Columbia Pictures Television, Inc. (abbreviated as CPT) was an American television production and distribution company owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment. It was the second name of Columbia Pictures's television division, formerly known as Screen Gems (SG) and Pioneer Telefilms. The company was active until January 1, 2001, when it was folded into Columbia TriStar Television, a merger between Columbia Pictures Television and TriStar Television (which is currently known as Sony Pictures Television). A separate entity of CPT continues to exist in-name as "CPT Holdings" (the initials standing for Columbia Pictures Television) to hold the copyright for the television series The Young and the Restless, as well as older properties from the company's library such as What's Happening!!.
History
Screen Gems (1948–1974)
Screen Gems was the name of Columbia Pictures' television studio from November 1948 to May 6, 1974 and duting that time, produced shows such as Bewitched, The Flying Nun, The Partridge Family, I Dream of Jeannie and The Monkees. It was one of the largest television producers in history, and it was around that time, one of the few television subsidiaries of a major movie studio that didn't carry the film studio's name. It was highly profitable until 1974, when its name was changed to Columbia Pictures Television.
Reincorporation as CPT and early years (1974–1982) The studio changed its name from Screen Gems to Columbia Pictures Television on May 6, 1974. This reincorporation was suggested by David Gerber, who was executive vice president of the studio, displacing Art Frankel when he was at Screen Gems. He announced plans to launch a separate unit to concentrate on movie-of-the-week titles. John H. Mitchell, who had been president of the studio since 1958 when the studio was Screen Gems, said that they would take the division more closely to the parent company and to help achieve an interrelationship among all of its divisions.
As the successor in interest to Screen Gems, it assumed productions of the daytime soap operas Days of Our Lives and The Young and the Restless, as well as the NBC police show Police Story. The first series produced under the CPT name was the sitcom That's My Mama, which was slated to be a Screen Gems production. Other new series that were slated to be Screen Gems productions were Nakia, Born Free and Police Woman.
On May 27, 1974, Columbia Pictures Television planned to syndicate ten one-hour musical specials that were set to be taped in Las Vegas nightclubs, and the programs were simulcasted on FM Radio to be set up by Yuri Zabran to premiere as early as 1975. In September 1974, Columbia had signed Abby Mann to develop long-form television projects, and the first project to came out of the deal was Medical Story.
In 1975, Carl Reiner joined Columbia Pictures Television to serve as executive producer and host of the show Good Heavens, which was for the ABC television network. Also, on July 1, 1975, former NBC vice president Larry White had set up his own production company Larry White Productions with a deal at Columbia Pictures Television. On May 10, 1976, White then joined the studio to displace Gerber as his program chief, who subsequently restarted plans to launch its own CPT-based production company.
In early June 1977, CPT acquired worldwide distribution rights to Barney Miller and Fish from Danny Arnold, Barnaby Jones from Quinn Martin, and Soap from Witt/Thomas Productions. In mid-June, CPT acquired domestic distribution rights to four series from Spelling-Goldberg Productions such as S.W.A.T., Starsky & Hutch, Charlie's Angels, and Family. Later on in 1977, former MGM Television president Harris Katleman and Universal Television producer Harve Bennett joined forces to form Bennett/Katleman Productions with a deal at the studio. Also in 1978, Larry White was promoted to president of the studio.
From 1978 to 1986, CPT co-produced series with Spelling-Goldberg including Fantasy Island, Hart to Hart, and T. J. Hooker. In mid-February 1979, CPT acquired TOY Productions, whose output included What's Happening!! and Carter Country. In 1981, Richard Dawson has signed a joint development contract with Rastar Television and Columbia Pictures Television to produce television shows. On August 13, 1981, CPT acquired the television assets of Time Life."New York Times" Time's Film Unit Sold to Columbia nytimes.com, Retrieved on August 14, 2013 A year later, Columbia partnered with HBO and CBS to form TriStar Pictures.
On May 7, 1982, Columbia Pictures acquired Spelling-Goldberg Productions for more than $40 million.Perry, pp. 28 Around the same year, former ABC executive Barbara Corday started a new Columbia-affiliated production company, Can't Sing Can't Dance Productions.
The Coca-Cola years (1982–1987) The 1980s brought significant changes to CPT. In mid-June 1982, beverage company The Coca-Cola Company bought Columbia Pictures for $750 million."Coke Completes Columbia Merger". The New York Times. June 23, 1982. Retrieved March 14, 2010. By mid-November 1982, CPT agreed to license domestic distribution rights to Spelling-Goldberg's Family to Lexington Broadcast Services Company.
In 1983, Coca-Cola formed CPT Holdings. By 1984, the company demerged CPT from Columbia Pictures Industries, shifting it to CPT Holdings. In mid-February 1983, producer Roy Huggins signed a deal with the studio. In mid-May, Columbia Pictures Television entered into an agreement with producer Centerpoint to co-produce miniseries such as Sadat and The Last Days of Pompeii. By early September, actress Suzanne Somers (via Hamel/Somers Productions) signed a deal with the studio.
By late January 1984, CPT and LBS formed a joint venture for barter syndication, called Colex Enterprises, which would distribute several properties from CPT's library such as Father Knows Best and The Monkees, while throughout the 1980s and 1990s, other shows such as Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, and The Partridge Family were licensed to The Program Exchange. The same year, CPT acquired distribution rights to Benson. In late 1984, Barbara Corday took over as president of the studio. Another high-profile deal at CPT arrived in August 1984 when two of the high-profile independent producers North Ave. Productions (backed by Michael S. Baser and Kim Weiskopf) signed with CPT after leaving 20th Century Fox Television (now 20th Television), while George Schenck and Frank Cardea (via Schenck/Cardea Productions) reupped their contract with CPT.
By mid-June 1985, Norman Lear and Jerry Perenchio sold their company, Embassy Communications, Inc. (whose divisions consisted of Embassy Pictures, Embassy Television, Tandem Productions, and Embassy Home Entertainment) to Coca-Cola, resulting in Coca-Cola gaining the rights to such shows as All in the Family, Sanford and Son, The Jeffersons, Good Times, Maude, Diff'rent Strokes, Archie Bunker's Place, The Facts of Life, One Day at a Time, Who's the Boss?, and Silver Spoons, among others. AITF, however, was still distributed by Viacom Enterprises at the time. Coke also made plans to spin off Embassy Pictures and Embassy Home Entertainment.Coke buys Embassy: 485 million. , normanlear.com Under Coca-Cola's ownership, Embassy saw success with 227 and Married... with Children. The same year, CPT and LBS launched What's Happening Now!! in first-run syndication. The show was a sequel to the 1970s ABC sitcom What's Happening!!. Also that year, Barney Rosenzweig (via The Rosenzweig Company) had signed a three-year distribution deal with the studio to distribute their own projects. During that year, CPT revived the previous Screen Gems brand name to market classic television shows for syndication.
By mid-September 1985, CPT acquired domestic distribution rights to three series from Stephen J. Cannell Productions, such as Hardcastle and McCormick, Riptide and The Rousters. At the time the acquisition was announced, the latter of the three series was cancelled but no plans were made yet to put it in syndication, hence it not being mentioned. The former was subsequently put in syndication by the above mentioned Colex Enterprises.
Major changes took place in 1986. By early May, Coke acquired Merv Griffin Enterprises, producer of the popular series, Dance Fever, The Merv Griffin Show, and the two game shows, Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune; (the nighttime versions were distributed by King World and later, CBS Media Ventures). However, Sony Pictures Television holds off-net syndication rights to these shows, mainly broadcasting them on Game Show Network, while sister company Sony Pictures Home Entertainment holds home video rights. By mid-May 1986, Joe Indelli, president of Columbia Pictures Television Distribution, resigned in order to launch a new company that was owned by MTM Enterprises to syndicate its own programs and Robert King, who was partner of The Television Program Source, would replace him.
Also in 1986, Embassy Television, Embassy Telecommunications, and Tandem Productions were all merged into Embassy Communications; the Tandem unit ceased production to be used after the cancellation of Diff'rent Strokes but remained in-name-only, while the Columbia and Embassy units continued to exist separately. Also on the same year on August 28, CPT acquired Danny Arnold's Four D Productions, Inc. for $50 million.Eugene Register-Guard "Google News" Coke Gets 'Barney Miller' news.google.com, Retrieved on November 30, 2013 On November 24, 1986, Coca-Cola regrouped CPT, Embassy Communications, and Merv Griffin Enterprises, forming a new subsidiary, Coca-Cola TelevisionKATHRYN HARRIS "Los Angeles Times" November 25, 1986 Nation articles.latimes.com, Retrieved on May 31, 2013 and a first-run syndication unit, Coca-Cola Telecommunications, from a merger between two units of CPT: its first-run syndication branch and The Television Program Source (a joint venture with Alan Bennett and former King World president Robert King that was created on October 15, 1984, which Coca-Cola had a small investment in originally, and notably distributed the 1985–1986 nighttime syndicated version of The Price Is Right and was slated to distribute a new version of Match Game for syndication beginning in 1987). It was headed by Gary Rosenthal, who was leading Embassy Telecommunications, and also inserted was a new subsidiary Coca-Cola Television Operations. On September 9, 1986, Columbia Pictures Television's European division expanded its branch, producing programming for ITV franchisee holders, such as HTV, and added new co-productions from other ITV franchisees such as Anglia Television and Yorkshire Television.
Distribution of some programs, such as What's Happening Now!!, The Real Ghostbusters, Punky Brewster and Dinosaucers, was also shifted to Coca-Cola Telecommunications. The former two were previously distributed by CPT, while the latter two were slated to be distributed by CPT. CPT acquired the rights to Punky, a former NBC in-house production, because Financial Interest and Syndication Rules prevented the network from producing more episodes for syndication after they cancelled it. During the fall of 1986, the sitcom Designing Women began a successful seven-year run on CBS. The same year, Tri-Star Pictures formed Tri-Star Television, which produced the short-lived series Downtown. More series from Tri-Star Television debuted in 1987, such as Take Five, Nothing in Common, My Two Dads, Werewolf, and Buck James. Also that same year, Clyde Phillips joined the studio as an independent television producer.