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| The real spike
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whither TNN?
Expect a new name while the case is in the courts
TNN failed again yesterday to persuade a court to let it go ahead with changing its name to Spike TV.
Now the question is how far Viacom, the network's owner, is willing to go to secure rights to a name that has struck many, even from the first, as a bit arbitrary and silly.
While Viacom's lawyers will fight to the end to recoup damages caused by filmmaker Spike Lee's lawsuit, you can bet TNN executives are already talking about their plan B.
The network, which by its own account has already lost $17 million as a result of the holdup, can't afford to forfeit the tens of millions of dollars in advertising commitments that it claims are contingent upon the name change.
Rather than wait for its next appeal hearing, scheduled to begin Sept. 1, it seems likely that TNN will find another name with an acceptable testosterone quotient to replace Spike.
The advertisers, after all, are committed to the new image of TNN as an all-male network, their commitment to the name Spike only tangential.
Naturally, Viacom's lawyers gave no hint that the company might be thinking along those lines in court yesterday.
"This case is far from over. We think this was bad law, and we still expect to be vindicated ultimately," said TNN in a statement after an appellate panel declined to lift the injunction imposed last week.
"This ruling has far-reaching First Amendment implications beyond the significant financial damage that our network has incurred. We firmly believe that we have an absolute right to use the common word 'spike' to name our network. We will appeal and vigorously defend our position."
That's certainly likely true, but it makes sense for Viacom to continue fighting even as it considers another name. There is sound legal rationality in standing tough against people who file claims such as Lee's. If Viacom were not to fight the case to the end, it would be inviting more such suits on even sillier grounds than Lee's.
There is a tiny hope that TNN and Viacom will get their way on Monday when Judge Walter Tolub hears arguments on whether to make his temporary injunction permanent. But for that to happen would essentially require Tolub, who issued the first ruling in the case, to have a change of heart.
TNN's name change was scheduled for June 16 to coincide with the introduction of a new programming slate geared to the taste of male viewers.
Several days before the relaunch, Spike Lee filed his suit, claiming that the new name represented an attempt to profit from his public image by creating an association in the minds of viewers. Four days before the planned name change, Tolub granted an injunction to stop it. Viacom has tried and failed twice for a stay of injunction.
June 20, 2003© 20
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