Spike Lee Stops Viacom Naming TV Station Spike TV
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Film director Spike Lee won a victory against media conglomerate Viacom Inc on Thursday when an appeals court upheld an injunction preventing the company from renaming its TNN cable network “Spike TV.”
The five appellate judges of the State Supreme Court ruled that Viacom could appeal in September.
Lee, the 46-year-old director of such films as “Malcolm X,” “25th Hour” and “Do the Right Thing” had won a temporary injunction last week stopping the name change. He said he feared he would be erroneously associated with the network.
Viacom wanted to change the name of its cable network to coincide with a programming shift.
The network, which now shows reruns of programs like “Star Trek,” “Bay Watch” and “Miami Vice,” plans to feature racy animated series such as “Stripperella,” featuring the voice of Pamela Anderson, and “The Ren & Stimpy Adult Party Cartoon.”
“This case is far from over … and we still expect to be vindicated ultimately,” TNN spokesman Robert Pini said in a statement.
Citing freedom of speech rights and lost revenues associated with the decision, Pini said his company would appeal the ruling. “We firmly believe that we have an absolute right to use the common word ‘spike’ to name our network,” he said.
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