Columbia Pictures Television: Difference between revisions

===Background===

On May 6, 1974, Screen Gems was reincorporated as "Columbia Pictures Television" (now "[[Sony Pictures Television]]"). The name's change was announced on May 1 and was suggested by David Gerber, who was president of Columbia's television division. In 1984, Coke demerged Columbia Pictures and Columbia Pictures Television. CPT was transferred to "CPT Holdings, Inc.". On January 30, 1984, CPT joined forces with Lexington Broadcast Services Company, Inc. (later known as "[[LBS Communications|LBS Communications, Inc.]]") and created "[[Colex Enterprises]]". It was created to distribute most series by Screen Gems and CPT from the 1950s to the '70s. In October, CPT created "The Television Program Source" with Alan Bennett and former [[King World Productions|King World]] president, Bob King. On November 24, 1986, CPT was merged with [[Embassy Communications]] by forming "Columbia/Embassy Television". This was also the birth of [[Coca-Cola Telecommunications]], when CPT's distribution division merged with the Television Program Source. Coke also regrouped CPT, Embassy Communications, and [[Merv Griffin Enterprises]] into "Coca-Cola Television". On December 21, 1987, Coke's entertainment business was sold to [[TriStar Pictures|Tri-Star Pictures, Inc.]] for $3.1 billion. Tri-Star Pictures, Inc. was renamed to "Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc." (now "Sony Pictures Entertainment") and CCT was shut down ten days later and folded into the reorganized Columbia Pictures Television Distribution. In October 1991, CPT, [[TriStar Television]], and MGE were reorganized into the "Sony Pictures Entertainment Television Group" (a.k.a. "Sony Television Entertainment"). On February 21, 1994, Columbia Pictures Television merged with TriStar Television by becoming "Columbia TriStar Television" and Columbia Pictures Television Distribution was renamed to "Columbia TriStar Television Distribution". On January 1, 2001, Columbia Pictures Television was folded into Columbia TriStar Television as a failed attempt to become a network television syndication division called Columbia TriStar Network Television (later replaced by Columbia TriStar Domestic Television), however, the CPT name was retained in the in-credits of ''The Young and the Restless'' until October 2002. Currently, the division is known as [[Sony Pictures Television]]. A separate entity of CPT continues to exist on paper as an intellectual property holder, and an in-name-only unit and division of SPT known as "CPT Holdings" (formed in 1983) to hold the copyright for the TV show ''The Young and the Restless'' including the UK version of ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'', as well as old incarnations from the company's television library such as ''What's Happening!!''.

=== 1st Logo (June 1974-July 30, 1977)===

*The bylineless gold version is retained on the front of ''The Producers'' on This TV (but not on Get TV) and TCM airings of the films ''The Oscar'' and ''Tyrant of Lydia Against the Son of Hercules''. Also spotted on a Movies! airing of ''Hercules and the Princess of Troy,'' a 1993 Family Channel (now Freeform) airing of the original 1982 ''Annie'', as well as old cable prints of ''Winter Kills'', ''Stripes'' and ''Maximum Overdrive'' (including a TNT broadcast), replacing the De Laurentiis Entertainment Group (DEG) logo.

*The 1988 CPTD logo was seen on one episode of ''The Burns & Allen Show'', as well as the ''Diff'rent Strokes'' episode "The Moonlighter" both on Antenna TV.

*This logo, with the CPE byline, can be seen on the first season and the first few episodes of the second season of ''Parker Lewis Can't Lose'' on FamilyNet and Crackle, while later second season episodes and early third season episodes use the bylineless version. Later third season episodes use the next logo.

*The bylineless, open-matte version of the 1982 logo is seen on ''T.J. Hooker'' episodes on Crackle.  

* It was also seen at the end of a December 2000 Sci-Fi Channel (now Syfy) broadcast of ''The Hidden''.

*Oddly enough, the 1982 bylineless version plasters the original 1991 logo (while retaining the ending theme) on Sony Movie Channel broadcasts and the CTV.ca print of ''I Still Dream of Jeannie''.  

'''Editor's Note''': It's the end bit of the 1981 movie logo albeit slightly modified, which was still satisfactory enough for the '80s. This was the first logo to replace the Embassy logo starting in 1988 on shows from Embassy. Many shows stopped using this logo in 1992, although ''The Young and the Restless'' and ''Days of Our Lives'' continued to use the blue/ivory logo until 1993. This was also used for the first season of ''The Larry Sanders Show'', which premiered in August 1992.

{{Gallery|align=center|mode=packed|height=200|width=

*This was also seen at the start of TCM's print of the Rankin/Bass Productions film ''The Daydreamer'' (possibly due to being sourced from an earlier television print, as Sony holds the TV rights via Embassy Pictures).

*Also spotted on a 2000 syndicated print of the TV movie ''Rapture'', where it appeared before the Columbia TriStar Television Distribution logo (and with both logos replacing the TriStar Television logo that was originally used on this film).

'''Editor's Note''': A still logo of a painting that still looks exquisite even to this day, supplemented with some grand fanfares. It should be noted that this appeared almost a year before movies began using this new Torch Lady in 1993.