A+E Networks settles ‘Live PD’ lawsuit and enters new deal with Amazon
A+E Networks has settled its “Live PD” dispute with Amazon-owned Big Fish Entertainment and Reelz. As part of the settlement, A+E and Amazon have entered into a new multi-year licensing agreement for A+E programming.
“A+E Networks and Amazon have agreed to significantly expand their commercial relationship in a multi-year agreement that will expand the reach of A+E Networks’ brands and content on Amazon’s Prime Video service,” A+E said, Big Fish and Amazon. said in a join statement. “In connection with that agreement, the legal dispute between A+E and Big Fish Entertainment and Reelz regarding ‘Live PD’ has been resolved.”
Big Fish had produced “Live PD” for A&E, where the show was a huge show and spawned multiple spinoffs, including “Live PD: Wanted,” “Live PD: Police Patrol,” “Live PD Presents: PD Cam.” But A&E pulled the show in the summer of 2020, in the wake of ongoing protests against police brutality and concerns about reporting on police activity following the killing of George Floyd in Minnesota.
Two years later, Big Fish revealed that it would revive the show’s live police format on Reelz, but under a new title: “On Patrol: Live.” Dan Abrams, who hosted “Live PD,” also returned to host the new show.
A+E then filed a lawsuit to block rival network Reelz from airing “On Patrol: Live,” which it claimed was a blatant ripoff of “Live PD,” and that A+E owned the intellectual property . “AETN has never waived its rights to produce episodes of ‘Live PD,’ nor has it authorized anyone else to prepare derivative programs based on ‘Live PD,’ except as work for hire,” the complaint said.
As part of the settlement, insiders say Amazon and A+E have entered into a new, non-exclusive licensing agreement, including library streaming content, rental and purchase titles, A&E add-on subscriptions and FAST channels, all available on Prime Video.
That now expands the availability of A&E add-on subscriptions in the US and Japan, and the deal extends the existing license for A&E movies and series currently available to rent or buy on Prime Video in the US, it UK and other areas.
The deal includes an expansion for the currently available A&E FAST channels and includes the launch of additional A&E FAST channels in the US.
A&E had scored a major victory in the case last year, when New York Judge Katharine Polk Failla denied a motion to dismiss the copyright case, ruling that the original production contract signed between A+E and Big Fish included all rights to “Live PD” had assigned. ‘ to the TV company.
“Plaintiff has exclusive, 100% ownership in perpetuity of all rights to the Live PD series (including originally shot footage, newly created elements, format and title), including all copyrights and trademarks related thereto,” the judge said in her decision. “Conversely, the Series Agreement provides that Big Fish Entertainment forever assigns to Plaintiff all of its rights and all of its title or interest in the Live PD Series.”
Now that this matter has been settled, “On Patrol: Live,” as produced by Big Fish, has the right to continue on Reelz. Big Fish Entertainment subsidiary Half Moon Pictures produces “On Patrol: Live,” which airs Fridays and Saturdays on Reelz and runs through January 2025; it awaits further innovation.
