System/Policy
PBS and Nesmith settle home-video dispute but are mum on price
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LOS ANGELES — The 63-month-old legal fight between public
TV and the former distributor of PBS Home Video, Michael Nesmith, was “resolved
amicably,” both sides told the U.S. District Court here July 7. PBS–appealing damages of $47 million levied by a federal jury in February–agreed
not to reveal what it will end up paying, said spokesman Tom Epstein, but
he noted that all settlements are compromises. “A happy finish for everyone,” said PBS’s lead attorney Jonathan D. Schiller,
as he left the courtroom. A grinning Nesmith sought out Schiller, his opponent,
and gave him an apparently gracious “thank you.” PBS President Ervin Duggan later wrote in a memo to his staff that the network
will pay the settlement out of proceeds from its self-supporting, revenue-generating
businesses, and services to stations will be “unhindered,” according to Epstein.