Legal Action Over CNN's six-hour exclusive window on all Al Jazeera video?

CNN on Sunday scrambled to prevent a major public relations meltdown after broadcast and cable news networks complained of receiving a fax threatening legal action if they used video from Kabul, Afghanistan, provided by the Al Jazeera news outlet.

The networks ignored the letter and used Al Jazeera's video of the attack on Kabul as well as an interview with Osama bin Laden throughout the day.

The letter, sent by Qatar-based Al Jazeera but apparently with the blessing of CNN, warned that a deal struck between the two news organizations gave CNN a six-hour exclusive window on all Al Jazeera video.

The letter said, in part, that anyone breaking the embargo "shall be held legally responsible and could face prosecution in a court of law."

Al Jazeera is the only organization that has access to bin Laden and the Taliban. ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox News Channel and MSNBC said any footage coming out of Afghanistan constitutes "fair use" under the Copyright Act, meaning that they would have a legal right to use it for legitimate breaking news provided Al Jazeera received credit.

Beyond that, the networks howled that CNN was trying to monopolize coverage of the war against the interests of the American public. Every network issued a statement condemning CNN.

"We felt there was overwhelming national interest in showing the American people those images from Afghanistan, which far outweighed whatever commercial agenda CNN was attempting to pursue," ABC News said. CBS, MSNBC, FNC and NBC all issued statements similar to ABC's.

Sources said CBS senior vp news coverage Marcy McGinnis asked CNN chief news executive Eason Jordan over the weekend to reconsider, reminding him of how the networks had cooperated in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

But CNN insisted that it was all a misunderstanding, saying it had never sought to prevent its rivals from using the Afghanistan footage. A spokesman said CNN has had a long-standing nonexclusive affiliate relationship with Al Jazeera since before the Sept. 11 attacks. In the week after the attacks, the CNN spokesman said, "we added to the relationship (with Al Jazeera)" with the addition of the six-hour embargo on CNN's rivals using the footage.

"We've had a relationship," CNN's Matthew Furman said. "Al Jazeera confirmed the relationship in writing, which was the letter you were referring to. In light of what's going on in Afghanistan and around the world, and the seriousness of the issue, we have no plans to enforce this exclusivity."

Furman insisted that because Al Jazeera sent out the letter, it was that organization's decision to press the issue. "We're not in the position to give out the footage, but we had no plans to enforce the exclusivity," he said.

But Fox News Channel said CNN did press the issue Sunday morning. FNC vp and senior counsel Dianne Brandi said the note came on Al Jazeera letterhead from the CNN national desk.

"When we put on the Al Jazeera video, it was CNN calling us to take us down. ... We didn't get any calls from Al Jazeera," she said.

Brandi said CNN called the FNC assignment desk and complained vociferously to two editors about its use of the footage.

Brandi added that despite CNN's insistence that the six-hour embargo had been in effect for weeks, since sometime after the attacks, her network had not been alerted to it until Saturday. Other network executives agreed with Brandi, saying Saturday was the first they had heard of any CNN/Al Jazeera exclusivity.

Asked why the other networks were unaware of an embargo supposedly in place for weeks, Furman said he did not know.

"Right now, we're focusing on covering this developing story -- that's where our focus is," he said.

The networks all said they would decide what to do this week on the Al Jazeera footage on a case-by-case basis. Unlike Sept. 11, the broadcast networks did not cover Sunday's attack continuously.

A little after 12:30 p.m. EDT, ABC, CBS and NBC interrupted their Sunday programming to go to live coverage of the news of the attack. (CNN was the last to come on the air with the news as it was in the middle of a Wolf Blitzer show.) All of the networks returned to regular programming at 9 p.m.

CBS stayed on the air until the 6 p.m. local news hour, then broadcast a two-hour "60 Minutes." CBS did air its NFL football games, but spokeswoman Sandy Genelius said the network left it up to the affiliates whether to run the games.

NBC dumped out of its war coverage for a NASCAR race at 4:30 p.m. and returned with the news at 6:30 p.m. and a two-hour "Dateline." ABC aired continuous coverage all afternoon, pre-empting a women's golf tournament, and also ran a two-hour special after its regular newscast.

Asked why NBC did not stay with the story all day, spokeswoman Barbara Levin said: "We'll be up if events warrant. We've been on the air for four hours, and we'll be on the air later for 2 1/2 hours."

Fox Broadcasting Co. was the only major network not to pre-empt its original programming, a football game. The net instead opted for news briefings every half-hour.

Sources said Fox news and sports brass conferred shortly after the news about the attack on Afghanistan broke, and it was decided that Fox was going to stick with its sports coverage, while FNC would stay on the breaking story on the cable side.

(Nellie Andreeva in Los Angeles contributed to this report.)