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Clear Channel Counter Sues Infinity, Stern Over Cancellation

Clear Channel Counter Sues Infinity, Stern Over Cancellation

It’s Clear Channel Communications versus Infinity Broadcasting Corp. with its shock jock Howard Stern in a New York federal court. At issue is whether Clear Channel had the right to drop Stern’s show from six markets earlier this year.
Stern’s production company One Twelve Inc. and his distributor, Infinity Broadcasting Corp., recently sued Clear Channel for $10 million claiming breach of contract.
Clear Channel has now counter sued for $3 million, seeking indemnification of the $495,000 fine that Clear Channel paid as part of a $1.75 million settlement with the FCC, as well as damages for lost advertising revenue from the show’s cancellation and attorney’s fees. The amount also includes a refund of monies paid to Infinity and One Twelve while the show was suspended between February and April.
Clear Channel pulled the Stern show due to indecency complaints and said it had a right to do so because Infinity and Stern “refused to assure us that future programs would conform to the law,” according to the company’s chief legal officer Andrew Levin. Clear Channel alleges in the counterclaim that the contracts with One Twelve and Infinity stipulated that Clear Channel could not change the show in any way.
Clear Channel had “to broadcast those programs immediately upon receipt from a satellite feed in their entirety, without alteration,” says the company in its counterclaim.
Clear Channel says its agreements meant it could not “preview, edit or alter” the Stern show.

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