King World Productions
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King World Productions (aka King World Entertainment or simply King World) is the leading syndicator of United States television programming.
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[edit] A Rascal-ly beginning
The company was initiated in 1964 by Charles King. It was a company that expressly handled television distribution of the classic Hal Roach Our Gang shorts. As Roach had lost the rights to the name Our Gang (it was retained by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, who bought the series from Roach in 1938), the shorts package was retitled The Little Rascals. It was through this acquisition that the comedy shorts from 1929 through 1938 have been made available to audiences for the past forty years.
[edit] Top of its success
Later, in 1983, company chairmen Roger and Michael King, desperate to expand the company further, acquired the syndication rights to Merv Griffin's game show Wheel of Fortune when no other studio would step in. Ironically, the NBC network was about to cancel the show for good. The acquisition paid off, and Wheel became the most popular show in the history of syndication. It has been the number-one show in syndication for over 20 years. At one point the program was generating a 21 national rating.
One year later, King World bought the syndication rights to another Griffin show, Jeopardy!, and the latest version of the series (with Alex Trebek) has since become the number two show in syndication. And shortly after, King World launched Harpo Productions's successful Oprah Winfrey Show and Dr. Phil (the latter a co-production with CBS Paramount Television) franchises. Oprah was originally a local talk show host in Chicago prior to her King World launch.
One thing that made the company incredibly successful in the 80's was its landmark advertising and promotional campaigns. Michael King hired David Sams who is said to have reinvented television marketing. Sams helped to turn Pat Sajak and Vanna White of Wheel of Fortune into household names. The King's promo efforts were featured on CBS' 60 Minutes.
Stuart Hersch, a lawyer by trade, was the financial mastermind who helped to take the company public, making it one of the hottest stocks on Wall Street at the time.
King World later turned its attention to in-house productions, producing telemovies starring singer Kenny Rogers, newsmagazines, including American Journal, Martha Stewart Living, and Inside Edition, and game shows including the recent revival of Hollywood Squares (King World bought the format rights from former rights holder MGM for the latest incarnation).
[edit] King World's library
King World has been responsible for the highest rated shows in syndication for over two decades. They also have the television rights to a large library of theatrical films, and since its acquisition by the CBS Corporation in 1998, distributes a number of CBS-produced series for syndication (such as Touched by an Angel, Everybody Loves Raymond, and CSI).
Television stations nationwide that carry King World programming are loyal to the company, as they have first choice on any series King World offers to distribute. CBS Corporation was bought by Viacom, Inc. around the time of CBS's acquisition of King World. King World is now owned by the post-spilt CBS Corporation, along with all of Viacom's former TV production and distribution operations.
At one time, King World was involved in film production. The only movie the company produced was the 1994 re-make of The Little Rascals with Universal Pictures (now currently owned by CBS Corp.'s rival, NBC Universal).
Today, basically, King World can be considered the syndication arm of the CBS network -- a role Viacom actually first served upon its creation. King World, however, distributes newer CBS shows, while the older shows are syndicated by corporate cousin CBS Paramount Television, the successor-in-interest to original distributor Viacom Enterprises.
[edit] The end of King World?
On September 26, 2006, CBS Corporation announced that King World and CBS Paramount Television's syndication operations will be combined to form the CBS Television Distribution Group. Roger King was announced as the CEO of the new group. King World will keep its on-screen identity for its current programs. [1]
[edit] Previous Logos
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