Ten sues Seven over executive John Stephens’ recruitment

THEY’RE at it again. TV networks love to slug it out in courtrooms over star recruits. Network 10 has sued Channel 7 over a contract dispute of a player critical to Ten’s turnaround.

Ten is suing Seven over a contract dispute of a star recruit.

NETWORK 10 and Channel 7 are involved in yet another legal stoush over a star recruit.

The two TV networks are at loggerheads in the NSW Supreme Court with Ten claiming Seven had “induced” Seven executive John Stephens to breach a contract he had signed with Ten on March 6.

Ten lured Mr Stephens, a 40-year TV veteran, to a head of scheduling and acquisitions position, which was announced to the market on March 7.

Ten will allege Seven executives convinced Mr Stephens to stay with Seven after Mr Stephens had inked a contract with Ten. The Australian reported Ten will claim Seven boss Tim Worner and Seven chairman Kerry Stokes personally intervened in convincing Mr Stephens to remain with the network.

Ten will claim Seven West Media chief executive Tim Worner personally tried to convince John Stephens to stay with Seven.

Ten had obtained an injunction on Friday stopping Seven from inducing Mr Stephens from breaching his contract with Ten but that injunction was not extended in a hearing before the Supreme Court yesterday.

Ten was ordered to pay Seven’s legal costs on that particular matter.

A hearing has been expedited for five weeks in what is expected to be a drawn-out legal dispute.

A Ten spokesman said: “The case is about Seven inducing John Stephens to breach his contract with Ten. Indeed, yesterday Justice Paul Brereton said there is a seriously arguable case that Seven has engaged in conduct that constitutes an interference with Ten’s agreement with John Stephens.”

Mr Stephens’ hire was seen as an important move for Ten, which has been struggling in the ratings for the past few years as even critical hits failed to attract audience love.

Ten had said Mr Stephens’ appointment underlined its “commitment” to hiring industry-best talent as it worked on its “turnaround strategy”.

Ten chief executive Hamish McLennan previously said John Stephens’ appointment was part of the struggling network’s “turnaround strategy”.

Mr Stephens is currently a programming consultant at Seven and has previously held executive posts at both Seven and Nine.

It’s not the first time Seven and Ten has slugged it out in the courts over senior recruits. In 2011, Seven sales boss James Warburton famously defected to Ten to be its chief executive.

The two networks then engaged in a bruising court battle which unearthed a fractious relationship between Mr Warburton and then-Seven TV head David Leckie.

Mr Warburton was placed on court-mandated 10-month gardening leave and started as boss of Ten in January 2012. He was sacked from the spot just over a year later. He now runs V8 Supercars and former adman Hamish McLennan took over at Ten.

Seven has been contacted for comment.