Internet operator courting rights to broadcast execution

TAMPA - A Florida operator of peek-a-boo websites is pushing to secure rights to webcast the execution of convicted US mass murderer Timothy McVeigh.

Best known for Voyeurdorm.com and Dudedorm.com, adults-only subscription websites, Entertainment Network of Tampa said it had filed suit against the US Government seeking permission to webcast the execution.

The company said in a statement that prison officials had refused to let Entertainment Network put a web camera in the death chamber at a federal prison where McVeigh is to be put to death on May 16.

McVeigh, who will die by lethal injection, was convicted for the April 1995 bombing of an Oklahoma City federal building that killed 168 people in the worst act of terrorism ever in the United States.

McVeigh enraged victims last week when he admitted in a new book he had pulled off the bombing and described the 19 children killed in the attack as "collateral damage."

"The government is sponsoring the killing of the human being who was responsible for this horrendous act, and we believe the people have an absolute right to witness this action," company chief executive David Marshlack said.

Entertainment Network said the government was acting unconstitutionally in blocking the Web cast and that it was seeking restraining orders and injunctions against the prison's warden, U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft and the head of the federal prison system.

Oral arguments have been set for April 17 at US District Court in Indianapolis, the company said.

Marshlack, who is an owner of privately held Entertainment Network, said the transmission would not interfere with the execution in any way and would be blocked from Internet users under 18.

The company will charge $US1.95 ($NZ4.80) to view the execution if it wins permission to webcast it, according to spokesman Brian August.