CBS Radio sues shock jock Stern, seeks damages from Sirius

[bigworld]

http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?guid=%7B7C3A36D9%2D7C9E%2D4A7E%2DB251%2D5CA1AA718F3C%7D&siteid=mktw&dist=bnb

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) --
CBS Corp unit CBS Radio after Tuesday's closing bell said it has filed suit against Howard Stern, his company One Twelve Inc., his agent Don Buchwald, his agent's firm Don Buchwald & Associates Inc. and Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. The lawsuit seeks compensatory and punitive damages for alleged multiple breaches of contract, fraud, unjust enrichment, and misappropriation of CBS Radio's broadcast time. The suit also seeks damages from Sirius for unfair competition and tortious interference with Stern's CBS contract. CBS Radio alleges that Stern repeatedly and willfully breached his written contract with CBS Radio during the last 22 months of his contract, misappropriated millions of dollars worth of CBS Radio airtime for his own financial benefit, and fraudulently concealed his interest in hundreds of millions of dollars of Sirius stock while promoting it on the air.

[GCP]

1. Holy crap

Sounds like they're really sticking it to him.

[rkc3]

2. And they didn't bring this up at any point in those last 22 months.

Makes me want to run out and get Sirius.

[Bandit]

27. Just becaue it is just now becoming public does not mean

the suit was not filed. I would hesitate on buying Sirius stock at the moment as it is falling rapidly.

[rkc3]

32. The service, not the stock - although the stock has not done badly today.

It might actually be an attractive point to purchase, particularly if the optimism expressed below over this suit is any indication of things to come.

[Bandit]

33. I agree

I believe it will be in the four dollar range before days end which is a forty percent drop in value since Christmas. Time to buy.... I fully expect it to climb back into six dollar range within four months.

[Wickerman]

3. Yawn

may they sue each other into their well-earned oblivion.

[chelsea0011]

4. Bush will step into this. He hates frivilous lawsuits and trial attorneys.

He will side with Stern and back him in a run for President.

[gratuitous]

5. Hmmmm

Is CBS Radio alleging now that it didn’t make a dime off of Stern’s show? It sure sounds like it from the allegations in the story. This could be a very interesting lawsuit, chock full of insider information about how profitable – or not profitable – a show like Stern’s is.

[ronnykmarshall]

6. I'm selling my Sirius stock in the morning.

[geomon666]

7. Thanks for the years of faithful service.

Now go fuck yourself.

[sarcasmo]

8. Exactly, they made a ton of cash off of Stern and now want to scream

Lawsuit. Corporate crooks the whole bunch of these CBS windbags. I knew Stern would never be free of this kind of bullshit even at a pay format.

[madmark]

9. Couple of issues: CBS knew Stern was discussing Sirius on its

air and let him do it. Those discussions led to CBS obtaining the ratings, and the short term benefit, that it did during Stern's last months. I would think this would give rise to the affirmative defense of Estoppel. It also, undercuts the "not officiously given" element of CBS' unjust enrichment claim. Additionally, if it was CBS position that Stern had breached his contract when he first discussed Sirius, they chose not to declare the breach and terminate the contract as was their right. Instead they opted to continue to let Stern perform on the contract and obtain value from him. This again gets back to the applicability of the affirmative defense of estoppel.

[Inland]

11. I don't know how it's going to come up a crapper for CBS

But I think it's going to come up a crapper. Factually, the bosses watched Stern do it all without, apparently, any comment. Moreover, there's no fucking provable damages because Stern's last months and kvetching were good for ratings. It's not possible to segregate the "damage" of Stern leaving with the "damage" of Stern talking about leaving.

[sendero]

12. Not only did they watch...

... but they set ground rules, Stern talked about the rules on the air.

This is sour grapes bullshit, and it will go nowhere.

[Marnieworld]

22. CBS has no case

He held up his end of the contract and for over a year begged them to fire him. They had the ability and they used it to censor him directly if he mentioned sirius or anything that they didn't want. He even stopped saying the word when they complained. At every step of the way they could have fired him and declared breach of contract. Instead they sucked him dry for every cent that they could get out of him (the man who built Infinity Broadcasting and made them all millionaires in the first place) and now, coincedentally right after the ratings just came out, now they sue him. I don't know about radio but I know enough about #s to know that to go from a 12 share to a 1 share (David Lee Roth) is the death knell.

If he didn't leave for Sirius he would have left anyway. They are being spiteful. They kept his recorded shows for no reason just to punish him.

As far as keeping his stock secret is absurd too. Everyone with a TV or a newspaper since Oct 2004 knew what he was getting.

I don't see this going very far in the court system. Anyone with half a brain can ask them why they didn't fire him a year ago if he was so wrong and doing all of what they allege. There is no answer that defensible.

[dbt]

10. I see that CBS waited to see if Stern was going to make any money

via satellite before they decided to sue him over Honesty and Integrity.

:evilgrin:
dbt
Remember New Orleans
Remember Murrow while we're at it

[rocktivity]

19. I read something about Howard getting a HUGE bonus from Sirius

because he exceeded a goal of a certain number of people signing up.

:headbang:
rocknation

[TaleWgnDg]

13. OKAY . . . I am gonna take this HUMONGOUS wad of mud and

.

OKAY . . . I am gonna take this HUMONGOUS wad of mud and throw it as hard as I can against the wall. See? Did any of it stick? So goes CBS' various civil complaints against Stern and company. Hit em w/ all the complaints you can legally think of . . . bury em in paperwork . . . them bury em some more . . .

And, frankly? I hope that CBS is successful too!

.

[Nickster]

21. I don't get it, why would you want CBS to be successful?

[joeunderdog]

29. What's your point?

Anyone who heard Stern rant against GWB pre-election could only conclude that this guy gets it.

Do you have some inside info on this deal?

[Beetwasher]

14. Losers

Whiny fucking losers. Meanwhile, Stern will love this. I might have to by my Sirius radio sooner rather than later to hear what he has to say about it.

[TommyO]

28. Good luck in finding one

if you live in a populated area, I'm still trying to find a second Sportster or Streamer so I can keep recording the show while I'm listening to other stuff in the car

[Rosco T.]

15. Full Press Release...

http://www.prnewswire.com/news/index_mail.shtml?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/02-28-2006/0004308760&EDATE=

(snip)

The 43-page complaint charges:

* Howard Stern repeatedly and willfully breached his written contract
with CBS Radio over the last 22 months of that contract,
misappropriated millions of dollars worth of CBS Radio airtime for his
own financial benefit, and fraudulently concealed his interest in
hundreds of millions of dollars of Sirius stock while promoting it on
the air.

* That on or about January 9, 2006, Sirius paid over 34 million shares of
stock, valued at approximately $220 million, to Stern and his agent
because Sirius exceeded by the end of 2005 certain subscriber targets
that were set in the Sirius-Stern contract. The complaint alleges that
the Sirius-Stern contract provided that Stern was to receive this stock
payment in 2010, but it had an acceleration provision that allowed
Stern to receive the compensation as early as January 2006 if these
subscriber targets were met. All of Stern's actions for which he
received this expedited compensation occurred during the time that
Stern was under exclusive contract with CBS Radio, when the Sirius
payment terms to Stern were kept secret.

(snip)

* By engaging in continuous promotion of Sirius on CBS Radio airtime
without any payment by Sirius to CBS for these advertisements and by
pocketing over $200 million dollars for his personal benefit, Stern
misappropriated millions of dollars worth of CBS Radio airtime for his
own financial benefit and the financial benefit of Don Buchwald, his
agent, and Sirius in contravention of repeated directives by CBS Radio.

(snip)

* To this day, Stern continues to breach his contract by refusing to
return property that belongs to CBS Radio -- the recordings of his CBS
radio program that, under his Agreement with CBS Radio, belong to the
company.

(more)

[Marnieworld]

23. I can't believe they say he took recordings

Stern and co are going out of their way to re-record everything again because CBS is holding everything. They are being so careful it's ridiculous that this is what they allege.

[bleedingheart]

16. I wonder if CBS's hands weren't tied at first due to Stern's contract

if they fired him on the spot for his promoting Sirius...they may have had to pay out his contract without his services...???

otherwise it seems strange.....

[Marnieworld]

25. nah

They could allege that he breached the contract and that's why he was fired. Therefore they aren't obligated and they could litigate that.

It's much better for them to have him on the air making money for them for 22 months as the #1 radio show, retiring so the ad revenues were historic for them. Then sue to get more money. That's what they did.

[soothsayer]

17. Moonves=mooncalf, moonstruck over howard and mooning

over his loss. Maybe cbs should have put their mighty cadre of lawyers to work defending Stern against the FCC instead of turning their venom against the one good thing in the company's legacy. Les---you're a complete ass.

[rocktivity]

18. Did his contract run out last year, or did it not?

And if Howard was doing all this harmful stuff to CBS for 22 months, why didn't they file suit back then--because they didn't want to cough up any severance pay?

:headbang:
rocknation

[Kber]

20. two reasons

1 - they didn't really think sirius was a threat
2 - they thought they could replace howard w/ any old shock jock.

now they know better on both counts

[blindpig]

24. Boomerang

Listened to him this morning. Howard is loving this. More attention means more audience. I doubt this is going to work. The winners will be Stern and the lawyers.

[msanthrope]

26. Did none of these people at CBS see "Private Parts?"

Stern is going to do to them what he did to "Pig Vomit", only on a larger scale.

I can't wait.

[sendero]

31. Exactly..

.... CBS has no case and Stern has the money and the balls to defend himself.

The ineptitude with which Viacom has dealt with Stern for the last several years is stunning. Now that he finally told them to pack sand, they don't know what to do. They have let their cash cow slip through their fingers because they would not stand up to tha jackals at the FCC.

Within weeks of Stern's leaving, they changed their affiliates to "Free Radio", ostensibly to highlight that you don't have to pay (you pay with 25 minutes per hour of mind numbing repeat commercials) but that really IMHO had the effect of further accentuating that "you get what you pay for" and $13 a month is a small price to pay for a multitude of good programming choices with modest amounts of commercials. Seriously, how did these people rise to the ranks of leadership in their company? They are morons.


So now their ploy is to sue. Isn't that special. Just another chapter in a sad saga that will eventially leave their whole radio empire in shambles. BBWWWWwwwwaaaaaaaahhhhhahahahahh!

[Victimerican]

30. it's almost as if they WANT Stern to be successful!

I can't help but think that this is all an inside job: The amount of money this would cost for CBS is nothing-their lawyers are on retainer. However, the amount of publicity Stern is getting for this is exponentially higher than even the best ads, for less cost. And if there's anything Stern is good at, it's turning "bad" publicity in his favor (besides being a hell of a morning show host), and I can't believe CBS isn't well aware of this. I'm usually not one for conspiracies, but this one would be amazing, especially if all the animosity since Stern's move to satellite was faked.

On the other hand, CBS might just be retarded.