“Jeopardy”, “Wheel of Fortune” streaming rights sold to Hulu, Peacock

 

Episodes available a day after airing in syndication

As hinted a few months ago, Sony Pictures Television has sold next-day streaming rights of Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune to not one but two streaming networks.

Beginning this September, both game shows will stream on Disney’s Hulu and NBCUniversal’s Peacock. It’s a multi-year deal which will feature both current and library episodes of each show, though it isn’t not known if any 1980s or 1990s era episodes would be included. FAST portal Pluto TV ran classic episodes for about a year. 

Disney Plus subscribers can also access the shows through their Hulu portal. 

“We are thrilled to bring America’s favorite game shows to an even wider audience on Hulu, Hulu on Disney+, and Peacock,” said Keith Le Goy, Chairman of Sony Pictures Television. “Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune are two of the most successful game shows in television history and we look forward to giving fans the best possible streaming access to our shows this fall.”

The Disney deal make sense given Wheel and Jeopardy already air on ABC’s owned stations (including ABC 7/WLS-TV here) and celebrity and special editions air on ABC, as they share a corporate parent in Disney. CBS Media Ventures is not involved in these deals; the syndicator of both shows to linear TV stations is involved in a legal battle with Sony for control, which is likely headed to trial in the next few months. A recent appeal ruling was in favor of CBS, overturning a previous court’s order which handed syndicated rights of Jeopardy and Wheel to Sony with CBS remaining syndicator through the entire appeals process. 

The streaming deals is currently good news for fans of the shows, with both airing in first-run syndication since the mid-1980s. For the longest time, viewers in most Central Time Zone markets (including Chicago) have complained about Jeopardy airing earlier in the day as opposed to the prime access (7-8 p.m.) slot the program airs in most Eastern and Pacific Time Zone markets. Excluding two years when Katie Couric’s ill-fated talk show occupied the slot, Jeopardy has aired on ABC 7 weekdays at 3:30 p.m. since September 10, 1984.