Fox's Affiliated Regional Communication has sued Viacom
over a carriage agreement negotiated between Viacom and
Comcast for two-thirds of the Fox-Viacom owned Home Team
Sports (HTS), according to the HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. In the
complaint filed Friday in DE state court, Fox alleged that
Viacom "violated its fiduciary responsibility by trading
away Viacom's two-thirds interest" in HTS without consulting
or "representing fully Fox's one-third interest in Home
Team" (see THE DAILY, 7/12). Fox is "claiming that it now
cannot properly value its one-third ownership" in HTS since
there was no cash value placed on the transfer of ownership
(HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, 7/25). REUTERS' Rita Farrell cited a
source close to Fox as saying Viacom structured the non-cash
deal so that "we can't participate in the transaction. ...
We can't value it. We don't know if we want to sell." But
a source close to Viacom said, "Having lost the bid, Fox is
now attempting to convert, through this suit, its right to
sell -- into a right to buy" (REUTERS, 7/24).
