Sony’s doubles down with battle with CBS over ‘Wheel,’ ‘J!’ distribution rights

A major question about the future of two of America’s most popular game shows and how they will be distributed in picking up speed — and there’s a lot of big money at states.

Sony Pictures Television currently owns and produces “Wheel of Fortune” and “Jeopardy!” through its Califon Productions and Jeopardy Productions, but has a deal with CBS Media Ventures to serve as distributor of both programs. CMV is tasked with selling syndication rights to both shows, often in a bundled deal. 

CMV collects payments from stations and other outlets that air the shows and also is permitted to sell some advertising spots for itself. In turn, a portion of that revenue ends up making it back to Sony, which uses it to cover production costs, pay salaries and prizes and turn a profit.

Back in August 2024, Sony terminated its distribution agreement with CMV over alleged breach of contract by signing licensing deals overseas and claims that it’s owed money from other past deals. CBS responded with a lawsuit. 

Late in January 2025, Sony says it turned off the episodes for both shows slated for the week of Feb. 3, 2025, but says it will send episodes directly to stations starting Feb. 10, 2025. Its attorneys have also requested the CBS-owned CMV turn over a variety of internal business documents and other materials that it says it’s entitled to and may be needed to start sending episodes out itself. 

It’s not immediately clear if CMV will comply or what might happen if both sides end up sending out content to the same stations.

Of course, the entire case is not nearly as clear-cut as that and attorneys from both sides have gone back and forth over various contractual issues. Sony is also taking issue over payments involving at least one other game show it produces and CMV distributes. 

CMV denies any wronging and says that it operated with the terms of its contract with Sony and says that it does not consider the termination to be legally valid.

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While Sony has not discussed its future plans, it may be interested in distributing the two shows directly to stations or finding another partner. If it were to take over distribution, it would likely be able to exercise tighter control over the deals struck with stations as well as pocket more money since it’s not paying a middleman to handle selling shows. As broadcast profits and revenue slip, being able to eliminate that added layer of markup is likely appealing to Sony. 

On the other hand, CMV, which was previously known as King World and has been the longtime distributor of “Wheel” and “Jeopardy,” also has extensive, specific experience in the syndication distribution market, having been one of the early companies to operate in the area. 

That’s not to say that Sony couldn’t build up the necessary human resources to start selling its shows directly to stations and networks.

Sony has been aggressively expanded both franchises in the past years, including inking deals for primetime special versions of the show, licensing a concept to Amazon for “Pop Culture Jeopardy!” and upping its podcast, digital and social media game. Many of these initiatives are either directly distributed to consumers or sold directly to a streamer or network. Sony has also indicated it still have more plans to continue to grow the brands, so having an all-encompassing hand in distribution rights could prove both appealing and lucrative. 

Both “Jeopardy!” and “Wheel” have separate agreements with ABC to carry primetime versions of the game shows. The CBS Media Ventures agreements do not cover these and the shows, unlike the syndicated versions, always air on ABC.