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CBS contends in a new lawsuit that it is owed $2.45 million from the producer of Fashion Rocks.
According to a breach-of-contract complaint filed on Monday, Three Lions Entertainment signed a contract for airtime on Sept. 9 for the Ryan Seacrest-hosted show. Featuring performances by Nicki Minaj, Pitbull and Usher, the program aired as scheduled, but CBS says that it has never received the money promised.
Three Lions is run by Richard Beckman, former chief executive of Prometheus Global Media (publisher of The Hollywood Reporter), and Greenberg Traurig partner Joel Katz, whom the complaint paints to be “cowardly in the extreme when it comes to honoring contractual obligations.”
Of the $2.45 million, $500,000 of the amount went to the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences — a client of Katz and his partner Bobby Rosenbloum — for the use of trademarks. CBS says that it advanced this sum. “Whether by coincidence or design,” states the lawsuit, “Katz and Rosenbloum thereby protected their client NARAS from the risk of a Three Lions default while increasing the risk borne by CBS.”
The lawsuit says that Three Lions has not disputed that the payment is due. Beckman allegedly informed CBS during a telephone conversation that Three Lions is “insolvent.”
Neither Katz nor Beckman was immediately available for comment.
The lawsuit was first reported by Deadline Hollywood.
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