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The jury in the Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? lawsuit returned a verdict for UK-based Celador today finding that the show’s producer was harmed by Disney’s self-dealing actions. The panel awarded damages totalling $269.2 million for the fair market value of broadcast licensing fees, and revenue from Millionaire merchandise. That just shy of the $405M which Celador was seeking. Immediately, the Walt Disney Company issued this statement: “We believe this verdict is fundamentally wrong and will aggressively seek to have it reversed.” The month-long Riverside trial followed six years of legal maneuvering over profits from the hit game show in a rare look into TV network and studio accounting practices. Celador convinced the jury that the producer earned millions of dollars less than it could have from the success of the show because Disney-owned ABC and co-producer Buena Vista TV brokered sweetheart deals with themselves.
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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Wow. What happened to those anti-trust laws, anyway?
Once again, you guys are ahead of the curve. Maybe this will help pick up some momentum in Washington.
YESSSS!!!!
I could not experience schadenfreude any more immensely than right now. Having lost money a number of times due to sweetheart deals that Disney did between their own channels, not to mention a couple of times they just refused to pay for work on shows that were canceled, this gives me great joy. Hopefully there will be more Corporate Karmic payback for the House of Mouse in the future!
I’m not sure a $130M shortfall on a $400M lawsuit qualifies as “just shy.”
Interesting use of “just shy” — $135 million.
Their basis of appeal? Simple. They just need to claim it was not a jury of their peers! Judge, hello…. these were people sitting there. People! I mean, come on, really? People? Who were to dumb to get their personal assistant out of jury duty? Even Lindsay Lohan would have done better than that! And we are supposed to be judged by them? Joes and Janes? Are you joking? The law very clearly states that it needs to be a jury of our peers.
And since this is the United Corporations of America, we will not accept any judgement by anybody that has not been brought forth by Disney, Warner Bros, Paramount, Goldman & Sachs, AIG and other high value members of society sitting on the jury.
People… really.
As it is now well known, the Supreme Court has finally acknowledged that corporations are people, too. And if we combine that with the fundamental right of being judged by your peers, then this is what we will bring forth in a case before the Supreme Court. We cannot be judged by an archaic legal system that still clings to the notion that “everybody is equal under the law”, when we are clearly not! Anything else would be communism!
Hopefully they can Phone A Friend to help find the answer.
Because licensing fees accumulate over a period of time it is difficult for the one who is owed something to keep track – the same crowd who would be shocked, shocked when someone in the Wall St world cheats or underpays employees is always trying to stall or under report payments to their own. Good for Celador. Now maybe one of their projects that got put on hold – Enron playwrite Lucy Prebbles screenplay of Jane Austens ‘Lady Susan’ will get back on track.
I’m seeing a trend here, lately. Maybe justice will finally take a closer look into the bookkeeping practices of studios and see the hidden iceberg under the exposed tip. More mushroom clouds to come – I hope.
Great headline, btw!
Guess we are not gonna see Regis on a primetime version anytime soon.
Now you know why House o’ Mouse pays its crew people the minimum rates and changes the names of shows currently running after 5 years and so they do not pay salary increases…THEY NEED THE MONEY TO PAY THE LAWYERS AND HIGH JUDGEMENTS FEES WHEN THEY LOOSE IN COURT!!
Keep going after them. Old Walt and Roy I am sure are rolling over in their collective graves due to Disney’s business practice.
Hit them where it hurts in the ole pocket book.
S