Found a little tidbit in the the docs, I want to add at the end here..   
      
   Hi Robert,   
      
   >One of my news providers requires a NNTP AUTH before any transactions can take   
   > place.  Is there a way to pass a username and password on the bnntp command   
   > line to that BBBS can grab news from those servers?   
      
      
   Here's an example of setup like you mention.. this worked for me at the time:   
      
   ./bbbs bnntp w 1 newshost.echoes.net cjb.net,prismbbs,password snippets.org   
   ./bbbs bnntp r 1 newshost.echoes.net cjb.net,prismbbs,password snippets.org   
      
   Just type bbbs bnntp for the full help for the command.   
      
   > Also, it would be nice if we could predefine NNTP servers in bcfg and then   
   > refer to those servers by number on the command line instead of specifying   
   > multiple server addresses when we only need one.   
      
   Ok, you'd like to do it on the command line.. It's just the opposite..   
      
   In bcfg4->global->Conferences there is a field for NNTPHost, I have for the   
   particular group I'm looking at a 1 in that field.   
      
   "Host number is the NNTP server number, given in BNNTP command line."   
      
   Added:   
   from ./bag sysop.gui:   
      
    BBBS BNNTP - Exchange netnews with NNTP servers   
   [...]   
   If your news server require you can replace host with host,username or   
   host,username,password to send extra authinfo commands.   
      
   Take care,   
   Janis   
      
   --- BBBS/Li6 v4.10 Dada-2   
    * Origin: Prism bbs (1:261/38)