July 3, 2000 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: WWF wins lawsuit to go to Viacom, King of the Ring review, more

Delaware Chancery Court Judge William Chandler ruled in favor of the World Wrestling Federation and Viacom on 6/27 in the lawsuit filed by the USA Network, which will result, officially, in September, for all WWF cable programming moving to Viacom stations TNN and MTV.

Chandler ruled against USA Network’s claim that their right of first refusal in the contract, which expires in September, only pertains to the four wrestling shows on the network and not to an overall marketing deal between Viacom and the WWFE as a company. USA agreed to meet Viacom’s $26 million bid for Raw, Sunday Night Heat, Live Wire and Superstars in specific, but would not, and could not, meet the overall bid which included money to develop other non-wrestling related television shows as well as synergistic promotions including advertising on Viacom owned radio stations, promotions on company owned billboards and in theme parks as well as a book publishing deal with Viacom-owned Simon & Schuster.

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