Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? is a television game show which offers very large cash prizes for correctly answering successive multiple-choice questions of increasing difficulty. The format is owned and licensed by the British production company Celador. The maximum cash prize (in the original British version) is one million pounds. Most international versions offer a top prize of one million units of the local currency, though the actual value of the prize varies widely, depending on the currency's exchange rate. In at least one country (the United States) the top prizes are no longer cash, but annuities.

The programme originated in the United Kingdom, where it is hosted by Chris Tarrant. It is based on a format devised by David Briggs, who, along with Steve Knight and Mike Whitehill, devised a number of the promotional games for Chris Tarrant's breakfast show on Capital FM radio. The original working title for the show was Cash Mountain. When it first aired in the UK on September 4, 1998, it was a surprising twist on the gameshow genre. Only one contestant plays at a time (similar to some radio quizzes), and the emphasis is on suspense rather than speed. There is no time limit to answer questions, and contestants are given the question before they must decide whether to attempt an answer.

The show is named after Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? , a 1956 song by Cole Porter from the film High Society which emphasised the desirability of love over material possessions: "Who wants to be a millionaire? I don't. / And I don't 'cause all I want is you."

In 2000, a board game based on the hit television series of the same name was released by Pressman Toy Corp.

In March 2006, Celador announced that it was seeking to sell the worldwide rights to the show, together with the UK programme library, as the first phase of a sell-off of the company's format and production divisions. Dutch company 2waytraffic has now acquired Millionaire and the rest of Celador's programme library.

In March 2008,Sony to buy Millionaire firm for £137.5m.http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/mar/13/television.mediabusiness

In the United Kingdom, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? is a television game show which offers a maximum cash prize of one million pounds for correctly answering successive multiple-choice questions of increasing difficulty. The show was exported to many other countries, all of which follow the same general format (see Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?).

The programme is hosted by Chris Tarrant and produced by 2waytraffic, (previously Celador) for the ITV network. It is based on a format devised by David Briggs, who, along with Steve Knight and Mike Whitehill, devised a number of the promotional games for Chris Tarrant's breakfast show on Capital FM radio. The original working title for the show was Cash Mountain.

When it first aired on 4 September, 1998, it was a surprising twist on the gameshow genre. Only one contestant plays at a time (similar to some radio quizzes), and the emphasis is on suspense rather than speed. There is no time limit to answer questions, and contestants are given the question before they must decide whether to attempt an answer.

Rights to both the format and all UK episodes of the show were put up for sale by Celador in March 2006, as the first step toward the sale of Celador's formats division. These have been acquired by the Dutch company 2waytraffic, which has now begun producing the show.

In the United States, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (also known simply as Millionaire) is a television game show which offers a maximum prize of $1,000,000 (originally lump sum; now annuitized) for correctly answering 15 successive multiple-choice questions of increasing difficulty. The show is based on and follows the same general format of the original version of the show from the United Kingdom, and is now part of the international Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? franchise.

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire debuted in the United States on August 16, 1999 on the ABC television network, and was hosted by television personality Regis Philbin. In its initial run, it had the question mark at the end of the title just like its British counterpart. When it returned for its second run, the question mark was removed from the title.

The network version, whose episodes were originally shown just a day after their taping in New York, became explosively popular in 1999, and at its peak was airing in prime time four nights a week on ABC. The show was popular enough to find rival networks creating or reincarnating game shows of their own, and created a brief renaissance of sorts for United States based game shows (e.g. Greed, Twenty One, Winning lines, etc.) as well as a flurry of American versions of UK originals, such as Weakest Link.

ABC used Who Wants to be a Millionaire in so many prime time slots that when the show's popularity faded by the fall of 2001, it was left with a dearth of original programs on June 27, 2002. ABC's overall Nielsen Ratings suffered as a result of the show's decline in popularity. Michael Eisner, then CEO of The Walt Disney Company (ABC's parent), a former page at Jeopardy! and The Price Is Right, thought that the show would be successful like many other daytime television shows. However, he had realized too late that a hot show like Millionaire would tire more quickly in prime time than in daytime. blank">http://www.eisner.cnbc.com/transcripts/regisphilbin.pdf

Millionaire's place as a daytime show was granted when ABC's sister company, _Buena Vista Television, revived the show as a daily syndicated offering with Meredith Vieira in 2002. This version, also taped in New York, began airing its sixth season episodes on September 10, 2007, and has earned Vieira an Emmy for best game show host.

An Australian version of the popular quiz show. Contestants start off with easy questions, but as they move forward the questions get more and more challenging. To help them out, they are given "lifelines" that let them either eliminate two of the four possible answers, call a friend at home for help, or take a poll of the audience for what they think the right answer is. Written by Jean-Marc Rocher

The original British version of the quiz show that's become a worldwide hit. Host Chris Tarrant asks hopeful contestants a series of questions, each more difficult than the last. As the questions get harder, the prize money increases, until at last the lucky (or smart) contestant reaches the million-pound prize. Written by Jean-Marc Rocher

Contestants, selected by calling a phone number, are chosen based on their ability to arrange 4 answers to a question in the correct order the fastest. They then have to answer 15 multiple-choice questions correctly to win increasing amounts of money, the largest of which is $1,000,000. They can choose to use three "lifelines": 50/50: two incorrect answers are eliminated; Ask the audience: the studio audience votes on the correct answer; and phone a friend: they can call one of 5 pre-arranged friends who can help with the answer. Written by Jon Reeves

A more recent version of the hit television quiz show. Starting with easy multiple-choice questions that gradually get more challenging, contestants have only their wits and three lifeline chances to see them through to the grand prize of one million dollars. Written by Jean-Marc Rocher

Syndicated version to the big ABC Primetime hit show, with Meredith Vieira hosting. Rules are the same, with contestants answering questions to win money. If the contestant answers 15 questions straight, they will win $1,000,000. The contestants will have 3 lifelines in order to help them out throughout their journey towards the $1,000,000. In the syndicated version, there is no fastest finger round, and contestants simply go one at a time in a particular order. Written by Chris K

Based on the popular ABC television series, guests of the Disney/MGM Studios have an opportunity to get into the Hot Seat. Guests are selected by their ability to arrange 4 answers to a question in the correct order and shortest amount of time. They then have to answer 15 multiple choice questions correctly to win increasing amounts of collectible pins & merchandise, the largest of which is a family vacation on Disney Cruise Line. Guests in the Hot Seat can choose to use three lifelines: 50/50: two incorrect answers are eliminated; Ask the audience: the studio audience votes on the correct answer; and phone a complete stranger: they can call a passer-by vacationing in a Walt Disney World theme park. In addition special episodes of the network show starring Regis Philbin are taped at the Orlando Who Wants To Be A Millionaire studio several times throughout the year. Written by ABC Marketing

A Hong Kong version of the popular quiz show. Contestants start off with easy questions, but as they move forward the questions get more and more challenging. To help them out, they are given "lifelines" that let them either eliminate two of the four possible answers, call a friend at home for help, or take a poll of the audience for what they think the right answer is. Written by Jean-Marc Rocher