POP/ROCK - June 16, 1987

The Nashville Network will not broadcast Willie Nelson’s Fourth of July Picnic this year, a spokesman for the country-flavored cable network has said. The network was planning to air complete live coverage of the 16-year-old event for the first time, but management withdrew when picnic organizers asked the network to share their satellite feed with big-screen television outlets across the country. The spokesman said that network management felt that such a spreading of the signal would render the quality of the broadcast unsuitable for its viewers. The network is currently negotiating with Nelson’s management to broadcast this year’s edition of Farm Aid. Nelson’s management had no comment.