The fate of The CW Network‘s availability in the Motor City and its surrounding area has been put into question once again.
The owner of the station that pulled the network over an alleged non-payment — a property poised to become a Nexstar Media Group-controlled entity — has sent a cease-and-desist letter to the owner of a crosstown Detroit TV station ownership group that on Monday said it would happily pick up affiliation for the Detroit DMA.
The letter was sent on behalf of Kevin Adell and his Adell Broadcasting to The E.W. Scripps Co., which announced November 6 that it had secured The CW Network affiliation that Adell had given up.
As such, WMYD-20 is poised to become Detroit’s home for The CW Network, starting Monday (11/13).
Not so fast, argues Adell, which had picked up The CW on September 1 but dropped it as part of an effort to gain payments associated with the $75 million sale of his WADL-38 in Detroit to Mission Broadcasting, the cozy partner of Nexstar that allows the nation’s No. 1 owner of broadcast TV stations to operate all of its properties through a shared services agreement schedule.
WADL had agreed to take on The CW Network affiliation after WKBD-50 in Detroit, owned by CBS News & Stations parent Paramount, discontinued its affiliation agreement with The CW as part of a corporate decision impacting several markets.
And, while initial reports suggested Adell tossed The CW for good, Bodman attorney Donovan Asmar says the October 29 decision to drop The CW from WADL was “temporary.”
Furthermore, Adell asserts through his legal counsel that Scripps-owned WMYD “agreed to carry The CW without compensation” and with knowledge of the pending sale of WADL to Mission. “By agreeing to carry The CW not on market terms, you are interfering with and impacting WADL’s business relationship and expectancy with Mission,” Asmar stated. “Agreeing to carry The CW implies an improper purpose and constitutes tortious interference under well-established Michigan law.”
Asmar also claims that Scripps’ decision to add The CW to WMYD amounts to conduct exposing the company to “claims for civil conspiracy,” as it appears Scripps and The CW are engaging in a plan to interfere with and harm WADL’s business relationship with Mission.”
A Scripps spokesperson declined to comment when reached by RBR+TVBR.
