBW in KSU case

Topeka-based station allowed to continue football broadcasts

Manhattan ? A judge upheld his own ruling and made it permanent on Thursday, clearing the way for competing broadcasts of Kansas State football games this fall.

The university signed a contract with Wichita-based Mid-America Ag Network last December, giving it exclusive rights to broadcast Wildcats games for five years.

But WIBW, whose agreement with Kansas State expired in June, claimed it had the right to continue broadcasting games.

In a hearing sought by the university, the Topeka station cited a 1969 agreement between the school and WIBW’s former parent company, Stauffer Communications Inc. Under that agreement, WIBW, now owned by Morris Communications of Augusta, Ga., shares its 580 AM frequency with KKSU, Kansas State’s student station.

In April, District Judge David Stutzman issued a temporary injunction upholding that agreement one of the last of its kind in the nation and forcing the university to comply with it.

The agreement, filed with the Federal Communications Commission, detailed the time-share agreement between WIBW and the school.

It requires WIBW to grant KKSU 15 extra minutes per day on the shared frequency, in exchange for air time on game days and a promise to broadcast Kansas State football games.

Morris Communications argued and Stutzman agreed the arrangement supersedes any exclusive contracts the school might offer. Stutzman found the 15-minute block constituted a form of payment for nonexclusive broadcast rights.

The contract with the Mid-America Ag Network was worth $6 million over five years. WIBW had offered a final bid of about $600,000 a year, roughly double what the station had been paying on a five-year deal signed in 1997.

Dick Seaton, the Kansas State attorney, said the university planned to appeal.

Because of the dispute, Kansas State and the Mid-America Ag Network reduced this year’s payment to $300,000 from what it would have been $1.2 million.

Athletic director Tim Weiser was hopeful.

“It’s not the ninth inning and there are still a few pitches to be thrown,” Weiser said.