Disney Loses `Who Wants to Be a Millionaire' Trial

A jury in Riverside, California, today awarded $269.4 million in damages to Celador International Ltd. The jurors agreed that Disney’s Buena Vista Television and ABC breached an agreement that entitled Celador to 50 percent of the profits from the show, which first aired in the U.S. in 1999 and helped lift the network to first place from third in audience ratings.

“We believe this verdict is fundamentally wrong and will aggressively seek to have it reversed,” Disney said in an e-mailed statement.

Closely held Celador sued Disney in 2004, claiming Buena Vista and ABC “through a complex web of self-dealing transactions” allowed ABC to keep the advertising revenue and pay Buena Vista only a licensing fee equal to the cost of producing the show. That kept Buena Vista from earning a profit from “Millionaire” that it would have had to share, Celador said.

“The moral of the story is people should honor their contracts and treat others fairly,” Roman Silberfeld, a lawyer for Celador, said outside the courtroom. “That is what this jury said today. Even Disney is not immune.”