Super Bowl Update

'Storage Wars' Staged, Fired Star Claims in Lawsuit
Dave Hester was the bidder viewers loved to hate on A&E's Storage Wars, and now Hester is suing the network and the producers of the hit series, claiming they plant valuable items in the storage lockers featured on the show. [The Wrap]

Late shift ap-Piers likely for CNN host
CNN is giving thought to moving Piers Morgan's struggling primetime program back an hour, possibly more, as new leadership tries to give cable's oldest news network a fresh infusion of energy - and ratings. [New York Post]

Fourth Man Sues Ex-Elmo Puppeteer For Abuse
Things are getting very ugly for now-former Sesame Street puppeteer Kevin Clash, who is now being sued by a fourth alleged sexual abuse victim.  Clash resigned from Sesame Workshop, which produces PBS' popular children's program, last month. [AP via TVNewsCheck]

When the going gets tough for WAZE-TV owners Mike and Steve Roberts, they end up in court.

Again.

And again.

And again.

They ended up in court once again last week as Bank of America asked a federal judge to enforce the settlement the two sides reached back in July in the case of a $34 million loan the failed St. Louis-based developers and broadcasters took out to finance renovations of their hotel properties in six cities across the southern U.S.

The brothers - as they've done time and again elsewhere - failed to make good on the loan, and in April of this year, the bank sued.  The settlement terms laid out in July required the Robertses to sell all of the hotels, which are now in bankruptcy protection, by the end of October.

It didn't happen - although the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that the brothers' hotel in Spartanburg, S.C. may be the first to be sold.

However, even if that hotel and the five others are sold, industry experts believe that the Robertses won't be able to raise the entire amount now due.

It should be interesting to see what happens if - more likely when - that becomes the case.

St. Louis Business Journal: Bank of America gets $36 million judgment against Roberts brothers

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Roberts Brothers agree to $35.9 million judgment

Back in July, Hearst Television pulled its television stations from Time Warner Cable systems in several cities across the country, including Louisville and Cincinnati.

To compensate its viewers for the loss, Time Warner Cable dutifully "imported" replacements from Nexstar Broadcasting, including Terre Haute's WTWO-NBC 2 for the NBC viewing public in Cincinnati, and WROC-TV from Rochester, N.Y. for Louisville CBS viewers, and those viewers were, by and large, placated.

Nexstar, on the other hand, was livid.  The broadcast company filed a lawsuit against Time Warner Cable claiming breach of contract, copyright infringement, and that the cable company had slapped its grandmother.  (OK, so I made that last one up, but Nexstar's lawyers did throw a pickup truck load of accusations out there.)

Now a Texas judge has told Nexstar that, in effect, Time Warner Cable has the right to use its stations anywhere it wants to.  "Nowhere in the [agreement] does Nexstar limit its retransmission consent," wrote Judge Jorge Solis in his order. "While the geographically limiting language, 'located in the Television Market of a Station,' is present, it is not contained in the section addressing retransmission consent; rather, it appears when discussing Time Warner's carriage obligations..."

In other words, while Nexstar should have been smart enough to include in the section where it belonged, the company didn't, so, sayeth the judge, "Therefore, the [agreement] does not limit Time Warner's ability to retransmit the signals to any particular region."

Nexstar's court case against the cable company will continue, although it will not receive any temporary injunctive relief as it awaits further action.  In Judge Solis' opinion, Nexstar doesn't stand to win that case when or if it continues.

I'll keep you posted.

The federal defamation lawsuit filed by the host of WHAS-840 AM's The Great Outdoors with Jim Strader against the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources (KDFW) has been dismissed, the AP reports this morning (via WDRB).

Jim Strader sued the department in U.S. District Court in early 2010, claiming that his business had been damaged when KDFW started its own competing radio program, and that state officials had made "untrue statements" about him in a newsletter after Strader had criticized the department for the way it tracks deer kills across the state.

U.S. District Court Judge Danny Reeves found today that Strader failed to produce evidence of defamation, and tossed out the case.  Reeves cited the continued popularity of Strader's Sunday night radio program despite the added competition from the state.

Indianapolis-based Emmis Communications is awaiting the ruling of U.S. District Court Judge Sarah Evans Barker in a suit filed by the company's preferred shareholders to block a vote on eliminating their dividends.

Those dividends are worth millions of dollars, and the shareholders have accused the company's CEO, Jeff Smulyan, of trying to take Emmis private, as he tried and failed to do twice before, in 2006 and 2010.  Smulyan told the court that is simply not the case. “I’m worn out from two years ago,” the chairman and chief executive officer said. “I just don’t want to do it. I can’t foresee a situation in which that would change.”

One of the intentions of the plaintiffs was to stop a scheduled Aug. 14 shareholder meeting where, they claim, the dividend wipeout would be approved.  They've succeeded in postponing the meeting, as Smulyan has now pushed it back until after Judge Barker rules.

Emmis is trying to reposition and refashion its business, which includes a number of radio stations in Indianapolis and Terre Haute (see below), and as part of that process, the company is also trying to cut its debt load.

Judge Barker said she would rule by Aug. 31; she closed Wednesday's proceeding by suggesting the parties work together to come up with a plan that would compensate the shareholders fairly while also allowing the company to get its financial house in order.

There's no word on whether talks between the two sides have been scheduled.

Michael and Steven Roberts, the St. Louis media/hotel/property development moguls who own CW affiliate WAZE-TV in Evansville, have solved one of their myriad financial crises.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported late Wednesday that the brothers have reached an agreement with Bank of America, which sued them in April for $34 million, the balance of a defaulted loan for renovations to their hotels outside the St. Louis area.

As part of the agreement, the Roberts' six hotels in Atlanta; Dallas; Houston; Shreveport, La.; Spartanburg, S.C; and Tampa are to be sold by year's end. The proceeds from the sales will go to Bank of America.  Thomas DeWoskin, attorney for the Roberts brothers, says B of A will recoup more of its money in this fashion ... and when all is said and done and the money's counted up, the bank is expected to drop the suit.

At least that's what the defendants expect.

“The Roberts certainly hope so (that the suit will be dropped),” DeWoskin told the newspaper. “I think everybody would feel better if this was resolved.”

Interestingly, this development comes just days after the Roberts' hotel and property companies made Black Enterprise's list of the top 100 African-American-owned businesses in the nation (Roberts Properties was ranked 36th, the hotel group 40th).  As the Post-Dispatch points out, however, after the six hotels up for grabs are gone, the hotel group will likely be much lower on next year's list.

Next up on the Roberts' plate: What to do with their bankrupt TV operation and several of their other languishing properties, at least one of which (a hotel in St. Louis) is in receivership because of another lawsuit.

The four Roberts Broadcasting TV stations have been in the protection of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Eastern Missouri since late last year, and a reorganization plan was supposed to be submitted several months ago.  There was some talk from DeWoskin earlier this year that the stations would be sold (and rumors of a potential buyer for WAZE have even surfaced), but nothing further has come along.

At least not yet.