Home : Celebrity Justice, TV : CBS to R.I. -- Phil and Rachael Ain't Free!

Celebrity Justice
CBS to R.I. -- Phil and Rachael Ain't Free!

Posted Jun 17th 2009 1:30AM by TMZ Staff

The good people of Rhode Island might need to shell out $5 a head if they want to keep watching shows like "Dr. Phil" and "Rachael Ray."

CBS is suing Global Broadcasting -- which owns WLNE in Providence, R.I. -- claiming the station hasn't paid them fully for airing the shows "ET," "The Insider," Dr. Phil," "Inside Edition" and "Rachael Ray." In a lawsuit filed today in Los Angeles Superior Court, CBS claims WLNE has only shelled out $682,023.50 of the $2,852,564 they owe (leaving a balance of roughly $2.1 mil).

Now get this -- CBS claims WLNE has now decided to stop airing the shows before their contract is up, resulting in another $2.7 mil in damages. That brings the grand total to just shy of $5 million.

Do the math -- if each of Rhode Island's roughly one million residents chip in a five spot, they can cover the lawsuit themselves!

Tags: dr phil, DrPhil, inside edition, InsideEdition, lawsuit, rachael ray, RachaelRay

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16. Yeah, while Dr. Phil is raking in $45 million I heard!!!! Disgusting!

Posted at 8:16AM on Jun 17th 2009 by Dr. Tom

17. I must be the only person on the planet who hasn't seen either of their shows.

Posted at 8:28AM on Jun 17th 2009 by Kay

18. Rachael Ray has the worst show on tv, it is supposed to be a cooking show and she has some women from the csi talking about her work and the tools she uses to mutilate human bodies. this Bitch needs to taken off the airwaves and her recipes are gross, you couldn't pay me to eat her cooking.

Posted at 9:14AM on Jun 17th 2009 by Eman

19. Same thing happened here. We didn't get fox for a year because the cable company & the local channel carrying fox couldn't get it together. Didn't have to do without 24 though just had to get a special antenna from the cable company. Finally after a year they settled. We pay enough to watch t.v. They need to stop this!

Posted at 9:31AM on Jun 17th 2009 by lynnee

20. I live in RI...and I don't care if I lose these shows anyways.

Posted at 1:08PM on Jun 17th 2009 by keonli

21. make Newport pay for it.. most of us in Providence can't afford an extra 5 bucks :(

Posted at 9:59AM on Jun 17th 2009 by Student@RI College

22. I will miss Rachel but Witchdoctor Phil no way. I am boycotting CBS for supporting Letterman in trashing children and women. I am also boycotting all of the sponsors of CBS. It's taken time to keep track but our group is doing it and sticking to our words on this one. You can not agree with Palin's politics but still feel ALL WOMEN and children should not be abused by the likes of Letterman on national TV.

Posted at 10:57AM on Jun 17th 2009 by Jan

23. I'm from RI and that had better not be a real idea to charge us $5.00 to watch them. I love Rachel Ray but Dr. Phil? Nope, all set. RI has enough ridiculous laws and other crap that we tax payers pay for so WLNE can keep their shows. Thank you very much!

Posted at 2:30PM on Jun 17th 2009 by Kaitlyn

24. # 6 FISHFROG 44 Joke or no joke, what a horrible comment to make against your own son, publicly, yet!!! Please retract your statement !!!

Posted at 4:35PM on Jun 17th 2009 by Butterfly

25. I live in Rhode Island and there's actually little 20 or 30 second segments between shows now where they inform us that they're dropping those shows. Bummer.

Posted at 5:29PM on Jun 17th 2009 by melissa

26. NICE , BIG GUY VS. THE LITTLE GUY.
BIG CORPORATION (CBS) VS LITTLE GUY ( WLNE) , NICE JOB CBS ,ATTACKING THE LITTLE GUYS DURING THESE TOUGH ECONOMIC TIMES, THE STATION IS JUST TRYING TO SURVIVE LIKE ALL THE OTHER LOCAL STATIONS ACROSS THE COUNTRY , THAT ARE SLOWLY DYING, WHERE ARE YOU GOING TO STICK THESE LOW RATED SHOWS AFTER THESE STATIONS ARE HISTORY?
PUT YOUR ENERGY AND GETTING BETTER SHOWS ON YOUR NETWORK AND GETTING CBS NIGHTLY NEWS OUT OF THE TOILET.

Posted at 11:47AM on Jun 18th 2009 by BIG GIANT VS. LITTLE GUY

27. They can take it off the air here in Florida. Wouldn't bother we a bit as I dont watch it anyway.

Posted at 8:04PM on Jun 21st 2009 by alan

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