Peace Will Reign Over Hollywood Parade for GIs : Television: KTLA, responding to complaints, won’t charge competing stations $250,000 to broadcast the homecoming event for Gulf War troops.

A Hollywood television station, responding to complaints that it obtained a sweetheart deal with the city of Los Angeles allowing it to profit exclusively from the city’s official homecoming parade for Persian Gulf War troops, has decided to allow its competitors to televise the parade for free.

“Regrettably, in recent days, the focus has shifted from the parade itself to the controversy over who should carry it,” Steve Bell, general manager of A Channel 5, said in a statement issued this week. “We need to put the focus back where it belongs--on the parade and the troops returning from the Persian Gulf.”

On Tuesday, KTLA announced its decision to drop its requirements that competing stations pay $250,000 to televise the “Welcome Home Desert Storm Parade” and agree not to break for commercials. It said it was doing so “in response to the enormous interest” in the May 19 event, which will be jointly presented by the city and the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce.

Johnny Grant, whose connections to KTLA and the Hollywood chamber helped fuel the controversy, said the about-face came in part as a result of reports in The Times and the Los Angeles Business Journal about the station’s deal with the city and chamber. Those reports, Grant said, have made it impossible for him to organize the parade.

“I’m just glad the thing has been resolved,” said Grant, who is a vice president at KTLA and a board member of the chamber, which approved the exclusive agreement. “Now I can get back to putting on the most spectacular welcome home parade in America.”

In a letter to all Los Angeles television station managers, Grant said he hoped they would voluntarily contribute some money to help defray the “substantial costs necessary in staging an event of this magnitude.” So far, KTLA and several other corporations have contributed more than $550,000 for the event, and the city has agreed to provide police, traffic and cleanup service at no cost to parade organizers.

Grant said no other station has come forward with plans to televise the event--not even the station that complained about being shut out in the first place, KNBC Channel 4.

KNBC officials said it is too early to tell whether they will televise the event. The parade, which has Bob Hope and Jimmy Stewart as honorary co-chairmen, will feature returning troops, veterans of other wars, celebrities, floats, marching bands, and an array of weaponry new and old. The parade will loop through Hollywood along Hollywood and Sunset boulevards.

“We’re very appreciative for the opportunity to participate in this community celebration,” said KNBC General Manager John Rohrbeck. “As soon as we’ve had the opportunity to study this and determine what the possibilities are for our coverage, we will announce our plans.”

Regina Miyamoto, a spokeswoman for KNBC, said Mayor Tom Bradley and his aides engineered KTLA’s compromise offer. She said Deputy Mayor Mark Fabiani called the station personally to “let us know the restrictions had been waived.”

Bradley spokesman Bill Chandler confirmed that the mayor and his aides had talked with representatives of both stations in an effort to settle the dispute.

“We certainly made our concerns clear,” Chandler said. “The mayor didn’t want anything to bring a cloud over the parade. He wanted it to be enjoyed by as many people as possible.”

At the Chamber of Commerce, Christopher Baumgart, newly elected chairman of the board, said he was “glad to see the TV stations working together on this. The parade should not be weighted down by distractions.”

KTLA, and the chamber and mayor’s office, became targets of criticism after the three worked out an agreement giving KTLA exclusive permission to sponsor, televise and nationally syndicate the Hollywood parade.

KTLA won the rights without having to compete against other local stations, even though the chamber and the city are sponsoring it and taxpayers are helping foot the bill, according to KTLA and city officials.

KNBC complained about the deal to Bradley, who is a co-chairman of the parade, saying the city’s endorsement of the parade and its pledge to provide city services for free to such a profit-making venture was very inappropriate.

After meeting with representatives of the two stations, Bradley suggested a compromise in which other stations could televise the two-hour event locally, but only if they matched KTLA’s payment of $250,000 to parade organizers to help defray expenses, and if they agreed not to break for commercials.

KNBC rejected Bradley’s proposal to buy its way into the parade, saying federal regulations prohibited it, as a network-owned station, from profiting from syndication, potentially the most lucrative aspect of the parade. Such a course is open only to independent stations such as KTLA, KNBC officials said.

KTLA had defended its attempts to charge other stations to participate, saying Grant thought of the idea. Also, the station planned to spend at least $650,000 in coordinating the event, KTLA spokesman Ed Harrison said.