Voyeur Dorm sues CBS over idea for 'Big Brother'

By STEVE HUETTEL

© St. Petersburg Times, published June 1, 2000

TAMPA -- The owners of Voyeur Dorm sued CBS Corp. Wednesday, claiming the broadcasting giant was given trade secrets of the Web site featuring videos of young women living together and used them to launch a knock-off television show.

Entertainment Network of Tampa wants a federal court in New York City to stop CBS from broadcasting the show Big Brother, set to begin July 6.

CBS learned enough to justify paying Dutch producers Endermol Entertainment Holdings a $20-million license fee to produce the show, said Entertainment Network president David Marshlack. CBS didn't give his company a dime, he said.

"The things we taught them to do will only benefit CBS," Marshlack said. "It's not fair."

A spokesman for CBS called the allegations ludicrous and said the program was developed by Endermol long before "any so-called meeting with the operators of Voyeurdorm.com."

Big Brother will feature 10 strangers living together for three months in a house equipped with 28 cameras and 60 microphones recording their every move, 24 hours a day.

Viewers will vote on booting residents out of the house until only one remains, who will receive $500,000. They also will be able to watch video feeds of the residents around the clock on a Web site, through America Online.

The show debuted last fall in the Netherlands and was an instant hit. The Dutch company will produce an American version, scheduled to air five nights a week from July through September.

Entertainment Network officials claim that before the original show appeared, they had talked about a similar concept with executives of Infinity Broadcasting, along with CBS, a unit of Viacom Inc.

Since 1998, the local company has transmitted live video feeds from a home in West Tampa where a half-dozen college-age women live. Voyeurdorm.com has attracted thousands of paying customers, tons of media attention and an order from the city to move out of the neighborhood.

In July, the suit says, an executive with Infinity radio station WILD 98.7 in St. Petersburg contacted Entertainment Network about a deal to put disc jockeys in a house based on Voyeur Dorm and send live video over the Internet. The site was dubbed "DJ Dorm."

Discussions eventually included an Infinity vice president from New York, the suit states.

Entertainment Network officials told Infinity how to build and operate the house and design a network of digital cameras, said Marshlack, and revealed information on Voyeur Dorm's revenue growth, advertisers and Web site connections.

Infinity executives eventually broke off the talks, Marshlack said, and he didn't hear any more about the idea until CBS announced the new show.