Columbia TriStar Television, Inc. (abbreviated as CTT) was an American

television production A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming plat ...

and

distribution company Distribution may refer to: Mathematics *Distribution (mathematics), generalized functions used to formulate solutions of partial differential equations *Probability distribution, the probability of a particular value or value range of a varia ...

, which was active from 1994 until its reincorporation as

Sony Pictures Television Sony Pictures Television Inc. (abbreviated as SPT) is an American television production company, production and broadcast syndication, distribution studio. Based at the Sony Pictures Studios complex in Culver City, California, it is a division o ...

in 2002. It was the third iteration of what had originated as

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., Trade name, doing business as Columbia Pictures, is an American film Production company, production and Film distributor, distribution company that is the flagship unit of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group ...

' television studio,

Screen Gems Screen Gems is an American film production company owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of Japanese conglomerate, Sony Group Corporation. ''Screen Gems'' has served several different purposes for its parent companies over the de ...

History

Columbia TriStar Television was launched on February 21, 1994, from the merger of

Columbia Pictures Television Columbia Pictures Television, Inc. (abbreviated as CPT) was launched on May 6, 1974, by Columbia Pictures as an American television production and distribution company. It is the second name of Columbia Pictures' television division Screen Gems ...

and

TriStar Television TriStar Television, Inc. (first spelled Tri-Star, and abbreviated as TT) was an American television production studio that was a division of Sony Pictures Television, a Sony Pictures Entertainment company. TriStar Television was launched in Marc ...

, under the leadership of

Jon Feltheimer Jon Feltheimer (born September 2, 1951) is the Chief Executive Officer of Lionsgate Studios and has held that position since 2000. Feltheimer has led Lionsgate to grow into the leading Canadian independent filmed entertainment studio. Early lif ...

, who was president of TriStar Television from 1991 to 1994 and of

New World Television New World Pictures (also known as New World Entertainment, New World Communications Group, Inc., and New World International) was an American independent production, distribution, and (in its final years as an autonomous entity) multimedia comp ...

until 1991. After the merger, Columbia Pictures Television Distribution was renamed Columbia TriStar Television Distribution, although most traces of the former name were not removed in full until the start of the 1995–1996 television season. It officially subsumed

Merv Griffin Enterprises Merv Griffin Enterprises was an American television production company founded by Merv Griffin, in operation from March 7, 1963, to June 4, 1994. History The company was first established as Milbarn Productions on March 7, 1963, and later as M ...

on June 4, 1994 and took over the role of production of ''

Jeopardy! ''Jeopardy!'' is an American television game show created by Merv Griffin. The show is a quiz competition that reverses the traditional question-and-answer format of many quiz shows. Rather than being given questions, contestants are instead g ...

'' and '' Wheel of Fortune'' starting in September 1994, with both shows continuing to utilize

King World King World Productions, Inc. (also known as King World Entertainment, King World Enterprises, or simply King World) was a production company and syndicator of television programming in the United States founded by Charles King (1912–72) that w ...

for distribution, an arrangement that continued until 2025 under successor company

CBS Media Ventures CBS Media Ventures, Inc. (formerly CBS Paramount Domestic Television and CBS Television Distribution) is the television broadcast syndication arm of CBS Studios, a division of the CBS Entertainment Group, in turn a division of Paramount Global, ...

. In 1994, SPE acquired

Stewart Television Stewart Television was an American game show production company formed by Bob Stewart in 1964 originally based in New York City. History Stewart found a job and started creating game shows for Goodson- Todman Productions in 1956. One of the ...

, which was known for the ''

Pyramid A pyramid () is a structure whose visible surfaces are triangular in broad outline and converge toward the top, making the appearance roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be of any polygon shape, such as trian ...

'' franchise, to burnish the library for Sony's

Game Show Network Game Show Network (GSN) is an American basic cable channel owned by the television network division of Sony Pictures Television. The channel's programming is primarily dedicated to game shows, including reruns of acquired game shows, along wit ...

, which would launch on December 1, 1994. Its global subsidiary, Columbia TriStar International Television, distributed Sony's programs outside North America, and was formed from Columbia Pictures International Television with TriStar International Television's merger into one unit in 1992. In 1995, Columbia TriStar Television established its children and family entertainment division, Columbia TriStar Television Children's Programming, with

Sander Schwartz Sander Schwartz (born January 7, 1954) is an American Daytime Emmy award-winning producer of television animation. He was President of Warner Bros. Animation between 2001 and 2007, followed by President, International Productions of Sony Picture ...

named as senior vice president of the unit. In 1996, Sony merged their production units of

and

into the new Columbia TriStar Television production unit, led by Eric Tannenbaum, who was the head of TriStar Television, and around the same time partnered with

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

and 3 Arts Entertainment to start the new 3 Arts Television unit. On January 30, 1997, Sony streamlined its American domestic operations. On March 12, 1997, Columbia TriStar Television signed a deal with

Procter & Gamble Productions The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. It specializes in a wide range of personal health/cons ...

(P&G) to launch shows that P&G products sponsor, after the original agreement with

Paramount Television The first incarnation of Paramount Television was operated as the television production division of the American film studio Paramount Pictures, until it changed its name to CBS Paramount Television on January 17, 2006. History Desilu Pro ...

expired. On August 26, 1997, Addis-Wechsler inked a five-year joint venture agreement with the studio to produce all forms of its own television programming. In 1999, Tannenbaum left CTT to head the new Artists Television Group, with CTT serving as distributor on all ATG productions. On July 1, 2000, Barry Thurston stepped down as president of Columbia TriStar Television Distribution after 17 years and was succeeded by then-current president, Steve Mosko. Thurston was originally president of

Embassy Telecommunications ELP Communications (formerly known as T.A.T. Communications Company, Embassy Television, Embassy Telecommunications, and Embassy Communications) was an American television production company founded in 1974 by Norman Lear and Jerry Perenchio. ...

in 1983. On October 25, 2001, Sony combined the domestic network and syndication divisions (Columbia TriStar Television and Columbia TriStar Television Distribution, respectively) into one unit known as Columbia TriStar Domestic Television."The Free Library
Sony Pictures Entertainment Unveils Realignment of Columbia TriStar Domestic Television Operations.
thefreelibrary.com, Retrieved on July 3, 2012 During the beginning of the 2002–2003 television season,

Sony Pictures Entertainment Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment studio conglomerate that produces, acquires, and distributes filmed entertainment (theatrical motion pictures, television programs, and rec ...

retired the "Columbia TriStar" name from its television divisions, and the television divisions became

and Sony Pictures Television International officially on September 16, 2002.Sony Pictures Entertainment Renames Television Operations; Domestic and International Divisions Take Sony Name
prnewswire.com

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Columbia TriStar Television 1994 establishments in California 2002 disestablishments in California Mass media companies established in 1994 Mass media companies disestablished in 2002 Television production companies of the United States Television syndication distributors Predecessors of Sony Pictures Television Entertainment companies based in California Sony Pictures Television Former Sony subsidiaries

History

See also

References

External links