MIAMI — Greg Gumbel was tricked by a television producer into taping introductions for infomercials — footage the CBS Sports broadcaster thought would be used for educational programs, according to a federal lawsuit.
Gumbel, who hosts CBS’ coverage of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, filed the lawsuit Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Fort Lauderdale.
Paul Douglas Scott, owner of the Deerfield Beach-based Encore Television Group Inc., did not tell Gumbel the introductions would be used to promote products ranging from time-shares to tools, the lawsuit says.
Scott approached Gumbel and his agent in 2007 with a deal to introduce educational and news-oriented programming that would be produced by Encore, according to the lawsuit. Scott told Gumbel they would be producing 2-minute education stories called “Eye on America.”