TV series postponed

Press, 11 January 1986, Page 9

TV series postponed

NZPA-Reuter New York A United States television network has delayed production of a SUS4O million ($BO million) series about a Soviet take-over of the United States, partly because of a Soviet warning that its news activities in Moscow could be jeopardised, the “New York Times” reported. The “Times” said production on the programme, “Amerika,” which was to begin this month had been postponed mainly because

of financial problems. The paper, quoting an A.B.C. official said another consideration on whether to go ahead with the programme, depicting life in the United States after a Soviet takeover, was a Soviet warning that A.B.C. News gathering in Moscow could be jeopardised if it were broadcast.

A spokesman for Brandon Stoddard, the president of A.B.C. entertainment and the executive who commissioned the programme, was

quoted by the “Times” as saying that a warning by the Soviet Foreign Ministry to A.B.C.’s Moscow bureau chief, Mr Walter Rodgers, would be part of the consideration whether or not to go ahead with the project. The newspaper quoted the vice-president of A.B.C. News, Mr David Burke, as saying a Soviet official “made it clear to Rodgers how unfortunate it would be if the relations A.B.C. News had in Moscow diminished because of the programme.