CBS and NBC O&Os fighting to get Wheel and Jeopardy?

[Casey Buck]

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2021-12-18/what-is-a-bidding-war-cbs-and-nbc-are-chasing-jeopardy-for-their-tv-stations

The current Wheel/Jeopardy deal with the ABC O&Os is up after the 2022-2023 season, and both CBS and NBC's O&Os are trying to get in on the action. Why?

Jeopardy's ratings this season are stronger than anything in primetime (excluding the NFL), despite the unstable hosting situation. It's getting 9.1 million viewers, up 6% over last year, which is remarkable considering that primetime 18-49 demo ratings have apparently gone down anywhere between 30-75% from 2015 to 2021 (depending on the night and the timeslot).

[Jimmy Owen]

CBS distributes the shows, so they may have an inside track.

[chris319]

The L.A. Times article is behind a paywall.

How old are the J! and WOF audiences?

Not bad for a show which debuted in 1964.

No eerie lighting.

No motorized spotlights.

No oversugared celebrity panelists.

No contestants who've been mainlining Red Bull.

No contrived artificial tension.

No million-dollar jackpot.

No skanky questions.

No emcee who thinks he's God's gift to women and is a magnet for lawsuits.

Q: How has Jeopardy! lasted so long without all of those modern elements?

A: Johnny Gilbert

Had he remained as E.P., Mikey Richards would have fixed all of that.

[Casey Buck]

Found a non-paywalled version on Yahoo News:

https://news.yahoo.com/bidding-war-cbs-nbc-could-140024162.html

[PYLdude]

I can’t imagine that ABC is going to be willing to risk losing both of its cash cows to the other sides. At least from what I can see, they draw more eyeballs locally than CBS or NBC does (it’s part of their marketing strategy for WABC at least).

[steveleb]

There is credibility to this.  CBS has coveted more then distribution rights and wants to find ways to increase their investment return.   Don’t dismiss the possibility of the shows moving to the afternoon, where they lost Judge Judy, and then also being run in access on their duopoly stations.  Their local market ratings would actually increase under the multi run scenario.  Nationally taking a more aggressive multitelecast approach will help the national rating and will benefit Sony too.  Down through road Sony TV and the library of these two shows portfolios could be utilized as Plus channels on Pluto too.  And ViacomCBS has been less demo obsessed than Disney even before all of this mischagoss.  Money always talks loudest.  There’s just a lot more of it that ViaCBS can throw at it than can Disney. I know where my chips will lie.

[Jimmy Owen]

If the shows were to move locally, what would stop ABC from commissioning an 8pm network checkerboard of Celebrity WOF, J!, Feud and a couple others?  Maybe go local news for prime access.
Another thing ABC could do is introduce a daytime version of the two that would run at 3pm, right after General Hospital.

[steveleb]

The ABC network and ABC stations are interdependent.  They only own stations in less than 10 cities

Stripping in prime time for broadcast networks is highly unlikely.  The Jay Leno 10 pm show in 2009 was a disaster in every way.

A game show strip would eliminate many other succcessful franchises . 

The most likely scenario should ABC lose wheel and Jeopardy wound br a good evening America type program.  NBC stations tried a similar format recently with All Access.  It failed miserably and didn’t sell beyond the handful of stations that tried it.  It is a very crowded marketplace beyond the o and is. While s show like this could conceivably run on Hulu that is also not a proven destination.  Currntjy Nielsen is limited in its ability to provide accurate information to measure streaming audiences, 

Local newscasts is the default strategy but a glut of such inventory depresses the revenue upside the genre otherwise allows.  It is probably where they land.  But lemme ask—will YOU watch?!?!

[Sodboy13]

I could see that happening in Chicago, where the ABC station is O&O, it's long been a consistent news ratings leader, and the current afternoon/evening news block is bookended by Jeopardy at 3:30 and Wheel at 6:30. I don't think that would be all that good of an idea, but it certainly would be a plausible one.

[Strikerz04]

I could see that happening in Chicago, where the ABC station is O&O, it's long been a consistent news ratings leader, and the current afternoon/evening news block is bookended by Jeopardy at 3:30 and Wheel at 6:30. I don't think that would be all that good of an idea, but it certainly would be a plausible one.

Couldn't be any less worse than putting J! on at 230p that one season.

[Jimmy Owen]

The only game show that could compete to the juggernaut would be a half hour Price which would have three pricing games, the showdown to whittle down to two and then one showcase where players secretly lock In the bid. Maybe wrest away Feud to pair in prime access.