‘Jeopardy!,’ ‘Wheel of Fortune’ now up for bidding by streamers

Two of the most successful syndicated programs in history are set to up the ante on their streaming games in a big way.

Sony Pictures Television, which owns popular game shows “Jeopardy!” and “Wheel of Fortune,” has announced it is now accepting bids from streamers interested in adding the syndicated editions of the shows to their offerings, The New York Times reports.

The plans call for whoever wins the rights to be able to carry new episodes of the shows the day after their air on TV stations across the country in syndication. The deal would likely start in September 2025.

Sony also noted that exclusive same-day rights would be available in September 2028, when all of its current syndication deals with stations expire. 

The company said it expects to nail down a deal by April 2025, a timeline that would then allow the winner to tout the shows during May upfronts. 

Much of how the shows will be presented on streaming will depend on who wins what is likely to become a bidding war and what Sony ultimately ends up allowing as part of that deal.For example, the shows could potentially stream commercial-free on premium services or tiers or have ads inserted into the shows’ existing commercial breaks for lower tiers or FAST.

It’s also possible the shows could be an “exception” to the ad-free rules on paid streamers and still show limited commercial breaks, a practice that sports and live events have already been doing.

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The initial announcement did not indicate if Sony will still require the shows to air a few slots of ad time it sells and keeps revenue for itself as it does with syndication deals.

“Jeopardy!” already produces “Pop Culture Jeopardy!” for Amazon Prime Video, but “Wheel” has not ventured into streaming original content yet. Both shows have also produced primetime specials for ABC, which could potentially continue under a streaming deal because those episodes are considered separate from syndicated ones.

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Sony has previously offered older episodes of both shows on streaming but has since yanked all of that content in preparation for this offering. It was not clear if whatever streaming deal it strikes later in 2025 would include back episodes.

Many streaming services are likely to see significant appeal in snapping up “Jeopardy!” and “Wheel” in that they could be a way to reduce cancellations. Having a fresh same-day episode of each show to offer every weekday is likely to encourage subscribers who watch these shows, to keep their subscriptions active. 

Both shows also have developed significant digital and social offerings, which help news of contestants, winnings and even mishaps go viral, garnering attention for each game show. “Jeopardy!,” in particular, has also leveraged its ability to produce returning and “super” champions into a must-follow phenomenon that helps encourage viewers to watch even DVR’d episodes as soon as possible.

People watching the show on streaming under the initial arrangement would be “behind” by about 24 hours, but still could remain active in chatter about what happens each day. This could potentially even build out a secondary audience of people who watch on that delay and help extend the “freshness” of each episode by several days as the competition continues to generate interest on social media.

While neither show is live, they do share some characteristics of live programming thanks to that social media interest. Live programming has become a big interest among streamers as a way to offer exclusive content that many viewers prefer to watch live and, in many cases, have to watch advertising as well. 

From Sony’s perspective, moving toward streaming could be seen as a way for its shows to find a large, loyal audience in younger audiences, especially those who have shifted mostly or completely to streaming. Both shows already have built out a loyal fan base, but it tends to skew older and is aging every day.

The company also was quick to point out to The Times that its streaming plans are separate from current legal issues it is facing with CBS Media Ventures, the Paramount Global-owned syndication arm of CBS. “Wheel” and “Jeopardy!’ were, for decades, distributed by King World, which CBS acquired in 1999 (this meant that, while CBS owned and profited from the distribution of King World shows, it did not necessarily have the syndication rights to these programs on its owned stations, much less its affiliated stations owned by third parties).

Sony’s announcement also outlines a plan that could potentially move both shows out of traditional syndication as early as 2028, though exact details of that aspect were not immediately clear.

Such a move could mean big changes for the local stations that carry the shows. In many of the time zones outside of central, both shows are carried back-to-back on the same channel, often in the 7 to 8 p.m. hour before network primetime starts. Other stations, however, use the shows as lead-ins for their own local newscasts. 

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If these shows disappeared from linear TV lineups, say, 10 years ago (or even, to a lesser extent, 2025), local stations would be faced with a challenge filling the slots. However, the rapidly changing broadcasting industry has shown a clear veer toward streaming. It’s also not possible to know what the TV market will look like in 2028 and if local stations would even wish to continue scheduling such programs. 

Syndication in general has also cooled in recent years, as some stations began questioning if the hefty license fees were a good return on investment. Some station owners have tried dropping syndicated talk and game shows in favor of locally-produced content such as news or lifestyle programming that can generate more profit than a syndicated offering, even if ratings are not as high.

“Jeopardy!” and “Wheel” were able to soar into popularity, at least in part, thanks to the FCC’s now-eliminated Prime Times Access Rule that set aside times when local stations could not air network programming. Ultimately, however, stations found a workaround in syndicated programming, which was not excluded from the rule. 

The rule ended in 1996, but its shadow can still be seen on TV schedules across the country, including in many of the slots “Jeopardy!” and “Wheel of Fortune” occupy.