Merv Griffin Productions
The company's logo from 1993–1994
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| Fate | Folded into Columbia TriStar Television |
|---|---|
| Successor |
Columbia TriStar Television (1994-2002) Sony Pictures Television (2002-present) |
| Founded | 1964 |
| Founder | Merv Griffin |
| Defunct | June 4, 1994 |
| Headquarters | USA |
| Products | Television Production |
| Owner | Sony |
| Parent | Independent (1964–1986) The Coca-Cola Company (1986–1987) Columbia Pictures Entertainment (1987–1991) Sony Pictures Entertainment (1991–1994) |
| Subsidiaries | Trans-American Video (1981–1986) Califon Productions Jeopardy Productions Anthony Productions |
Merv Griffin Enterprises was a television production company founded by Merv Griffin, in business from 1964 to 1994.
The company was first established as Milbarn Productions in 1963 and later as Merv Griffin Productions in 1964. Griffin's first production under the Milbarn name was Word for Word. Griffin's second game show was Jeopardy! as Griffin's first production under the MGP name in 1964. In 1965, his talk show The Merv Griffin Show returned to television. Griffin also created the game show Shopper's Bazaar, which was later changed to the famous name Wheel of Fortune in 1975 after Jeopardy! was cancelled. Griffin revived Jeopardy! as The All New Jeopardy! in 1978, though it was proven to be unsuccessful. Merv Griffin Productions also owned the post-production studio Trans-American Video (TAV) that was founded on June 29, 1981.
In 1982, the company joined forces with King World (now CBS Television Distribution) to syndicate a nightly version of Wheel of Fortune. The company also had the rights to syndicate The Merv Griffin Show until 1986 when Columbia Pictures Television distributed the final episodes. KW also distributed the first two pilots of Jeopardy in 1983 and January 9, 1984. In 1984, Griffin expanded his company as Merv Griffin Enterprises and during the same year, Jeopardy! also returned to television on September 10. On May 5, 1986, Griffin sold the company to The Coca-Cola Company (then-owner of Columbia Pictures Industries) for $250 million during his semi-retirement. TAV however, was not included in the deal. Griffin however, still held the copyrights of the game shows. The company later merged into Columbia Pictures on December 21, 1987, and was sold to Sony Corporation along with CPE's other companies on November 8, 1989.
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