Paramount Television (1967-2006): Difference between revisions

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[[Paramount Pictures]] was involved in television as early as 1949 when it owned a television network called the "Paramount Television Network" and an early television division known as "[[Paramount Television Productions]]". The network presented and produced 17 programs in total until it and the production banner were dissolved in 1956. Paramount also had a majority stake in the DuMont Television Network and owned KTLA in Los Angeles and WBKB in Chicago (now WBBM-TV). Paramount Pictures' second attempt in the television industry began in 1959 as "[[Paramount Pictures Television]]" when they produced the television movie ''Destination Space'' for CBS. They also co-produced six unsold pilots with [[Tandem Productions]], such as ''Henry T.'' and ''Meet Me At Danny's''. They also had a short-lived production banner called "[[Telemount-Mutual Productions|Telemount-Mutual]]".  

[[Desilu Productions]] was a production company founded in 1950 by then-husband-and-wife comedy duo, '''Desi''' Arnaz and '''Lu'''cille Ball (hence the name of the company), producing very successful TV shows and films between the 1950s and 1960s, notably pioneering the multi-camera sitcom format. In 1962, Arnaz sold his holdings of Desilu to Ball. In 1967, she sold Desilu to Gulf+Western Industries, which merged Desilu with Paramount Pictures. Desilu became the television arm of Paramount in July, renaming it to "'''Paramount Television'''" months later. Desilu Sales became "Paramount Television Sales", while Lucille Ball formed her then-new company "[[Lucille Ball Productions|Lucille Ball Productions, Inc.]]" and Desi Arnaz formed his own company named "Desi Arnaz Productions". Currently, all of the Desilu Productions television library is owned by Paramount Global through [[CBS Media Ventures]].

In 2004, [[Viacom (1952-2006)|Viacom]] merged Paramount Network Television and [[CBS Productions]] to form the "CBS Paramount Network Television Entertainment Group" at the same time it merged Paramount International Television and [[CBS Broadcast International]] to form "CBS Paramount International Television" (later the "ViacomCBS Global Distribution Group", now "[[Paramount Global Content Distribution]]"). On December 31, 2005, the Viacom/CBS split took effect and Viacom changed its name to the CBS Corporation at the same time it created a spin-off company that bears the Viacom name. On January 17, 2006, CBS Corporation merged the CBS Paramount Network Television Entertainment Group, CBS Paramount International Television, and Paramount Domestic Television into the CBS Paramount Television Group, but the on-air logo for PDT remained the same until Memorial Day, May 29, 2006, when the first [[CBS Studios|CBS Paramount Television]] logo debuted. As for the network version, the PNT and CBS Productions logos were used before the CBS Paramount Network Television logo debuted on June 11. However, CBS Paramount Domestic Television was merged with CBS Paramount International Television, [[King World Productions]], and [[CBS Home Entertainment]] to form CBS Television Distribution (now "CBS Media Ventures") in September 2006, and CBS Paramount Network Television was renamed as "CBS Television Studios" (now "CBS Studios") in May 2009 after CBS lost its license to the Paramount name it had for three years. On March 4, 2013, Paramount Pictures relaunched a current incarnation of [[Paramount Television Studios|Paramount Television]] (now "Paramount Television Studios"); both divisions are owned by [[Paramount Global]].