By Michaela Gordoni
Sony is suing CBS for “self-dealing” JEOPARDY! and WHEEL OF FORTUNE, but the Second Appellate District just ruled that CBS will still get to distribute the shows, at least until the court battle ends.
“Pending disposition of this appeal, the trial court’s order of April 10, 2025, finding that ‘Sony can begin distributing the Shows and need not deliver episodes to CBS’ is hereby stayed, including all matters embraced therein or affected thereby by the trial court’s order,” decided Appeal Court Judges Gonzalo Martinez, John Segal and Natalie Stone on Wednesday.
The companies have argued over the alleged breach of contract since late October. The companies have worked together under the contract for the last 40 years.
Sony previously held the rights to distribute the shows.
“The superior court’s order of April 10, 2025 denying the preliminary injunction and allowing Respondents to begin ‘distributing the shows and need not deliver episodes to CBS’ is stayed pending further order of this court,” the judges said.
While Sony accuses CBS of self-dealing and not making due effort to get top dollar for the shows, CBS counters that Sony fabricated a reason to take control of distribution. According to CBS, Sony offered a nine-figure buyout and only filed suit after CBS declined, Variety reported.
Related: CBS Makes History as It Wins Another Season of Primetime Viewership
President Donald Trump is also suing CBS. His legal team claims that it deceptively edited an interview with Kamala Harris. CBS’s parent company, Paramount, offered $15 million to settle the lawsuit. Two people in significant roles at the company disagreed with Paramount’s choice to settle instead of fight, and quit working at the company.
Trump’s team rejected the lawsuit and is seeking over $25 million and an apology from CBS. Trump also threatened to sue in another lawsuit for alleged bias of news coverage, according to The New York Post.
Paramount has back-up plans in case Trump’s team declines the offer. It is in the process of nominating three new directors to its board, so that it will have a full board in place if the deal falls through.
Trump originally filed the lawsuit claiming $10 billion in damages and then doubled it to $20 billion.
His original filing said CBS’s “conduct, including news distortion, constituted commercial speech which cannot by any reasonable interpretation be found to have constituted editorial judgment, and that speech damaged Plaintiffs. he fact that such commercial speech was issued by a news organization does not insulate Defendants from liability under the First Amendment.”
CBS may not be winning that case, but at least its battle with Sony is looking a little brighter.
Read Next: JEOPARDY! Host Ken Jennings Honors Alex Trebek with This Tradition
- Content: +1Share:
- Content: +3