Sony Footage Tv and CBS have struck a compromise of their hard-fought authorized battle over distribution rights to the favored “Wheel of Fortune” and “Jeopardy!” syndicated recreation exhibits.
“We have now reached an amicable decision,” Sony and CBS stated Friday in a joint assertion. “We look ahead to working collectively to proceed bringing these beloved exhibits to audiences and stations all over the world.”
Monetary phrases weren’t disclosed.
As a part of the deal, CBS will proceed to distribute the present within the U.S. for a further 2 ½ years — by means of the 2027-2028 tv season. After that, Sony will management the home distribution rights.
Sony owns each exhibits and produces them on its Culver Metropolis lot.
The exhibits have retained their reputation and stable rankings even within the streaming age, as conventional TV has declined. They continue to be among the many most-watched packages on tv.
The dispute started greater than a yr in the past, when Sony terminated its distribution cope with CBS and later filed a breach-of-contract lawsuit that claimed CBS had entered into unauthorized licensing offers for the exhibits after which paid itself a fee. Sony additionally maintained that funds cuts inside CBS, which is owned by Paramount, had hobbled the community’s efforts to assist the 2 exhibits.
Earlier this yr, Sony tried to chop CBS out of the image, escalating the dispute.
CBS has lengthy maintained that it had the authorized rights to distribute the exhibits to tv stations across the nation. The broadcaster beforehand alleged that Sony’s claims have been “rooted within the reality they merely don’t just like the deal the events agreed to many years in the past.”
For years, CBS has raked in as much as 40% of the charges that TV stations pay to hold the exhibits. The community took over the distribution of the packages when it acquired syndication firm King World Productions in 1999.
King World struck offers with the present’s authentic producer, Merv Griffin Enterprises, within the early Eighties to distribute “Jeopardy!” and “Wheel of Fortune.” Sony later acquired Griffin’s firm, however these early agreements remained in impact.
As a part of this week’s decision, CBS will handle all promoting gross sales by means of the 2029-2030 tv season.
Nevertheless, Sony will take over all advertising and marketing, promotions and affiliate relations for the exhibits after the present tv season, which ends in mid-2026. Sony can even deal with the profitable model integration campaigns.
In one other ingredient that was essential to Sony, the studio will declare worldwide distribution rights starting this December.
