CBS Dealt ‘Shocker’ ‘Wheel of Fortune’ Loss

Earlier this month Wheel of Fortune star Vanna White admitted she had a decision to make when longtime host Pat Sajak called it a career after 43 years hosting the show, eventually turning the keys over to American Idol’s Ryan Seacrest.

“Am I going to stay? Do I go out with [Sajak] after 41 years together? It was going to be hard to work with somebody else, you know, after being so familiar with [Sajak],” she recalled. “It was just very hard for me to make that decision because I’m happy with my job. I still love my job. I decided to obviously stay on and I’m glad I did. There’s always contracts, there’s always controversy and all that stuff, but everything’s fine. I’m happy. We’re here.”

While the show is doing just fine without its longtime host, CBS is not. According to Deadline, CBS suffered a legal blow in its battle against Sony regarding distribution rights for the show.

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge granted a preliminary injunction to Sony Pictures Television in the case, “effectively denying CBS’ bid to block the former from distributing the high-profile shows,” Peter White wrote.

According to the report, the court “believes Sony had the right to terminate the distribution deals, noting that licensing agreements should be limited to a two-year period but some deals, particularly in Australia and New Zealand, were for a ‘longer period of time.'”

CBS announced it planned an immediate appeal of the decision.

“We plan to appeal the decision immediately. This is only a preliminary ruling based on partial evidence, not the outcome of the full case. We’re confident once all the evidence is heard at trial, we will prevail on the merits. In today’s ruling, the court itself recognized the balance of harm tips in CBS’s favor, so we will ask the appellate court for a stay pending our appeal,” a CBS Media Ventures spokeswoman told Deadline.