# CBS Radio Sues Stern, Sirius



## Chris Blount (Jun 22, 2001)

The battle between satellite radio and traditional AM/FM airwaves got more interesting Tuesday after CBS filed a lawsuit against shock jock - and Sirius' flagship personality - Howard Stern.

According to a statement from CBS Radio, the radio giant filed suit against Howard Stern, his company One Twelve, agent Don Buchwald and Don Buchwald and Associates, and Sirius. The 43-page complaint seeks compensatory and punitive damages for multiple breaches of contract, fraud, unjust enrichment, and misappropriation of CBS Radio's broadcast time.

The litigation also seeks further damages from Sirius Satellite Radio for unfair competition and tortious interference with Stern's CBS contract.

The noteworthy item coming out of the lawsuit: CBS alleges that Stern repeatedly and willfully breached his written contract with CBS Radio during the last 22 months of that deal, 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.

The suit further charges that Sirius knew Stern had a contractual obligation to maximize the prospects for the success of the CBS Radio program and to comply with his duty on good faith. "Sirius intentionally induced and caused Stern to breach these contractual provisions by offering to accelerate Stern's payment of millions of dollars in stock options to promote Sirius on CBS airwaves and by concealing Stern's stock interest from CBS Radio," the CBS Radio release states.

As of press time, there was no comment on the litigation from Sirius.

http://www.skyreport.com (Used with permission)


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## wipeout (Jul 15, 2003)

Sour grapes.


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## arundc (Jan 14, 2006)

CBS has a point...do you think its right to constantly promote your Sirius jump on their network and thus driving up stock value? Then again Stern may be right too. Not sure how it will play out but would be interesting to follow.


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## Mark Holtz (Mar 23, 2002)

And a whole bunch of lawyers will get really really busy.


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## chicagofilms (Feb 4, 2006)

Sour grapes indeed. This story has however successfully buried the bigger news that CBS is loosing some $9 billion. 

I really don't see how they can say Stern hijacked the airwaves. They had him on a delay and could have stopped him if they felt anything was inappropriate.

Another dumb thing about it is that CBS booked Stern on their shows including Letterman for the purpose of discussing his move to satellite.


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## deraz (Sep 25, 2004)

chicagofilms said:


> Another dumb thing about it is that CBS booked Stern on their shows including Letterman for the purpose of discussing his move to satellite.


...and 60 Minutes

They gave Stern a free 20 minute commercial on a very popular, and probably very expensive, program.


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## tomcrown1 (Jan 16, 2006)

Naw i will sue Stern for giving dogs a bad name


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## pez2002 (Dec 13, 2002)

read this http://fmqb.com/Article.asp?id=180791


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## georgecostanza (Jan 11, 2005)

arundc said:


> CBS has a point...do you think its right to constantly promote your Sirius jump on their network and thus driving up stock value? Then again Stern may be right too. Not sure how it will play out but would be interesting to follow.


The minute Howard told them he was going to Sirius, they should have walked him out the door. Why didn't they? They knew how much money they would lose when he was gone, so they let him stay and promote sirius. It's all on them, they could have pulled the plug at any minute, but instead they let him stay to the very last day. Truly, a case of sour grapes.:nono:


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## Steve Mehs (Mar 21, 2002)

> Why didn't they?


Because terrestrial radio is run by idiots.


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## Fifty Caliber (Jan 4, 2006)

Sour grapes produce the most whine.


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## Ray_Clum (Apr 22, 2002)

One question about the concealing of the stocks - is it a possible SEC violation in this situation?


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## LtMunst (Aug 24, 2005)

Ray_Clum said:


> One question about the concealing of the stocks - is it a possible SEC violation in this situation?


If he were a financial analyst or was somehow promoting Sirius stock as an investment, then yes, it would be a possible violation. Otherwise, he is under no obligation to disclose his ownership interests.


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## skinnyJM (Nov 19, 2005)

Steve Mehs said:


> Because terrestrial radio is run by idiots.


One of the most accurate statements ever posted on the internet.


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## spykedvodka (Jan 31, 2006)

Free Speach. That's what you get when you hire Howard. You never know what side he's gonna be on. They knew what could happen if they lost him and what control do they actually have because of their mess up. If anybody is to blame it's the FCC for the past 50 years for having out-dated laws.


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## Steve Mehs (Mar 21, 2002)

> Free Speach. That's what you get when you hire Howard.


Exactly! As the voiceover guy from KFI says "Freedom of speach, it also protects what you don't want to hear."


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