Playing Catch Up: News Updates From The Past Week

Because I haven’t had much time to regularly post updates on the TBIR Facebook and main page, today’s article is dedicated to briefly covering some of the more prominent game show news stories from the past week including FremantleMedia’s BUZZR facing a trademark suit, BBC unsurprisingly renewing Pointless, Australia’s Seven Network ordering a new game show from ITV Studios and The Price Is Right heading for Nigeria.

Condense Interprises Sues FremantleMedia Over “Buzzr” Name
Condense Interprises, a social website publisher doing business under the name Buzzer, has filed a lawsuit against FremantleMedia North America for trademark infringement and unfair competition over its use of the term. The suit was filed on February 18 and claims the production company knowingly infringed on Buzzr’s trademarks the moment it launched its YouTube and television affiliate digital channels. Buzzr is a social media site, similar to Tumblr, that launched in 2009 which allows users to create blogs and websites to share their own content. According to Buzzr’s Ed Sussman in an email to The Hollywood Reporter, Susan stated “the lawsuit will be a David and Goliath story” and how “it's also a story of how dumb it was for a major entertainment company to risk an injunction that will cost them an entire brand because of the hubris that comes with being a giant company that thinks it can stomp on a start up. We knew they were going to launch many months in advance and we repeatedly urged them to change their name before it was too late.”

Sussman also says his company has the domain Buzzr.com and the @Buzzr Twitter handle, in addition to two federally registered trademarks for “BUZZR”. The suit, which also claims that Fremantle took action that caused YouTube to remove Buzzr.com’s YouTube channel, BuzzrWebsites, in 2014, requests the court to award damages, issue an injunction to stop Fremantle from using the trademarked name and either make the company to broadcast corrective ads to address the misleading notions created about the Buzzr brand or award damages that allows Buzzr to do so itself. Fremantle has yet to comment on the lawsuit.

Genesis Studios To Produce Nigerian Version of The Price Is Right
It looks like Nigeria will be joining The Price Is Right international family after Genesis Studios received the green light to produce its own adaptation of the tried-and-true, popular format. The production company has signed on to develop three seasons of the country’s version of the game show. “We have been looking for a world-class game show that would engage and entertain the entire family”, says Olatunbosun Olaegbe, the managing director of Genesis Studios. “The Price is Right is the perfect format for us and we know it will be a big success in Nigeria.” Abraham Praise, The Price is Right project director at Genesis Studios, continues to applaud the decision by stating, “The Price is Right is a long running and successful format and we can’t wait to adapt it in Nigeria and see the latest territory contestants come on down to play.”

Now counting Nigeria, The Price Is Right has 41 format adaptations around the world.

Pointless Hits Milestone and Gets Renewed For Additional Episodes By BBC
The veteran BBC daytime game show, Pointless, will be sticking around for at least 210 more episodes upon the U.K. network’s renewal of the seven-year-old program. The huge deal includes 165 civilian episodes and 45 celebrity specials and guarantees the show will run through 2017. Additionally, Pointless will be airing its unbelievably, remarkable 1,000 episode later this year. Host Alexandar Armstrong exclaims, “I can’t tell you how exciting it is for Richard and me to get a big recommission like this! I imagine it’s probably fairly obvious how much we love making it but to pass the 1,000th episode mark is a great tribute to a show that so many work so hard on. Long may it prosper!” Keep pointlessapplications.com bookmarked in your browser to keep yourself updated of when the contestant applications will reopen.

Seven Network Orders Cannonball
The Australian network has ordered a local version of a game show called Cannonball from ITV Studios Australia. The format was created by Dutch producer Talpa and challenges 15 couple to compete in a water battle on a lake. The teams will face a variety of rounds that will cover distance, speed and height. Talpa had produced two seasons of Cannonball for Dutch pubcaster NP03, with the third season to air this summer. The deal occurred thanks to the Talpa/ITV Studios partnership to produce formats in Australia, the Nordics, the Netherlands and the Middle East.

Sources: Metro, Realscreen, The Hollywood Reporter, World Screen