‘Anatomy of a Murder’ Podcast Creators Sue Ashley Flowers’ Audiochuck, Alleging They Weren’t Paid Fair Share of SiriusXM Ad Deal Amounting to Millions of Dollars
The creators of true-crime hit podcast “Anatomy of a Murder” have sued Audiochuck, the company founded by Ashley Flowers, alleging they weren’t paid “millions of dollars” they were owed under Audiochuck’s ad deal with SiriusXM.
Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi and Scott Weinberger, hosts and creators of “Anatomy of a Murder,” allege in their lawsuit that Audiochuck breached its contract by failing to pay them their “rightful share of Defendant’s exclusive advertising revenue deal with SiriusXM, an amount equating to millions of dollars. The SiriusXM deal has benefited Defendant greatly, but Plaintiffs have never seen that benefit, and instead have been subject to all of the downside in the form of decreased revenue and restrictions on other forms of monetization.”
Nicolazzi and Weinberger also allege that Audiochuck breached the “implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing,” which accompanies contracts in New York. During the negotiation and execution of the parties’ contract extension in October 2024, Audiochuck did not disclose that it was also renegotiating its agreement with SiriusXM (taking effect in January 2025), and “then withheld material terms of that renegotiated deal which significantly reduced the Plaintiffs’ revenue below the increased share they bargained for,” according to the lawsuit.
“This case involves creators being repeatedly taken advantage of by a large media company,” the lawsuit says.
Nicolazzi and Weinberger’s contract with Audiochuck runs until the end of 2025 and the duo are producing new weekly episodes of “Anatomy of a Murder” through December. But the future of the show is uncertain after that.
The lawsuit was filed Nov. 13 in the U.S. District Court Southern District of New York, with Nicolazzi’s Forseti Media and Weinberger’s Weinberger Media listed as plaintiffs. A redacted version of the complaint was unsealed Wednesday by the court. The suit seeks unspecified monetary damages.
Variety has reached out to Audiochuck for comment.
In their lawsuit, the “Anatomy of a Murder” creators cite reports that Audiochuck’s deal with SiriusXM was worth as much as $200 million. If that’s true, if their podcast was even 10% of the overall valuation, “its proportional share of the SiriusXM Deal would have been $20 Million,” the suit says.
Audiochuck originally its exclusive ad-sales and distribution deal with SiriusXM in 2021 and that runs through 2025. Now Audiochuck is exiting the SiriusXM deal under a new $150 million pact with Fox Corp.’s Tubi Media Group, which includes the development of a “Crime Junkie” FAST channel to be distributed across Tubi and the Fox One subscription service.
Earlier this year, Audiochuck received $40 million in funding from Peter Chernin’s The Chernin Group, the first outside capital for Audiochuck, which valued the Indianapolis-based company at about $250 million. Flowers controls and owns a majority of Audiochuck, and TCG owns a minority share.
According to the lawsuit, Nicolazzi is a career homicide prosecutor with 21 years of experience at the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office, with 16 of those years in the office’s homicide bureau, where she last served as chief of trials. She is also host and co-executive producer of “True Conviction,” which ran for four seasons on Investigation Discovery and executive producer and host of Wolf Entertainment’s “Law & Order: Criminal Justice System” podcast, currently finishing its second season.
Weinberger spent nearly a decade in law enforcement in Florida, before embarking on a career in media focused on crime. He is a three-time Emmy-award winning investigative journalist, previously at WNBC-TV and WCBS-TV in New York, and is currently CEO and executive producer at Weinberger Media, which he founded in 2007. Weinberger is creator of “On the Case with Paula Zahn,” now in its 28th season on Investigation Discovery and producer of the network’s “True Conviction.”
Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi and Scott Weinberger, hosts and creators of “Anatomy of a Murder,” allege in their lawsuit that Audiochuck breached its contract by failing to pay them their “rightful share of Defendant’s exclusive advertising revenue deal with SiriusXM, an amount equating to millions of dollars. The SiriusXM deal has benefited Defendant greatly, but Plaintiffs have never seen that benefit, and instead have been subject to all of the downside in the form of decreased revenue and restrictions on other forms of monetization.”
Nicolazzi and Weinberger also allege that Audiochuck breached the “implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing,” which accompanies contracts in New York. During the negotiation and execution of the parties’ contract extension in October 2024, Audiochuck did not disclose that it was also renegotiating its agreement with SiriusXM (taking effect in January 2025), and “then withheld material terms of that renegotiated deal which significantly reduced the Plaintiffs’ revenue below the increased share they bargained for,” according to the lawsuit.
“This case involves creators being repeatedly taken advantage of by a large media company,” the lawsuit says.
Nicolazzi and Weinberger’s contract with Audiochuck runs until the end of 2025 and the duo are producing new weekly episodes of “Anatomy of a Murder” through December. But the future of the show is uncertain after that.
The lawsuit was filed Nov. 13 in the U.S. District Court Southern District of New York, with Nicolazzi’s Forseti Media and Weinberger’s Weinberger Media listed as plaintiffs. A redacted version of the complaint was unsealed Wednesday by the court. The suit seeks unspecified monetary damages.
Variety has reached out to Audiochuck for comment.
In their lawsuit, the “Anatomy of a Murder” creators cite reports that Audiochuck’s deal with SiriusXM was worth as much as $200 million. If that’s true, if their podcast was even 10% of the overall valuation, “its proportional share of the SiriusXM Deal would have been $20 Million,” the suit says.
Audiochuck originally its exclusive ad-sales and distribution deal with SiriusXM in 2021 and that runs through 2025. Now Audiochuck is exiting the SiriusXM deal under a new $150 million pact with Fox Corp.’s Tubi Media Group, which includes the development of a “Crime Junkie” FAST channel to be distributed across Tubi and the Fox One subscription service.
Earlier this year, Audiochuck received $40 million in funding from Peter Chernin’s The Chernin Group, the first outside capital for Audiochuck, which valued the Indianapolis-based company at about $250 million. Flowers controls and owns a majority of Audiochuck, and TCG owns a minority share.
According to the lawsuit, Nicolazzi is a career homicide prosecutor with 21 years of experience at the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office, with 16 of those years in the office’s homicide bureau, where she last served as chief of trials. She is also host and co-executive producer of “True Conviction,” which ran for four seasons on Investigation Discovery and executive producer and host of Wolf Entertainment’s “Law & Order: Criminal Justice System” podcast, currently finishing its second season.
Weinberger spent nearly a decade in law enforcement in Florida, before embarking on a career in media focused on crime. He is a three-time Emmy-award winning investigative journalist, previously at WNBC-TV and WCBS-TV in New York, and is currently CEO and executive producer at Weinberger Media, which he founded in 2007. Weinberger is creator of “On the Case with Paula Zahn,” now in its 28th season on Investigation Discovery and producer of the network’s “True Conviction.”