|
|
|
|
King World Productions
|
| |
|
| |
King World Productions, Inc. (also known as King World Entertainment or simply King World) was a syndicator of television programming in the United States until its eventual 2007 incorporation into CBS Television Distribution. It currently functions only in name as a distributor of the high-rated Oprah Winfrey Show.
division was started in 1964 by Charles King. It was a company that expressly handled television distribution of the classic Hal Roach Our Gang shorts.
Discussion
Ask a question about 'King World Productions' Start a new discussion about 'King World Productions' Answer questions from other users |
Encyclopedia
King World Productions, Inc. (also known as King World Entertainment or simply King World) was a syndicator of television programming in the United States until its eventual 2007 incorporation into CBS Television Distribution. It currently functions only in name as a distributor of the high-rated Oprah Winfrey Show.
History
The division was started in 1964 by Charles King. It was a company that expressly handled television distribution of the classic Hal Roach Our Gang shorts. When Roach 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 were 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.
In 1983, company chairmen Roger King (who died in December 2007) and Michael King, acquired the syndication rights to Merv Griffin's game show Wheel of Fortune when no other studio would step in. The acquisition paid off, and Wheel became the most popular show in the history of syndication, and has continued to be for over 25 years. At one point, the program was generating a 21 national rating.
A 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. Shortly after this, King World launched Harpo Productions's successful Oprah Winfrey Show, which eventually lead to the creation of the spin-off series Dr. Phil, as well as the latest Harpo contribution, Rachael Ray. Oprah Winfrey was originally a local talk show host in Chicago prior to her King World launch. Dr. Phil is co-produced by CBS Paramount Television and Winfrey's Harpo Productions.
One thing that made the company incredibly successful in the 80's was its landmark advertising and promotional campaigns. Michael King hired David Sams. Sams helped to turn Pat Sajak and Vanna White of Wheel of Fortune into well-known names, made Jeopardy! a mega-hit, and launched a massive campaign to introduce Oprah Winfrey to the American public. Sams' creativity and the King's promotional war chest paid off. The three programs immediately garnered the top three positions in the syndicated ratings race - a position they still maintain today. Even CBS' 60 Minutes did a full report on the success of the King World marketing and promotional strategy.
Stuart Hersch, a lawyer by trade, was the financial expert who helped to take the company public, making it one of the hottest stocks on Wall Street at the time. The company traded as "KWP". King World had virtually no debt and generated hundreds of millions of dollars in revenues after going public.
Television stations nationwide that broadcast King World programming were loyal to the company, as they had first choice on any series King World offered to distribute. CBS Enterprises was bought by Viacom, Inc. around the time of CBS's acquisition of King World, thus becoming owned by the post-split CBS Corporation as well as all of Viacom's former TV production and distribution operations.
In its latter days, King World was considered the syndication branch of the CBS network - a role Viacom actually first served upon its creation. King World, however, distributed newer CBS shows, while the older shows were syndicated by corporate affiliate CBS Paramount Television, the successor to the original distributor Viacom Enterprises. Additionally, from 2000 to 2006, King World distributed several programs from Westinghouse Broadcasting, such as The Mike Douglas Show.
Library
King World was responsible for the highest rated shows in syndication for over two decades. They also had the television rights to a large library of theatrical films. When it was acquired by CBS Enterprises in 2000, it distributed a number of CBS-produced series for syndication, such as Touched by an Angel, Everybody Loves Raymond, and CSI.
King World also turned part of its attention to producing in-house newsmagazines including American Journal, Martha Stewart Living, and Inside Edition.
Closing
On September 26 2006, CBS Corporation announced that King World and CBS Paramount Television's syndication operations would be combined to form the CBS Television Distribution Group (CTD). Roger King was announced as CEO of the new entity. However, he died on December 8, 2007 after he had a stroke the day before.
For one year, the King World on-screen identity was kept for the programs it distributed at its closure. However, most of the programs handled by King World were distributed under the name CBS Television Distribution. On August 20, 2007, CBS Television Distribution introduced a new closing logo to replace the old logos of King World, CBS Paramount Domestic Television, Paramount Television, and others.
Sometime in 2007 or 2008, just months after the company's official closure, King World's website was redirected to CBS Television Distribution's new website.
However, only the King World name remains, as evidenced by the closing distribution credits for Friday showings of The Oprah Winfrey Show.
Logo History
From the company's inauguration in 1964 until March 1977, KingWorld used an "eagle on a globe" logo, which consisted of an eagle standing on top of a globe, with the text underneath saying "King World Productions".
1964-1977 Variants
- From the company's early years until the switch to color television in 1967, the "eagle on a globe" logo was in black and white.
- On some KingWorld-owned shows prior to 1977, the text underneath the logo said "A King World Production."
- When KingWorld had a separate film company named King World Films, the "eagle on a globe" had the text saying "A King World Films Presentation".
- Some shows and short films prior to 1967 had the logo referred to as "A King World Productions Release."
From March 1977 until February 1983, KingWorld used a new logo related to a king's crown. Against a reddish-brown background, a yellow-colored abstract crown motif starts off at a distance and zooms toward the camera. When the crown stops into place, two yellow-colored letters, K and P, fly in from both sides of the screen and lock in on both sides of the crown, which then becomes a "W", forming a stylized "KWP". After that, the text "King World Productions" fade in underneath the logo.
1977-1983 Variants
- On The Little Rascals episodes and short films from the 1950s, the logo was in black and white and referred to as "A King World Productions Release".
- On some shows owned by the company, such as The John Davidson Show, the copyright information fades in when the logo's animation is complete.
- At the beginning of some TV shows and cartoons, the same logo animation played, but with different text that says "King World Productions Presents".
More information about KingWorld's history of logos will be put up soon.
External links
at Internet Archive
|
| |
|
|
