So for everyone wondering about the emotionally charged comments here like me, here's the brief explanation from what I found -
- LeVar Burton and his company RRKidz licensed the brand of Reading Rainbow from it's parent company WNED in 2011. Although the deal isn't public, WNED asserts that the deal was for digital publishing only.
- In 2012, Burton helped create a Reading Rainbow ipad app branded under that license that provided access to a curated collection of books and new videos with Burton and other guests which was widely successful.
- From 2014-2016, Burton and RRKidz first ran a Kickstarter campaign to revive the show (raising nearly $6.5 million), then went on to release Skybrary by Reading Rainbow, a subscription service for books and videos, and then Reading Rainbow Skybrary for Schools, a digital library service for elementary schools. They were also reportedly in discussion with Netflix about what they claim was an unrelated project.
- In 2016 WNED terminated their licensing deal, claiming Burton and his company violated the terms with their attempts to make new episodes and "assert control over the brand", subsequently hurting WNED's own efforts at a revival of their own. RRKidz filed suit to defend their actions, then WNED countersued and further added litigation against Burton's use of Reading Rainbow terminology in his personal podcasts and projects.
- A settlement was reached in 2017, ultimately leading to RRKidz losing the license to Reading Rainbow, but allowing Burton to keep using catchphrases from the show. RRKidz ended up rebranding as LeVar Burton Kids and the app is now just Skybrary.
In short, Burton licensed the brand from WNED and ended up pushing further with creative development than WNED was comfortable with, leading to a splitting off of his projects and the new, official Reading Rainbow content. Personally, I see two entities trying to do good that got wrapped up in messy legalities and its unfortunate consequences. Thankfully, Burton and his projects are still ongoing, and WNED, a public media company, still holds the reigns for this new series. It's not perfect, but I feel like it could have ended a lot worse.
The sources I pulled from:
- Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reading_Rainbow#Reboot
- Hollywood Reporter - https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/reading-rainbow-owner-accuses-levar-burton-theft-extortion-lawsuit-1027372/
- Current - https://current.org/2016/03/wned-and-rrkidz-trade-lawsuits-over-reading-rainbow-licensing/
