TelePrompTer Corporation was an American media company that existed from approximately 1950 until 1981. The company was named for its eponymous primary product, a

display device A display device is an output device for presentation of information in visual or tactile form (the latter used for example in tactile electronic displays for blind people). When the input information that is supplied has an electrical signa ...

invented by Hubert Schlafly which scrolls

text Text may refer to: Written word * Text (literary theory) In literary theory, a text is any object that can be "read", whether this object is a work of literature, a street sign, an arrangement of buildings on a city block, or styles of clothi ...

to people on video or giving speeches, replacing

cue cards Cue cards, also known as note cards, are cards with words written on them that help actors and speakers remember what they have to say. They are typically used in television productions where they can be held off-camera and are unseen by the a ...

or scripts. Branded as the "TelePrompTer", the name has become a

genericized trademark A generic trademark, also known as a genericized trademark or proprietary eponym, is a trademark or brand name that, because of its popularity or significance, has become the generic term for, or synonymous with, a general class of products or ...

as "teleprompter".

History

The company started around 1950 by businessman Irving B. Kahn; Fred Barton, Jr., a Broadway theatre actor; and Schlafly, an electrical engineer. Schlafly had invented the teleprompter in order to help a

soap opera A soap opera (also called a daytime drama or soap) is a genre of a long-running radio or television Serial (radio and television), serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term ''soap opera'' originat ...

actor who could not remember his lines. He unveiled the device on the set of the CBS soap opera '' The First Hundred Years'' in 1950. Initially,

public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. Pu ...

personnel handled the teleprompters. TelePrompTer sold its eponymous business in the 1960s and invested in cable and satellite broadcast services. Schlafly went on to develop microwave video transmission services with

Hughes Aircraft Company The Hughes Aircraft Company was a major American aerospace and defense contractor founded on February 14, 1934 by Howard Hughes in Glendale, California, as a division of the Hughes Tool Company. The company produced the Hughes H-4 Hercules air ...

. Kahn was convicted in federal court in 1971 and imprisoned for 20 months for trying to bribe members of the

Johnstown, Pennsylvania Johnstown is the largest city in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 18,411 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Located east of Pittsburgh, it is the principal city of the Metropolitan statistical area ...

city council to award his company a local cable franchise. He was also convicted of perjury. Kahn had stepped down as chairman of TelePrompTer several months before his conviction. Kahn maintained, before and after his 20-month prison term, that the issue was extortion by the officials and not bribery by the company. In 1969, TelePrompTer acquired the Filmation animation studio from its founders, Lou Scheimer,

Hal Sutherland Harold H. "Hal" Sutherland (July 1, 1929 – January 16, 2014) was an American animator and painter who began his career as a Disney animator in 1954 working on ''Sleeping Beauty (1959 film), Sleeping Beauty'', ''Lady and the Tramp'', ''Peter Pan ...

and Norm Prescott. Scheimer continued as an executive producer for the company until its dissolution."Filmation purchased by Teleprompter." ''

Broadcasting Broadcasting is the data distribution, distribution of sound, audio audiovisual content to dispersed audiences via a electronic medium (communication), mass communications medium, typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves), ...

'', June 30, 1969, pg. 38

/ref> TelePrompTer merged with H & B American Corporation in 1970, creating the nation's largest cable company at the time. TelePrompTer grew to become the largest cable television, cable television provider in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

by 1973. The company was later sold to Westinghouse, merging the cable operations into

Westinghouse Broadcasting The Westinghouse Broadcasting Company, also known as Group W, was the broadcasting division of Westinghouse Electric Corporation. It owned several radio and television stations across the United States and distributed television shows for syndi ...

. After the merger, TelePrompTer's cable systems were renamed Group W Cable, with the broadcasting division renamed "Westinghouse Broadcasting and Cable". The Filmation studios were also part of the deal. Westinghouse sold its cable operations in 1986 to Houston Industries, which became Paragon Cable; 25% was sold to

Comcast Comcast Corporation, formerly known as Comcast Holdings,Before the AT&T Broadband, AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation, not th ...

. In 1989, Westinghouse sold Filmation to Paravision International, an investment consortium led by the French cosmetics company

L'Oréal L'Oréal S.A. () is a French multinational personal care corporation registered in Paris

. Before that sale was complete, Westinghouse shuttered the film studio on February 3, 1989, which left L'Oréal with only the Filmation library."Group W sells Filmation." ''Broadcasting'', February 13, 1989, pg. 94
/ref> Charter Communications owns and operates the cable systems previously run by TelePrompTer, with the exception of some owned and operated by Comcast.

References

Notes Further reading
"Oral History of Monroe Rifkin"
The Hauser Oral and Video History Collection, The Barco Library, The Cable Center, Denver, Colorado.

External links

{{Boxing on television American companies established in 1950 American companies disestablished in 1981 Defunct mass media companies of the United States Cable television companies of the United States Mass media companies established in 1950 Mass media companies disestablished in 1981 1970 mergers and acquisitions

History

See also

References

External links