Bill Nye and two producers launched the show in 1992, in partnership with KCTS, the Seattle PBS affiliate. According to the suit, the show’s costs were substantially underwritten by the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy.
The following year, Nye and his partners entered into a distribution agreement with Disney subsidiary Buena Vista Television. Under the agreement, the owners of the show would receive half of the show’s net profits, with one-sixth of the total going to Nye. Disney distributed the show on VHS and DVD, and in many other formats, now including Netflix and iTunes.
According to the suit, Disney reported gross revenues of $26 million, but also reported costs of $20 million — for a show largely underwritten by federal grants.
* Bill Nye got a lawyer
* they tried to audit Disney for years but got years of delays and documents were with withheld
* The auditor ultimately concluded that Nye is owed $9.3 million.
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
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