Shine has hired lawyers to take legal action against Channel 5 for refusing to pay a near £1m bill for its entertainment show Don’t Stop Believing.
The super-indie has appointed Reed Smith to recover the funds from C5-owner Northern & Shell, after Broadcast revealed the dispute between the companies last week.
Shine is one of a number of indies that is owed money by Richard Desmond’s C5 and has accused the broadcaster of “throwing their weight around” as it seeks to cut costs.
It has also issued a call for smaller indies which are also owed money by the broadcaster and have been threatened by insolvency as a result to contact it for advice.
A Shine spokesman said refusing to pay the costs agreed for producing shows was unacceptable.
“Northern & Shell has a reputation for taking an overtly aggressive stance towards its suppliers and whilst this may have been effective for them in the past, it is not acceptable within the UK’s independent TV production sector,” he said.
“Shine cannot tolerate a new owner of a public service broadcaster reneging on contractual commitments made by Channel 5’s previous owners RTL and has instructed litigators Reed Smith to use all legal recourse to recover the near million pound debt.”
“For smaller companies, who are the backbone of our creative economy, this behaviour threatens their very survival. The Shine Group is therefore offering support to independent Channel 5 programme makers who are threatened with insolvency by N&S’s refusal to pay overdue bills.”
Shine Group also produces C5 daytime show The Wright Stuff and co-produced Don’t Stop Believing with Group M Entertainment.
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