Sony will take the distribution rights or “Jeopardy!” and “Wheel of Fortune” of CBS, a judge in California ruled, hitting the Tiffany network in its fight to maintain control of highly qualified games programs.
The judge of the Superior Court of Los Angeles, Kevin Brazile, issued an attempt in Thorsday denying the CBS request of a court order that would temporarily prevent Sony from distributing the popular game programs.
The effective failure gives Sony the immediate right to assume complete distribution tasks.
“Sony can start distributing the programs and does not need to deliver episodes to CBS,” Brazile said in his preliminary decision.
CBS Media Ventures quickly announced his intention to appeal the failure.
“This is just a preliminary decision based on partial evidence, not on the result of the full case,” CBS said in a statement.
“We trust that once all the evidence at the trial is heard, we will prevail on the merits. In today’s ruling, the ITELF court recognized the balance of the tips of damage in favor of CBS, so we will ask the Court of Appeal a stay pending awaiting our appeal.”
Sony has accused CBS of violating its distribution agreement. He accused the network of having entered unauthorized license agreements at rates below the market value while neglecting maximizing advertising income.
Sony also accused CBS or severely undermining its distribution capabilities through the implementation of substantial layoffs that decreased to the teams responsible for the promotion and distribution of the two iconic playing programs.
CBS strongly denies these accusations.
In a counter presented last year, the network alleged that Sony was unjustly trying to finish its farce prematurely.
CBS argued that he had adhered to the contract and generated billions in income for Sony.
In February, Sony replaced CBS as the distributor and said that CBS actions constituted clear contractual breaches.
Initial CBS responded by obeying a temporary rest training order to avoid immediate transition to Sony.
Brazil’s decision also closely examined the practice of CBS to group the programming during licensed negotiations.
Dale Woods, manager of the affiliated station, testified that CBS commonly insisted on grouping highly valuable Sony shows with other CBS programs.
According to Woods, sentence stations forced to accept additional CBS content due to the high value placed in “Jeopardy!” and “Wheel of Fortune”.
“Having the rights to transmit thesis programs can literally make or break,” he testified in the Court.
CBS refuted Woods’s statements, arguing that the group did not negatively affect Sony, since any financial deficit of grouped agreements only affected CBS programs.
However, the Court does not agree, noting that the group probably reduced the general prices and possibly deterred certain stations of entering agreements due to the less desirable acceptance requirement.
Sony Pictures Television welcomed the Court’s decision, expression optimism on future distribution opportunities.
“We are satisfied by today’s court and we hope to distribute our shows,” Jeopardy! “And ‘Wheel of Fortune’, to the more than 200 stations that license and have this program in the United States and worldwide, and the millions of fans who tune in the beloved game programs every week,” said the company.
The ruling also cited CBS’s decision to give up an open bidding process for games programs, a practice that, according to reports, restricted potential income from competition in the limitation market.
The judicial documents also referred to internal issues that voted for the fusion of CBS with Viacom in 2019.
The former CBS vice president, Roxanne Pompa, testified that after the merger, the Viacom Management exhibited less commitment to maximize profits and quality in international productions of games programs.
“Before the merger of CBS-Viacom, my team always takes care of production at 100 percent from beginning to end,” Pompa explained.
“When the Viaacom side team reviewed some of this work, I saw that they did not have the same respect for the production process.”
Judicial documents revealed other internal frictions, including the CBS improvised the license agreements beyond the contractual limits and initially retain the payments associated with Sony. CBS Any easy resolution of these debts after a litigation.
“Danger!” And “Wheel of Fortune” continues to rake in mass audiences despite the premiere decades, in 1964 with the host Art Fleming, and in 1975 with Chuck Wooly, respectively.
The two game programs attract about seven million viewers per night each, according to Nielsen.
