UPDATE, 10:45 AM: All games have winners and losers, but CBS are now calling out Sony Pictures TV for not playing by the rules when it comes to the dispute over the decades old Jeopardy! & Wheel of Fortune deals. Hours after SPT’s head of Games Shows sent a letter over to CBS informing the […]UPDATE, 10:45 AM: All games have winners and losers, but CBS are now calling out Sony Pictures TV for not playing by the rules when it comes to the dispute over the decades old Jeopardy! & Wheel of Fortune deals. Hours after SPT’s head of Games Shows sent a letter over to CBS informing the
Doubt Ryan Seacrest and Vanna White will be saying the letters C-B-S this week on Wheel of Fortune, but the still Shari Redstone-owned company just lost a hold on one of its gameshow goldmines, at least according to Sony.
As a legal battle continues to boil between Sony Pictures TV and CBS Studios over their more than 42-year-old original deals, the former has informed the latter this morning that they are fully taking over “global distribution” of Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! as of next week.
“To facilitate an orderly transition of the distribution functions for the Shows, on January 27, 2025, Sony Pictures delivered to CBS the episodes of the Shows to air the week of February 3 through February 9,” notes a letter SPT’s head of games shows Suzanne Prete sent to CBS’ Wendy McMahon Monday that Deadline has seen. “We expect CBS to take all necessary steps to ensure that the episodes are properly delivered to broadcasters. Sony Pictures will begin delivery of episodes of the Shows to broadcasters starting with the episodes scheduled to air the week of February 10.”
“Although CBS has failed to respond to our previous requests for cooperation in effectuating the transition to Sony Pictures of the distribution functions, we nonetheless again request CBS’s cooperation in making this transition as orderly as possible,” the letter adds, perhaps overly optimistically.
Watch on Deadline
A dubious move likely contractually, the distribution rights seizer does reek of a power play to shake up a somewhat stagnant legal situation.
To that, Sony is seeking permission from an LA Superior Court judge to file an amended complaint to supercede the breach of contract document the media giant put in the court docket back on Halloween last year. “Rather than live up to its obligations under the terms of the parties’ agreements, CBS recently admitted that it entered unauthorized licensing deals, in plain violation of a negotiated, two-year limit for such licenses under the agreements, and then paid itself a commission on those deals,” Sony accused CBS on October 31, 2024 in a fiery jury trial-seeking-filing full of such self-dealing accusations.
As amended complaints often are, the 27-page FAC that Sony wants the court to consider is pretty similarto the 19-page document from last fall.
There are, however, a few choice additions that might point to where this is all going.
“For example, in January 2025, Procter & Gamble—a top advertiser for the Shows in recent years—stopped advertising on the Shows entirely,” the proposed amended complaint states in “long-term harm” to the “goodwill” and cold hard ad cash Wheel and Jeopardy! have suffered from CBS in Sony’s POV. “Sony Pictures does not yet know why Procter & Gamble made this choice, including because CBS failed to notify Sony Pictures of this change, but the abrupt termination after years of advertising on the Shows overlaps with CBS’s failure to renew Nielsen and the lack of commercial ratings data. Procter & Gamble similarly stopped advertising for other CBS-sold shows like Flip Side, Family Feud, and People Puzzler, all of which would be affected by the Nielsen non-renewal.”
CBS Studios did not respond to request for comment from Deadline this AM on Sony’s latest play in the ongoing lawsuit and countersuit. If they do get back to us, this post will be updated.
On November 26, CBS did have something to say, and they weren’t playing, if you know what I mean?
“Sony is attempting to obtain in court what it could not get at the bargaining table: the rights to the Series for free, by finding any excuse it can muster,” CBS’-hired attorneys Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP exclaimed to Sony Pictures TV Studios, Jeopardy Productions and Califon Productions in a cross-complaint submitted after Thanksgiving.
As a part of the new regime going into effect now, Sony wants CBS to hand over documents and materials related to the following ASAP:
1. Domestic licensing agreements relating to the Shows, including any renewals or amendments.
2. Agreements related to licensing the Shows in foreign territories, including any renewals or amendments.
3. Foreign format license agreements relating to the Shows, including any renewals or amendments.
4. Advertising sales agreements relating to the Shows, including any renewals or amendments, and any related rate cards.
5. Current inventory reports related to advertising for the Shows.
6. Current stewardship reports related to advertising for the Shows.
7. For items 1-4 above, the contact information for CBS’s primary contact in connection with those agreements.
“Please be advised that Sony Pictures reserves all of its rights, privileges, and remedies,” the two-page correspondence concludes.
Oddly, while this is all rather procedural on many levels and a clear chess move on Sony’s part, today’s announcement comes after literally months of rather sleepy activity on the docket in the case.
All of which has one wondering just how ironic today’s Daily Double could be? Ken?
Discover more from World Byte News
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
