New York-Fox News Network filed a breach-of-contract lawsuit last week against TheStreet.com Inc. and James Cramer, a financial news analyst that worked on the network's weekly business show, TheStreet.com.
The dispute stems from an incident last month, when Cramer plugged the sagging stock price of his business-news Web site company, TheStreet.com, during its television program on FNC. After an unnamed Fox News spokesman was quoted in a newspaper story criticizing Cramer for plugging the stock, in which he is the largest shareholder, TheStreet.com announced it would cancel show.
Cathy Fetell, chief planning officer for the company, said the story, which ran in the New York Daily News, was a "disparagement" by Fox of the company. "When you question the honesty and integrity of our company, that's something that we cannot stand by and allow."
In its lawsuit, Fox is seeking to force TheStreet.com to continue producing the program until its contract expires in May 2001. The network also asked the court for an injunction that would bar Cramer from appearing on any other network until his contract expires in September 2002.
