Two issues, first, as noted above, copyright law in the US uses a substantial incorporation standard, not an “any work done under a heading is poisoned” heading.
Second- you’re assuming some substantial contractual rights here to wbtv’s work on the project. It sounds like they were in talks. So their contract is probably either minimal or the contract was their agreement for the IP on the original run and has some relevant terms.
Two issues, first, as noted above, copyright law in the US uses a substantial incorporation standard, not an “any work done under a heading is poisoned” heading.
Second- you’re assuming some substantial contractual rights here to wbtv’s work on the project. It sounds like they were in talks. So their contract is probably either minimal or the contract was their agreement for the IP on the original run and has some relevant terms.