Sony sues CBS over Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy deals in Australia, NZ.
Sony accuses CBS of entering into unauthorised syndication deals for Wheel of Fortune & Jeopardy and failing to maximise revenue.
- Published by David Knox
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- Filed under News
Sony has filed a US lawsuit Thursday accusing CBS of entering into unauthorised syndication deals for Wheel of Fortune & Jeopardy in Australia & New Zealand and failing to maximise revenues.
The suit alleges that CBS had pocketed $3.6 million in fees. Sony demanded the money, and was rebuffed, with CBS claiming that Sony had already received its fair share of the fees.
Sony also alleges that is “the tip of the iceberg,” alleging that the game shows have been offered as a package with less popular CBS shows like The Hot Bench and The Drew Barrymore Show.
“CBS’s bundling of Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune with comparatively unpopular CBS-owned shows lowers the gross receipts that CBS would otherwise secure for the Shows had they been sold independently,” the suit alleges.
In a statement, CBS denied the allegations, and said Sony simply does not like the agreement its predecessor signed decades ago.
“For more than 40 years, CBS and its predecessor company King World have been accomplished distribution partners and thoughtful stewards for Wheel and Jeopardy!’in the syndication market. This work has helped build shows into franchises, transform popular series into cultural icons and deliver Sony billions of dollars of revenue.
“Our contract is clear that we hold the distribution rights to these series in perpetuity. We strongly refute any claims by Sony that we did not use our best efforts in distributing the programs or otherwise failed to abide by our obligations under the agreements. Sony’s claims are rooted in the fact they simply don’t like the deal the parties agreed to decades ago.
“We look forward to vigorously defending this lawsuit in court.”
Wheel of Fortune US began screening on 10 last month, hosted by Ryan Seacrest while Jeopardy screens on Foxtel and SBS VICELAND.
Source: Variety
Updated.
- Tagged with Jeopardy, The Drew Barrymore Show, The Hot Bench, Wheel of Fortune
13 Responses
Hi David, do you know when the rebooted Wheel Of Fortune Australia with Graham Norton will air on ch 10???
No date as yet.
Again I comment –
not pointing an individual day, news.com.au said on 8 October that it starts in December.
Unless you have heard something to the contrary.
Nope. As I said, I’ve not heard any date.
I think Sony is reaching thinking these shows are worthy of being sold individually into Australia. They’ll spend more on the lawsuit than they’ll receive in royalties.
CBS are acting as an agent for Sony in Australia and so are legally required to get the best price for Sony.
Hey, Sony might be worried that this Wheel of Fortune deal could end up them becoming… bankrupt *boom* *boom* *ting*, I’m here all month, try the soup.
so does that the re boot of wheel won’t air on 10
Does not mean that.
Wow-ee! Good, interesting find Knoxy.
They consider The Drew Barrymore Show, a dud. That’s a surprise to me.
I guess Sony don’t make it. Historically chat shows have sold better abroad than gameshows.
Sony over estimate the value of the US products – the UK revival of Wheel of Fortune especially was pretty much dead on arrival because they slavishly kep to the US format.
Not quite dead.
I got an audience call email a week ago for a new series of the UK version to be filmed on 6th-8th December in Manchester.
The first series was largely unwatchable though (IMO).