Sony Pictures’ Business Secrets Revealed In Hack — Yep, “Seinfeld” Is Still A Cash Cow

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

http://www.buzzfeed.com/peterlauria/sony-pictures-business-secrets-revealed-in-hack-yep-seinfeld

By Peter Lauria
BuzzFeed Staff
December 3, 2014

The vast trove of internal data hackers took from Sony Pictures 
Entertainment isn’t just a nightmare for its employees, whose deeply 
personal information was made public. It also revealed intricate details 
about Sony’s business, including syndication contracts and movie licensing 
deals, which could have huge ramifications for the company’s shareholders 
and business prospects.

Included among the leaked files, for instance, is a signed document 
between the company and television station owner Tribune Broadcasting. It 
details a syndication deal between the two companies for the sitcom 
Seinfeld, and calls for Tribune to pay Sony Pictures $37,500 per week over 
the next three years to air the show on nine of its stations.

That’s a total of $5.85 million to air a show that broadcast its last 
original episode 16 years ago and is now on its fifth syndication cycle, 
meaning Sony has negotiated deals similar to this four times prior. 
Another document details a similar deal with the CBS-owned television 
station in Seattle, under which Sony will collect $4,500 per week for the 
next three years, or $702,000 total, for that one station alone.

The leak includes hundreds of similar contracts, for shows like King of 
Queens, The Dr. Oz Show, and All in the Family, dating back to at least 
2008. Also contained in the leaked documents are details of how Sony 
Pictures bundles and packages movies for licensing.

It is, in short, a veritable commercial nightmare for the company.

[...]

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