Old grievances. Shuster sued Inter for UAH 1,9 million for late payment of programming fees.

Savik Shuster Studio proved in two court cases that it was justified in demanding additional payment from the Inter TV channel for Shuster Live programs filmed last year. On September 9, the Kyiv Commercial Court of Appeals confirmed that the defendant had failed to pay the deadline for the content produced and must pay the plaintiff a fine of 1,9 million hryvnias.

The studio's Shuster Live programs aired on Inter since February 2013. In December, several publications reported that the channel had refused to renew contracts with the project team due to a conflict between the parties.
On November 29, the show's broadcast was interrupted by a TV series after several opposition politicians arrived in the studio. Host Savik Shuster said that "this will probably be the last broadcast of the program on Inter." Neither party made any official comment. However, Inter TV did stop airing Shuster Live. The program is now shown on Channel One National and Channel 24.
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According to documents posted in the court records, each episode of "Shuster Live" cost Inter $50. In total, the studio was supposed to produce and transmit 15 such programs to the channel in the fourth quarter of last year, but, by agreement with the channel, only 14 were transmitted.
Inter, as stipulated in the contract, paid the studio 25% of the content fee on time as an advance payment. Shuster was supposed to receive the remaining funds, according to the contract, 15 days before the end of the fourth quarter. Inter's representative argued in court that it was only liable for timely payments for the programs produced. By December 16, he claimed, three episodes had still not been delivered to the client. However, Shuster's representative countered that he had delivered the programs on time according to the previously agreed-upon schedule.
The broadcaster recalled in court that he never received the final, 15th, episode of the program, but was unable to document this.
A cunning agreement
By January 1 of this year, the studio had accumulated a debt of 3,8 million hryvnias. Inter transferred the final payment only on January 31. That spring, Savik Shuster Studio issued the channel a new invoice. The studio charged Inter not only a small late payment penalty but also the maximum contractual penalty for late payment—50% of the outstanding amount. In March, the studio filed this claim with Inter and was ignored. Therefore, it filed a lawsuit. The studio successfully won the initial court hearing in May.
Representatives of the Inter TV channel were unable to say yesterday whether they would appeal to a higher court or whether they planned to cooperate with Shuster in the future. "These are very complex issues that require legal review," said Inter press secretary Alina Samoylova. Representatives of Savik Shuster Studio were unavailable yesterday.
Media lawyer Pavel Moiseyev believes that in this case, the maximum fine was determined by an "emotional component." He notes that similar cases, although rare, are common in Ukrainian courts. Their outcome directly depends on the contract between the channel and the content producer and the penalties available in the event of a missed deadline.
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