Sony ups ante with CBS, moves to take “Wheel”, “Jeopardy!” distribution rights
Conflict could impact ABC-owned stations, including ABC 7
The battle between Sony and Paramount Global’s CBS is heating up as the syndicator is looking to take control of the distribution of Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! – maybe as soon as next week.
On Monday, CBS Media Ventures received a letter from Sony Pictures Television stating that they were taking control of the distribution rights and planned to syndicate the shows to over 200 TV stations across the country including ABC-owned WLS-TV (ABC 7), which airs both game shows. CBS is objecting to the move and has asked the courts for an injunction to prevent Sony from assuming control. CBS has also sent its own letter to stations stating that Sony has no rights to distribute the shows. Stations have contracts with CBS for both shows through September 2028.
This is part of a lawsuit between the two companies filed last fall, with Sony accusing CBS of breaking long-term agreements in their contract, including unauthorized sales in overseas markets such as Australia. Sony now claims CBS owes them money from past distribution deals, and claims their contract dispute with Nielsen has hurt the duo’s advertising sales and revenue as they are amending their lawsuit to include the new accusations. They believe the contract dispute has driven away advertisers such as Procter & Gamble, which stopped buying barter time on CBS Media Ventures programming, including those who sell time on other syndicated product such as Debmar-Mercury’s People Puzzler and Family Feud, which ranks behind Wheel and Jeopardy! in the ratings. Sony is also demanding CBS turn over documents related to the case.
On Monday, Paramount Global struck a new deal with Nielsen, enabling CBS and other Paramount-owned properties to resume receiving ratings.
Wheel and Jeopardy! was syndicated by King World and produced by Merv Griffin Enterprises, which created both shows. Merv Griffin Enterprises was acquired by the Coca-Cola Company in 1985 and sold to Columbia Pictures two years later. Columbia was acquired by Sony in 1989 and folded MGE into Columbia TriStar Television in 1994, which began its own syndication operations a year earlier with Ricki Lake’s talk show. Paramount was acquired by Viacom in 1994, which re-merged with CBS in 1999 after 28 years apart with CBS acquiring King World months earlier. Paramount Domestic Television and King World operated separately until CBS (then split from Viacom) united the brands in 2007 under the CBS Television Distribution name and in 2021 as CBS Media Ventures.
Wheel’s and Jeopardy’s main station group is the ABC-owned stations, with all eight on board for the latter and seven of the eight with the former (KTRK is the lone holdout, as Wheel airs on Tegna-owned CBS affiliate KHOU instead), in deals King World made before they were bought by CBS. Both game shows are a key programming block for six ABC-owned stations in prime access (7-8 p.m. ET) and for ABC 7 with Jeopardy and Wheel bookending its successful news programming block, which has dominated the local ratings for the last four decades.
It remains uncertain whether Sony can legally acquire the distribution rights. Sony currently has only one first-run show it distributes to local stations – the NFL Network’s GMFB Overtime, which has yet to be officially renewed for a second season. Losing Wheel and Jeopardy would be a huge blow for CBS, which is negotiating with the Trump administration to settle a $10 billion lawsuit for allegedly editing a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris. CBS parent Paramount Global is in the process of being sold to Skydance and needs FCC approval for the deal because the network owns 28 stations including WBBM-TV here – and it’s no slam dunk given new chair Brendan Carr promises to extensively scrutinize the deal.
But for ABC and Disney, there would be an upside – not only they would no longer have to pay a licensing fee to an archrival, but a change in distributors could help them possibly negotiate a lower licensing fee. No matter what happens, this Sony-CBS relationship is coming to an end, either next week (which is unlikely) or in the future as a settlement is more likely, leaving Sony as the sole distributor. But it would depend on what Skydance wants to do and with the Paramount deal currently hung up at the FCC, we might not know for sometime to come.
A show changing syndicators mid-season is very unusual, but it has happened – in February 1992, LBS Communications sold off rights to three of its syndicated shows – Baywatch and an earlier incarnation of Family Feud to All American Television (now part of Fremantle) and NBC News’ Memories…Then And Now was shifted to Chicago-based Grove Television Enterprises, which closed itself over a year later. When Tribune Entertainment abruptly closed in December 2007, Trifecta Entertainment picked up the rights to reruns of Soul Train and American Idol Rewind (repackaged episodes of the former Fox show) in January 2008.