By VALERIE BAUMAN
Associated Press

ALBANY - Local TV-news anchors in New York will no longer have to leave town to get another job under a bill signed into law by Gov. David Paterson.

The measure bans a common contract provision that prohibited broadcasters and other radio and TV station employees from taking jobs with competitors in the same market during a set period of time.

"With the approval of this bill, we hope to empower broadcasters with greater independence as they pursue employment options," Paterson said in a written statement.

Paterson said the requirements placed a hardship on broadcasters, effectively requiring them to move to another region or end their careers.

In one court case from the late 1990s, Sue Nigra, a former newscaster at WTEN-TV in Albany, sued her former employer for the right to work for a competitor after she left the company, according to a 2006 report from the Daily Gazette of Schenectady.

Nigra eventually succeeded and anchored the noon and 5 p.m. news report for WRGB-TV, a CBS affiliate, after a state Supreme Court decision ruled the clause unfair and prohibited WTEN, an ABC affiliate, from enforcing it.

But the case was decided in a lower state court, so the issue has remained a persistent problem for broadcast employees.

Nigra has since left WRGB, and could not be reached. WTEN didn't immediately return a call for comment.

The law applies to all broadcast employees in TV and radio - except management, although most publicized complaints come from the onscreen television newscasters.

The New York State Broadcasters Association and the National Association of Broadcasters - which represent broadcast stations - did not immediately respond to calls for comment.