What Is Self-Dealing? ‘Jeopardy!’ & ‘Wheel Of Fortune’ Profits At Heart Of Sony’s Suit Against CBS

deadline.com:

You don’t need to guess too many vowels or look for a Daily Double to know that Sony and CBS are getting a strong lesson in why it’s called show business and not show friends, and how the rules are no game. “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 said in a filing Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court about the distribution of Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy!

amid claims of self-dealing in the participants’ deal that’s more than 40 years old. “These unauthorized deals are just the tip of the iceberg.”  READ SONY’S LAWSUIT AGAINST CBS OVER JEOPARDY! & WHEEL OF FORTUNE PROFITS HERE “In fact, CBS has licensed the Shows at below-market rates; has failed to maximize advertising revenue; has undercut Jeopardy!

and Wheel of Fortune through self-preferencing; and has rendered itself incapable of administering its obligations under the agreements, including by its far-reaching layoffs that have decimated teams responsible for the Shows’ distribution, marketing, and advertising sales and its decision to abandon its partnership with ratings provider Nielsen, whose ratings are critical for CBS to maximize advertising sales and syndication licenses,” the complaint states.

The breach-of-contract suit was prepared and put in the docket by the fine attorneys at Susman Godfrey LLP, tossing everything and the economic kitchen sink in there over the Merv Griffin-created game shows. “CBS’s failures and pattern of financially self-interested behavior — which at bottom come down to