King World Productions: Difference between revisions

King World Productions, Inc. was a television company established in 1964 by Charles '''King''' when they gained the distribution rights to the classic ''Our Gang'' (later re-titled ''The Little Rascals'') shorts. Years later, the company was ran by his children; Roger, Michael, Robert, Diana, Richard, and Karen King after King's death. In 1982, King World joined forces with [[Merv Griffin Enterprises]] to handle all of Griffin's nightly syndicated programming, including when they've launched a syndicated version of ''Wheel of Fortune'' on September 19, 1983, acquired the syndication rights to ''The Merv Griffin Show'' from [[Metromedia Producers Corporation]], and two syndicated pilots of ''Jeopardy!'' until the series officially launched on September 10, 1984. King World later formed an ad-sales barter division "[[Camelot Entertainment Sales]]", which would become "King World Media Sales" (now "CBS Television Distribution Media Sales") in 1997. In 2000, King World was acquired by CBS and was made part of "[[CBS Enterprises]]" under Viacom, Inc. (now "ViacomCBS"). On September 26, 2006, King World merged with [[CBS Paramount Television|CBS Paramount Domestic Television]], CBS Paramount International Television (now "[[CBS Studios International]]"), and [[CBS Home Entertainment]] to form [[CBS Television Distribution]]. Today, King World remains as an in-name-only unit of CBS Television Distribution known as "KWP Studios" on ''Rachael Ray'', a unit of CBS Corporation. The name "King World Productions, Inc." is still used as an intellectual property on such of its properties such as ''The Little Rascals'' with a co-ownership by CBS Television Distribution.