Paramount Television Network
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Type | Broadcast television network |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Availability | defunct |
| Owner | Paramount Pictures |
| Launch date | January 1949 |
| Dissolved | 1953 |
The Paramount Television Network was an ill-fated attempt by American film corporation Paramount Pictures to launch a successful television network in 1949.[1] The company had built television stations KTLA in Los Angeles and WBKB in Chicago. It had also invested $400,000 in the DuMont Television Network, which operated stations in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Pittsburgh.
The network launched in January 1949 with a full-page advertisement in Television.[2] However, a few years earlier, the Federal Communications Commission had placed a five-station cap on all television networks, and later ruled DuMont and Paramount were branches of the same company. Since DuMont owned three stations and Paramount two, the federal agency ruled both networks could not launch additional television stations. Paramount refused to relinquish its stake in DuMont, and both networks suffered as a result, with neither company experiencing growth in the number of its owned-and-operated stations. Meanwhile, ABC and NBC each owned the maximum of five stations. CBS, the other American television network, owned only one station outright but had a joint-ownership stake in one other.[3]
At its peak in late 1950, the Paramount Television Network was distributing five television series a week to over 40 affiliated stations.[1] Stations which carried the Paramount programming included KTLA in Los Angeles,[1] WBKB in Chicago,[1] KPIX in San Francisco,[4] and KOTV in Tulsa, Oklahoma.[5]
The 1953 merger of Paramount's former movie theatre chain, United Paramount Theatres, and ABC lead to the divestiture of the Chicago station, which was sold to CBS (it is now WBBM-TV). Paramount held onto KTLA, but the programming service never gelled into a true television network. In 1956, with much prompting from Paramount, the DuMont Network folded, ending Paramount's first, early ventures into television.
However, executives at Paramount continued to toy with the idea of entering the television medium once more. The company produced series seen on the "big three" television networks (after acquiring Desilu Productions), and in 1978 planned to launch the Paramount Television Service, a new "fourth" television network; its programming would have consisted of only one night a week. Thirty "Movies of the Week" would have followed Star Trek: Phase II on Saturday nights. This plan was aborted when the decision was made to transform Phase II into Star Trek: The Motion Picture. On January 16, 1995, Paramount launched UPN, which lasted until September 18, 2006, when it merged with the WB Television Network to form the CW Television Network.[6]
[edit] See also
Paramount Television Network programs:
- Time for Beany
- Dixie Showboat
- Spade Cooley
- Hollywood Reel
- Wrestling
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ a b c d White, Timothy R. (1992). "Hollywood on (Re)Trial: The American Broadcasting-United Paramount Merger Hearing" Cinema Journal, Vol. 31, No. 3. (Spring, 1992), pp. 19-36.
- ^ Jajkowski, Steve (2001). "Advertising on Chicago Television". Chicago Television History. Retrieved January 10, 2007.
- ^ In 1949, CBS owned WCBS-TV in New York City outright, and owned a 49 percent share of KTTV in Los Angeles (the Los Angeles Times owned the remainder).
- ^ King, G.H.; King, Vance (eds.) (1952). Production Encyclopedia. Hollywood, CA: Hollywood Reporter, 716-717.
- ^ Corarito, Gregory (1967). The History and Development of Television in Tulsa, Oklahoma: Chapter 3 KCEB 1. Tulsa TV Memories. Last accessed 2007-03-16.
- ^ [1]
[edit] References
- White, Timothy R. (1992). "Hollywood on (Re)Trial: The American Broadcasting-United Paramount Merger Hearing" Cinema Journal, Vol. 31, No. 3. (Spring, 1992), pp. 19-36.
- Jajkowski, Steve (2001). "Advertising on Chicago Television". Chicago Television History. Retrieved January 10, 2007.
