CBS vs Howard Stern

[LynnieD]

From New York Daily News:

CBS accuses Stern
of foul airplay



By RICHARD HUFF
DAILY NEWS TV EDITOR


Howard Stern, flanked by lawyers, called the CBS suit a vendetta by chairman Les Moonves.

CBS yesterday sued Howard Stern, his agent and Sirius Satellite Radio, claiming multiple breaches of his contract while Stern was working for the CBS radio division.
In the 43-page document, CBS claims Stern ran afoul of his contract by talking about the new gig at Sirius while still at CBS, and that he and his agent Don Buchwald benefited financially from doing so.

The company's suit asserts that Stern was contractually obligated to let CBS know about his talks with Sirius ahead of time. CBS also said Stern failed to return company property.

Stern yesterday called CBS' legal efforts "bullying" and wanted it to stop.

"I'm pretty sick of it," Stern said at a press conference. "I don't like it."

Stern, who left CBS Radio in December after a 20-year run with the company, said the suit was a "personal vendetta" by CBS Chairman Les Moonves.

Flanked by two lawyers and his agent, Stern said he was sick of the "intimidation."

"This is what they do to talent," Stern said.

The CBS suit claims Stern misused the airwaves while working at the company's radio division to promote Sirius, and by doing so lined his pockets at the company's expense. CBS' action also maintains that Sirius essentially got free ad time because Stern was talking about the company on air.

Stern said his deal with Sirius was public when it was announced, as were the financial terms. In addition, he said, he got permission from CBS Radio boss Joel Hollander to talk about the new job, but without identifying Sirius by name.

"Les Moonves claims it was a secret," Stern said. "He put me on 'David Letterman,' he put me on '60 Minutes.' Just like everyone else, Les Moonves doesn't listen to his own radio stations or TV stations."

However, the secret CBS claims in its lawsuit is that Stern stood to gain financially if Sirius' subscriber base grew, and those payments were accelerated, in part, because of his on-air mentions at CBS.

Stern said he and his agent recently met with Moonves and Hollander to discuss the issues between them and to perhaps stave off a suit.

"Les goes, 'I'm the one who kept you on the air, and I knew I could sue you after,' " Stern said.

He said Moonves repeatedly told him the suit was about business, not personal. "This lawsuit is a personal vendetta against me," Stern said. "It's to distract me and to distract" the media.

Word of the lawsuit comes while officials at CBS' radio stations are facing dismal early ratings for Stern's replacements. Locally, that's David Lee Roth, whose ratings have tanked. CBS officials have downplayed the early figures, saying they knew it would take time to get listeners to tune in to both Roth's show and that of Adam Carolla, who replaced Stern on West Coast stations.

"I'm offended," Stern said yesterday. "I don't deserve it. ... It leaves a bad taste in my mouth."



Go get em Howard!!!

[teforde23]

Sour grapes on Les Moonves' part.