The Wall Street Journal - 26.11.2019

B4| Tuesday, November 26, 2019 THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

ment would be Dec. 2.

While Mr. Maynard’s name

isn’t well known outside of the

entertainment industry, he has

been a highly successful exec-

utive. He joined CBS in 1997,

developing dramas including

the crime show “CSI: Crime

Scene Investigation.”

He then moved to alterna-

tive programming and champi-

oned the hit reality show “Sur-

vivor,” which had been

rejected by other broadcast

and cable networks. Other un-

scripted shows he helped get

off the ground include “The

Amazing Race” and the U.S.

version of “Big Brother.” In

the suit, Mr. Maynard said

shows he helped launch

“earned the Company well

over a billion dollars.”

More recently, Mr. Maynard

oversaw the development of a

reboot of “Beverly Hills

90210” that CBS made for Fox

titled “BH90210” and a new

version of “Kids Say the

Darndest Things” for ABC

hosted by Tiffany Haddish.

In his suit, Mr. Maynard, 53,

alleged that he is being

pushed out at CBS Studios as

part of a systematic purging of

older executives. The filing

mentions several recent de-

partures from CBS of people

all with over 20 years of expe-

rience at the company. An

American of Japanese descent,

Mr. Maynard also claims that

his ethnicity played a part in

the company’s decision to

sever ties with him.

“Mr. Maynard’s contract

was not renewed due to the

elimination of the Studio’s al-

ternative programming de-

partment. The claims in this

suit are completely without

merit, and we will defend

against it vigorously,” CBS

said in a statement.

Mr. Maynard claims his re-

lationship with the leadership

of CBS Entertainment began to

sour after CBS Chairman and

Chief Executive Leslie

Moonves resigned in Septem-

ber 2018 amid a probe into ac-

cusations of sexual harass-

ment. CBS said Mr. Moonves

had violated company policies,

breached his employment con-

tract and intentionally failed

to fully cooperate with the in-

vestigation. Mr. Moonves de-

nied the harassment accusa-

tions and the company’s

claims against him.

Mr. Maynard also claims he

was the victim of a bogus in-

vestigation into an allegation

that he had mistreated a fe-

male co-worker who was

working on “BH90210.” Among

the incidents cited in the com-

plaint, according to Mr. May-

nard, was that he didn’t say

hello to the female co-worker

“in the same way that he said

hello to male co-workers.”

The top CBS Network enter-

tainment executives—Kelly

Kahl and Thom Sherman—

were “negative and conde-

scending” toward Mr. May-

nard, the suit said. Mr. Kahl

and Mr. Sherman weren’t

available for comment.

In the suit, Mr. Maynard

said a vice president of human

resources at CBS told him the

complaint wouldn’t have any

“serious impact” on the execu-

tive. Later, though, Mr. May-

nard was removed from the

show by CBS Studios President

David Stapf. Mr. Maynard said

he went back to the human re-

sources executive who told

him that “he was not found to

have violated CBS policy” but

the executive “let it slip that it

was white male Mr. Stapf who

nevertheless decided to re-

move Mr. Maynard from the

show,” the suit said.

Ghen Maynard, a veteran
CBSCorp. programming exec-
utive who helped shepherd
some of the biggest TV shows
of the past two decades, in-
cluding “Survivor,” claims he
is being forced out of his job
because of his race and age
and accused the company of
conducting a “sham” bias in-
vestigation into him.
Mr. Maynard made the alle-
gations in a suit filed Monday
in California Superior Court in
Los Angeles. Mr. Maynard said
he was told on Oct. 2 that his
position of senior executive
vice president of alternative
programs for CBS Studios was
being eliminated and the unit
was being shut down and that
his last day of employ-

BYJOEFLINT

Executive Behind ‘Survivor’ Sues CBS, Alleging Discrimination

draw for advertisers as TV

ratings for entertainment pro-

gramming continue to erode

and consumers increasingly

flock to non-ad-supported

streaming services.

“There is no better place to

go to get that kind of scale,”

Mr. Winter said.

In an age of audience frag-

mentation, companies have

few such opportunities to

reach large numbers of view-

ers in a single place. The last

Super Bowl, which saw the

New England Patriots defeat

the Los Angeles Rams, aver-

aged 100.7 million viewers

across CBS’s TV and digital

platforms. Although the game

was the least-watched Super

Bowl since 2009, it still

dwarfed all other televised

events.

president for sport sales at

Fox Sports. Streaming ser-

vices, which are engaged in an

expensive advertising battle to

lure in subscribers, will be

well represented, Mr. Winter

added.

Fox and Wall Street Journal

parent News Corp share com-

mon ownership.

Sports Business Journal re-

ported that President Trump’s

re-election campaign has

agreed on broad terms with

Fox to air an ad during the

game. Fox declined to com-

ment on specific advertisers,

and the Trump campaign

didn’t respond to a request for

comment. Companies such as

Kia Motors Corp., Avocados

From Mexico, Kellogg Co. and

WeatherTech, which makes

auto accessories, have said

they would run commercials

during the game.

Despite the steep price tag,

the Super Bowl remains a big

FoxCorp. said commercial
time during Super Bowl LIV is
sold out, as a strong economy
and marketers’ appetite for
live sports fueled better-than-
expected demand.
Advertisers are paying up
to $5.6 million for 30 seconds
of airtime during the football
game, although companies
that buy multiple spots do get
a discount. Prices for ad time
during the last Super Bowl
reached $5.3 million.
For the past several years,
Super Bowl ad inventory has
taken longer to unload. CBS,
which broadcast the previous
big game, sold out of Super
Bowl ad time just hours before
the event. The 2020 game will
take place in Miami on Feb 2.
Fox saw strong demand
from technology, beverage and
automotive companies, said
Seth Winter, executive vice

BYSUZANNEVRANICA

Super Bowl Ad

Slots Sell Out

Months Ahead

Thirty seconds of ad time went for as much at $5.6 million, topping the $5.3 million spent on last year’s Patriots-Rams game.

STEVEN SENNE/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Ghen Maynard

said he is

being pushed

out in a purge

of people with

many years of

experience.

MEDIA

DECEMBER 3, 2019 | CONRAD HOTEL | NYC

© 2019 Dow Jones & Co., Inc. All rights reserved. 6DJ

xxxx

REQUEST AN INVITATION:CYBER.WSJ.COM/NYC/PRINT

ForonedayonlyinNYC,WSJProCybersecurityExecutiveForumwill

bringtogethercybersecurityindustryleaders.OnstagewithseniorWSJ

editors,they’llexaminetimelytopicsincluding:lessonsfromthemost

recentmajorhacks,whatandhowtoreporttotheboardandnavigating

thecomplexitiesofcyber-insurance.

Speakers

Alissa Abdullah

SeniorVicePresidentandDeputyChiefSecurityOficer

MastercardOperations&Technology

Jamil Farshchi

ChiefInformationSecurityOficer

Equifax

Christine Izuakor

SeniorManager,GlobalStrategyandAwareness

UnitedAirlines

Kevin McNamee

Director,ThreatIntelligence

Nokia

Anne Neuberger

Director,CybersecurityDirectorate

NSA

Nasrin Rezai

GlobalChiefInformationandProductSecurityOficer

GeneralElectric

Roger Severino

Director,OficeforCivilRights,

DepartmentofHealthandHumanServices

Jo De Vliegher

ChiefInformationOficer

NorskHydro

AAANational

BankofAmerica

Bayer

BlackKnightInc

EY

GEAviation

Nasdaq

OshkoshCorp

Procter&Gamble

Tableau

TompkinsFinancialCorporation

UnisysCorporation

What are the lessons learned

after experiencing Cybercrime?

Attendees Include:

PROUDLY SPONSORED BY