Future of Sept. 11 attack footage in limbo

NEW YORK -- The only known video footage of both planes hitting the World Trade Center is the subject of a dispute that stopped it from being shown nationally on ABC News Sunday, and may prevent it from surfacing at all.\nYet to be determined in this convoluted story is the market value of a rare historical document that may nonetheless have limited appeal for broadcasters.\nThe videotape was shot by an immigrant construction worker who had been making a sightseeing tape for a friend, and its existence was not widely known until reported in The New York Times, Sunday. The cameraman, Pavel Hlava, was riding in a sport utility vehicle from Brooklyn to Manhattan on Sept. 11.\nThe first impact was caught on tape as the vehicle was approaching the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel. Upon emerging from the tunnel, Hlava pointed the camera at the burning north tower and caught the second plane hitting the World Trade Center.\nOnly one other tape, by French filmmakers who had been making a documentary on firefighters, exists that shows the first plane hitting the tower. No known video shows both impacts. Federal officials are said to have interest in the video because it could help determine the speed of the first plane as it approached the World Trade Center.\nABC News was given a copy of the video last week by Mike Cohen, said Jeffrey Schneider, network spokesman. He's described in the Times as the man who drove the SUV that day, Hlava's boss, who believes the tape should not be sold for profit.\nThe network made plans to air it Sunday morning on "This Week." It was shown in New York City, where the Sunday political show airs earlier than in the rest of the country, and host George Stephanopoulos made a point of saying the network hadn't paid for it.\nABC immediately heard from Walter Karling, a free-lance photographer acting as an agent for Hlava, who called into question ABC's right to air the video. ABC quickly rearranged the broadcast so the footage was not shown in the rest of the country, Schneider said.\nABC remains "in a dialogue" with Hlava's representatives about future airings, Schneider said.\nKarling said that ABC was made aware Friday that it did not have the right to show the video for free. Schneider said that ABC believed it was dealing "in good faith" with the person responsible for the video.\nNeither man would not comment on how much is being asked for the video. Karling said he's working to get the video released and to protect Hlava's rights to the material.\n"Any financial remuneration is of last and least importance," he said. \nKarling referred further questions to a lawyer, Bob Reicher, who did not immediately return a call for comment.\nRights to air the video were offered to both CBS and NBC News over the weekend, according to executives at both networks who spoke on condition of anonymity. At one network, the figure of $40,000 was mentioned. At another, talk of a six-figure fee was bandied about.\nBoth networks rejected the overtures.\nAlthough the Hlava video is unique, all the networks have compelling footage of the second plane hitting the towers, the buildings burning and eventually collapsing. Because that video is upsetting to many viewers, the networks have used it very judiciously since after the first few days following the Sept. 11 attacks.\nFor that reason -- despite the curiosity value -- it's questionable whether the networks would place great monetary value on Hlava's tape because of limited opportunities to show it.\n"I don't know if we would want to air it again or not," Schneider said.