LAWRENCE — A video touted by city officials as a news segment "on CNN" focusing on the revitalization of Lawrence is actually a five-minute infomercial the city paid a Florida company almost $20,000 to produce, The Eagle-Tribune has learned.

The piece called "The Economic Report" and hosted by Greg Gumbel also is the subject of a federal lawsuit by the veteran sportscaster. He said Encore Television Group tricked him into doing introductions for dozens of infomercials like the one Lawrence is featured in and he wants them all barred from being aired, including on the Internet.

Acting Economic Development Director Thomas Schiavone said yesterday the city paid $19,700 for the piece, which was filmed six months ago ¬ — just two weeks before Gumbel filed suit on March 31.

Schiavone, who was featured prominently in the video, said the company's officials approached the city earlier this year saying they wanted to do a piece because they were impressed by Lawrence's progress and "we'd love to come up and have Lawrence be part of the show.'

"They say, after the fact or in the middle, that there is a production fee that pays for the shoot and all that other stuff," Schiavone said. "Whatever costs to produce it are costs that are passed along to us."

Encore reportedly charged as much as $20,000 for a community or business to appear on "The Economic Report" and two other similar ads called "Eye on America" and "Our Planet." Schiavone said to ask the city's budget and finance director, Mark Andrews, how the city paid the $19,700. Andrews could not be reached for comment.

Schiavone said Lawrence was promised the piece would run 20 times on such channels as CNN, Headline News, Fox News, and the Discovery Channel. He said the Lawrence piece has been shown in Oregon. A Web site lists dozens of daily air times, but never specifies when the paid advertisement on Lawrence will actually run.

"It's not like a fake commercial," Schiavone said. "It's a marketing piece we can use to send to companies thinking of coming here."

When asked if he thought it was equivalent to a news show, Schiavone said, "It depends on how you want to look at that. It's a national TV program that talks about economic development. It's not news in the traditional sense."

But hearing it wasn't an actual news piece surprised some of those who appeared in the video. Sal Lupoli, restaurant owner and real estate developer, was interviewed on camera for the piece six months ago. Yesterday he said, "I was under the impression they were from CNN."

Joe Bevilacqua, executive director of the Merrimack Valley Chamber of Commerce and also interviewed on the show, also thought it was a CNN production.

"We were told it was associated with CNN," he said.

A party was held Wednesday night at Salvatore's function hall in Lawrence, during which a DVD of the episode was broadcast to a packed room of local officials, businesspeople and media, accompanied by a patriotic song from a young man and speeches from politicians. Mayor Michael Sullivan, who could not be reached for comment yesterday, remarked several times about how this piece was being aired on CNN across the country.

However, CNN has reportedly made an effort to disassociate itself from the show, as well as others produced by Encore, including "Eye on America" and "Our Planet." According to one online report, CNN spokeswoman Janine Iamunno said "removal of the spots is imminent" because the videos are not identified as paid advertisements.

Time-Warner Cable has already pulled the ads, with its general counsel Marc Lawrence-Apfelbaum, saying, "It does appear that Time Warner Cable ran these ads without making it as clear as we should have that they were ads. It is our policy to always make clear that ads are just that ... I believe we have now stopped running the ads, however, and we will endeavor to make sure they are not run again without proper identification."

Producers for Encore could not be reached for comment. The Eagle-Tribune left two messages with the company's studio in Florida. The calls were not returned.

In the lawsuit, Gumbel claims he was told he was paid $110,000 for doing introductions for "education and news-oriented shows," but instead the generic clips he filmed were used to introduce "time-shares, water treatment, fiber products, windshield repair and magnet therapy."

Gumbel's generic introduction of the Lawrence piece is only a few words different from what he uses to introduce "The Economic Report" on Rochester, N.H.

"As the cities become more crowded and overpopulated, many areas are luring companies back to their roots by creating a great business environment," Gumbel says in the introduction to the Lawrence broadcast. "Let's take a closer look into our heartland."

In the Rochester piece, Gumbel varies it by saying, "Let's take a closer look into small town America."

There are other inconsistencies which may be evidence that much of the video is generic as well.

In one shot, a commuter is waiting for a train at a station that does not match the McGovern Transportation Center. Plus, the inbound train appears to be a subway train and not the commuter rail. The narrator then mentions the "regional airport" and flashes to a video of a commercial airliner taking off. Such a plane would be too big to take off from Lawrence Municipal Airport. It mentions Lawrence's proximity to "two major interstates" but the clip shown is of a two-lane highway, too small to be interstates 495 or 93.

Bevilacqua and Schiavone agree that even though the finished video isn't a news story, it's still a terrific depiction of Lawrence.

"If it gives a positive message and brings investment to the city, it's a positive thing," Bevilacqua said.

Schiavone agreed.

"It's not like we paid for something we didn't get," he said. "It's like an economic development brochure."