Richmond co-founded UMN with Rodney Kimbrew, its chief executive. They are also the co-founders of Poly Pacific Entertainment Corp., which produces soundtracks, television shows and movies, Richmond said.

The UMN suit was filed March 9 and alleges misappropriation of trade secrets and unfair competition, among other claims. UMN is also seeking an injunction to stop the launch and development of 1 AM.

“We started getting calls from people who were potential investors saying, ‘What’s this?’ or ‘Are they doing the same thing?’” said Karin Richmond, president of UMN. “They took a step back.”

In addition, on Sept. 9, 2003, while in discussions about the proposed channel, Kimbrew offered the plan to the program acquisition group at DirecTV, the suit says. On Oct. 3, Richmond mailed a copy of the plan to Steve Rifkind, head of Street Records Corp., which is partially owned by Universal Records, a subsidiary of Universal Music Group, the suit says.

posted by Administrator at 4:38 am & filed under Satellite TV |