Search »

CBS Files Suit Against Stern, Sirius

Shock jock Howard Stern’s previous employer, CBS, announced Tuesday that it is suing Stern, his agent, and Stern’s new employer, Sirius Satellite Radio, in the New York State Supreme Court for “multiple breaches of contract, misappropriation and unjust enrichment,” reports Broadcasting & Cable.

The lawsuit allegations include “misappropriation of millions of dollars worth of CBS Radio airtime” with Stern’s promotion of Sirius on CBS’s air in order to collect 34 million shares of stock worth $220 million, a deal triggered by the number of new Sirius subscribers he raised, according to Mediaweek. The Sirius-Stern contract is alleged to have induced Stern to help Sirius reach the subscriber targets by December 2005 so the deal would close while Sirius’s stock was extremely valuable.

In the suit, CBS said that by secretly negotiating and concluding his agreement with Sirius, Stern ignored CBS Radio’s right to a first discussion concerning Stern’s radio projects.

Finally, the suit charges Stern with continuing to breach his CBS contract by not returning recordings of his CBS radio program that belong to CBS Radio.

The announcement follows a press conference called by Stern earlier on Tuesday responding to an article predicting the lawsuit published in the New York Times gossip column Page Six, writes Yahoo News. During the press conference Stern said CBS Radio had “bullied” and “threatened” him over the past few months. He also disputed CBS’s claims that he caused them financial harm by talking about satellite radio on the air.