Mike Rowe, the host of “Dirty Jobs”, has filed a lawsuit against Warner Bros. Discovery, claiming they are not paying him the proper streaming royalties and are interpreting their contract in a way that results in underpayments to him on other matters.
In a lawsuit filed in New York federal court on Tuesday, Rowe alleges that he has not received certain payments, as per their agreement, when the show was distributed across multiple platforms such as DirectTV and YouTubeTV. This alleged non-payment, according to him, is a breach of their contract.
Mike Rowe’s popular series, Dirty Jobs, which earned three Emmy nominations, aired for eight seasons on the Discovery Channel before being revived in 2022. Through agreements made in 2008 and 2011 with the network, Rowe’s production company, Lab Rat, was granted additional ratings for linear broadcasts of the show on Discovery-owned channels, control over certain distribution aspects, and a share in profits from third-party deals, as per the lawsuit.
On Tuesday, the court case wasn’t the initial instance where both parties had disagreements regarding payments. Back in 2015, a review was carried out by Rowe which resulted in a five-year negotiation process. This eventually led to a resolution and a fresh participation contract. Key points of this agreement included payment for airings of the show on streaming services, in addition to what he had already negotiated in previous deals.
The argument centers on the authorization of “Dirty Jobs” as video-on-demand content for services like Hulu + LiveTV, DirectTv, YouTubeTV, and others that broadcast Discovery’s regular programming feed. Rowe claims he hasn’t received payments for these agreements, to which he is entitled to half the net revenues after deductions.
In his complaint, Rowe’s lawyer, Randall Rasey, argues against the network’s claim that “watching Dirty Jobs on-demand through a multiprogram or virtual distributor is considered part of a [Discovery] linear service.” However, Rasey asserts that the clear definition of these terms does not encompass on-demand access.
The lawsuit additionally challenges the method used by the network in determining royalties for show licenses granted to Max and Discovery+, based on minutes watched. In simple terms, this new interpretation by Discovery regarding the calculation of royalties, as stated in the complaint, is inconsistent with the agreement and moreover, Discovery has never taken into account viewings on video-on-demand platforms.
A representative from Discovery Network stated, “We highly appreciate our lengthy partnership with Rowe and have met all our contractual requirements regarding royalty payments. However, we contest these accusations and are prepared to protect ourselves against these charges.
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2025-06-04 01:24