Williams Signs Bill Requiring Comcast to Show Nats Games

Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D) yesterday signed into law a bill requiring Comcast, which is the District's main cable provider, to begin broadcasting Washington Nationals games or face the possibility of losing its license to operate in the city.

The bill, which was passed unanimously by the D.C. Council earlier this month, says that unless the games are on the air beginning today, the District and Comcast must enter into negotiations to discuss the franchise agreement and explore ways of getting the games on the air.

But it's not clear that the city action is binding on Comcast. Comcast Executive Vice President David L. Cohen said yesterday that the cable firm "is working to find a solution that will put the Nats games on TV immediately."

Comcast subscribers throughout the Washington region can only watch Nationals games broadcast on WDCA (Channel 20) and WTTG (Channel 5).

Additional games are broadcast on ESPN, but some are blacked out locally. The vast majority of Nationals games are shown on Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN), the team's home network. The games are seen by more than 2 million subscribers on five cable and satellite providers.

· SAILING: The Volvo Ocean Race sailor who was washed off ABN Amro II in strong winds was wearing neither a life jacket nor a harness when the accident occurred, crewmates said yesterday. The body of Hans Horrevoets , 32, was recovered after about 40 minutes but resuscitation efforts failed.

Crewmen said that with the wind building to 25 knots, sailors went below one at a time to get harnesses. Horrevoets, trimming the spinnaker, was last to go. "A matter of 30 seconds or a minute and he would have been down to put on his harness," Nick Bice said. "Everyone else on deck at that time was clipped on."

· COLLEGE BASKETBALL: Jeff Jones , a highly regarded junior from Drexel Hill, Pa., has reneged on the oral commitment he gave to play for Maryland, his high school coach said yesterday.

Jones has not eliminated Maryland from consideration, Monsignor Bonner Coach Brian Daly said, but the 6-foot-4 guard wants to explore his options after Maryland assistant Rob Moxley left last month to become the associate head coach at Charlotte.

· AUTO RACING: NASCAR driver Kyle Busch pleaded guilty yesterday to improper driving and was fined $150.

Busch was ticketed April 12 in suburban Richmond for reckless driving after he pulled out of a gas station and into a fast-food restaurant. Busch has said he "chirped" his tires but didn't exceed 10 mph. . . .

Eddie D'Hondt was fired as general manager of Robert Yates Racing in a shake-up of the struggling team. D'Hondt joined RYR in late 2003.

-- From News Services and Staff Reports