Cynthia Littleton Los Angeles Pop show reports 2020 cover Target Party and Cynthia Littleton Los Angeles

Charter Spectrum Sues Lionsgate in Dispute Over ‘Manhunt’ TV Series and Pop TV Carriage Deal

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variety.com

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor Charter Spectrum has filed a lawsuit accusing Lionsgate of reneging on an agreement to deliver a third season of the “Manhunt” anthology series that was connected to the cable operators carriage of the Pop TV channel.

The suit, filed late Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, underscores the Byzantine nature of dealmaking between media giants these days, and it demonstrates the desperate measures that studios have taken to keep low-profile cable channels on the air.

At the time of the events in quesiton, Lionsgate jointly owned Pop TV with CBS. But Lionsgate’s motivation changed after it sold its stake in Pop TV to CBS in 2019, according to the suit.

A Lionsgate spokesman said the company does not comment on litigation. In 2018, Charter and Lionsgate came to a $20 million agreement that kept Pop TV on Charter’s cable systems for three years — but only if Lionsgate agreeed to produce two more seasons of “Manhunt” for Charter to help boost the Spectrum Originals menu of shows. (The first season of “Manhunt,” which revolved around the hunt for the Unabomber, aired on Discovery Channel in 2017.) Charter was to serve as a co-producer on seasons 2 and 3 of “Manhunt” in a deal that was worked out as a means of paying Charter back for the $20 million it shelled out in license fees for Pop TV.

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