Universal Television (2011-present): Difference between revisions

'''Revue Studios''' (first known as '''Revue Productions, Inc.''') was founded in 1943 by MCA when they originally produced live shows. The partnership of NBC and Revue extends as far back as September 6, 1950, with the television broadcast of ''Armour Theatre'', based on the radio show ''Stars Over Hollywood''. The company was renamed "Revue Studios" after MCA purchased the [[Universal Studios]] lot in 1958. Then in 1962, following the acquisition of Decca Records, who owned [[Universal Pictures|Universal-International Pictures]] at the time, Revue was renamed as '''Universal Television'''. They co-produced many shows with Jack Webb's [[Mark VII Limited]] such as ''Adam-12'' and a revival of the 1951 series ''Dragnet'' in 1967. In 1988, Universal Television and [[MCA TV]] formed a sub-division known as [[MTE|MCA Television Entertainment]] (or "MTE").. In 1990, Uni TV began the ''Law & Order'' franchise. The same year, Universal was acquired by the electronics company Mastushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. (now "Panasonic Corporation"). In 1995, Universal was acquired by The Seagram Company and later acquired a 50% stake in [[Brillstein-Grey Entertainment]] and [[Viacom (1952-2006)|Viacom]]'s 50% stake in USA Network and Sci-Fi Channel. In 1996, MCA was reincorporated as "Universal Studios" and acquired [[Multimedia Entertainment]] from Gannett, Inc., and Universal Television's distribution arm, MCA TV, as well as its sub-division, MTE were renamed to Universal Television Enterprises and Universal Television Entertainment respectively. On October 20, 1997, Universal sold off USA Network, Sci-Fi Channel and Universal Television to HSN Inc. (a company owned by Barry Diller) for $4.075 billion, who renamed it to [[USA Cable Entertainment|Studios USA Television LLC]]. In 1998, the breakup of [[United International Pictures]]' TV arm led to Universal reforming its own international television distributor, Universal Worldwide Television. It handled international distribution of Studios USA shows, while Studios USA handled domestic distribution of Universal's own library. In 1998, Seagram bought [[PolyGram Filmed Entertainment]], which included [[PolyGram Television]]. The deal closed in 1999, and the name PolyGram was soon scrubbed and replaced with the Universal name, and thus, Universal Studios Network Television was formed. However in 1999, [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures|Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios]] used its debt to acquire most of the pre-1996 films (1,300 titles) by PolyGram from Seagram. Also in 1999, Universal sold off its 50% stake in BGE which was renamed to Brad Grey Television. In 2001, Vivendi Universal acquired USA Networks' entertainment assets for an estimated $10.3 billion and made Diller as chairman and CEO of VU Entertainment with Ron Meyer, the then-president and COO of Universal Studios adding VUE to his purview. The deal closed on May 28, 2002. Shortly thereafter, Studios USA and Studios USA Television Distribution were renamed to Universal Network Television and Universal Domestic Television respectively, Universal Studios Network Television was folded into UNT. On May 12, 2004, General Electric (GE) acquired 80% of Universal Studios and merged the studio with NBC to form "NBC Universal, Inc." (now "NBCUniversal Media, LLC") and merged the two television companies to form "NBC Universal Television" (now "[[NBCUniversal Syndication Studios]]"). However, the company decided to keep the NBC and Universal Television names in the end credits from any series by NBC or Universal. On June 14, 2007, NBC Universal Television Studio was renamed to Universal Media Studios (UMS). On September 12, 2011, Universal Media Studios was renamed back to its original name, "Universal Television".