Sony on Thursday filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court against CBS, claiming the network engaged in acts of ‘self-dealing’ in its distribution of the popular game shows Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune.

A decadeslong arrangement between the companies sees Sony take care of production of the shows while CBS is in charge of distribution.

Sony in the court docs that CBS breached agreements in making unauthorized transactions in Australia and New Zealand that garnered them revenues of $3.6 million they subsequently refused to share, according to Variety.

Sony said in legal docs that CBS declined to divide any of the revenues when asked, as their position was that Sony had already been paid fairly in accordance with their deal.

Sony said the deal in question was only ‘the tip of the iceberg’ in their claims against CBS, claiming that corporate chaos and ongoing layoffs have severely hindered its ability to carry out its distribution duties.

Sony on Thursday filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court against CBS, claiming the network engaged in acts of ‘self-dealing’ in its distribution of the popular game shows Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune

A decadeslong arrangement between the companies sees Sony take care of production of the shows while CBS is in charge of distribution. Vanna White pictured in 2017 in Orlando, Florida

‘CBS’s massive staffing cuts and restructuring have kneecapped its ability to meet its contractual obligations,’ Sony’s legal team said.

CBS has fallen short in selling the shows at a maximum value domestically and abroad, Sony said, adding that CBS has financially complicated licensing deals involving the in demand game shows.

CBS attempted to attach struggling original shows such as The Drew Barrymore Show and The Hot Bench to rights to Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune, Sony said.

Sony’s legal team told the court that ‘CBS’s bundling of Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune with comparatively unpopular CBS-owned shows lowers the gross receipts that CBS would otherwise secure for the Shows had they been sold independently.’

Sony said in legal docs that CBS manipulated the performance of the game shows by allocating them to weaker stations while its original shows like Entertainment Tonight was set up at the top-performing stations in their respective markets.

Sony’s legal team told the court that the business practices CBS has engaged in, as alleged in the suit, has cost it money and harmed both game shows.

‘The most popular network affiliates generate more in advertising dollars, and typically also pay higher licensing fees,’ Sony said in docs.

It said that ‘placements at the highest-rated network affiliates also contribute to maximizing revenues for a show in the long term, by ensuring that the series is exposed to the largest market audience, and in turn higher advertising rates in the local market.’

CBS has fallen short in selling the shows at a maximum value domestically and abroad, Sony said. Ken Jennings pictured on the Jeopardy! set

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CBS has financially complicated licensing deals involving the game shows, Sony said

Both of the stalwart shows were initially created and produced by Merv Griffin Enterprises in the late 1970s, with the company King World handling syndication duties.

Merv Griffin Enterprises was acquired by Sony in 1994, five years before CBS’s 1999 acquisition of King World, leading to the current arrangement, which has spanned 25 years.

Sony said that CBS’s internal issues have had an impact on the revenues generated by the shows, noting that they had scuttled a marketing team for the shows in 2022.

Sony said the merger of CBS and Viacom to compose Paramount Global led to ‘sweeping layoffs’ initially, and further layoffs when Paramount Global sold to Skydance.

CBS then enlisted their marketing personnel with extra duties involving the game shows, which ranked ‘low on the priority list.

‘As a result [CBS] failed to make reasonable efforts (let alone ‘best efforts’) to effectively market and promote the premium Sony Pictures-owned content that CBS was charged with distributing,’ Sony said.

CBS said in its response that it ‘looks forward to vigorously defending this lawsuit in court.’

The network said, ‘For more than 40 years, CBS and its predecessor company King World have been accomplished distribution partners and thoughtful stewards for Wheel and Jeopardy! in the syndication market.’

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Both of the stalwart shows were initially created and produced by Merv Griffin Enterprises in the late 1970s. The late Griffin pictured in 1978

CBS said that ‘this work has helped build shows into franchises, transform popular series into cultural icons and deliver Sony billions of dollars of revenue.

‘Our contract is clear that we hold the distribution rights to these series in perpetuity. We strongly refute any claims by Sony that we did not use our best efforts in distributing the programs or otherwise failed to abide by our obligations under the agreements.’

CBS said that Sony’s claims ‘are rooted in the fact they simply don’t like the deal the parties agreed to decades ago.’