Paramount Television Network
Encyclopedia
The Paramount Television Network (PTN) was a venture by American film corporation Paramount Pictures
to organize a television network
in the late 1940s. The company had built television stations KTLA
in Los Angeles and WBKB
in Chicago; it also had invested US$
400,000 in the DuMont Television Network
, which operated stations WABD
, WTTG
, and WDTV
in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Pittsburgh. Escalating disputes between Paramount and DuMont concerning breaches of contract, company control, and network competition erupted regularly between 1940 and 1956, and culminated in the dismantling of the DuMont Network. Television historian Timothy White called the clash between the two companies "one of the most unfortunate and dramatic episodes in the early history of the television industry."
The Paramount Television Network aired several programs, including the Emmy award
-winning children's series Time For Beany
. Filmed in Hollywood
, the programs were distributed to an ad-hoc network of stations across the United States. The network signed affiliation agreements with more than 50 television stations in 1950; despite this, most of Paramount's series were not widely viewed outside the West Coast. The Federal Communications Commission
(FCC), which had filed suit against Paramount for anti-trust violations, prevented the studio from acquiring additional television stations. Paramount executives eventually gave up on the idea of a television network, but continued to produce series for other networks. In 1995, after four decades of television production for other companies, Paramount re-entered the broadcast network field when the company launched the United Paramount Network (UPN), a television network which operated until 2006. Paramount's television division is now owned by CBS Television Studios.
in 1914. Famous Players-Lasky Corporation acquired the company in 1916 and by the 1920s Paramount had become a key player in Hollywood
. The company founded or acquired many film production and exhibition properties; among these were the 2,000-screen theater chain United Paramount Theatres
(UPT), newsreel service Paramount News
, and animation studio Famous Studios
. The company became one of the "big five" Hollywood studios. By the 1940s, however, Paramount was the target of several anti-trust lawsuits brought against the studio by the federal government, which accused Paramount of conducting monopolistic practices. The Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) forced Paramount to sell off its theater division in 1949.
As early as 1937, executives at Paramount Pictures were interested in the new medium of television. The following year, Paramount purchased a minority interest in DuMont Laboratories
, a pioneer in early television technology founded by Dr. Allen B. DuMont
. Relations between Paramount and DuMont staff were strained by 1940, when Paramount, without DuMont, opened Chicago television station WBKB
and Los Angeles station KTLA
. Dr. DuMont claimed that the original 1937 acquisition proposal required that Paramount would expand its television interests "through DuMont". Paramount representative Paul Raibourn denied that any such restriction had ever been discussed (a 1953 examination of the original draft document vindicated DuMont on this point). The stock in DuMont, coupled with the Chicago and Los Angeles stations, gave Paramount full or partial ownership of four of the first nine television stations in the United States.
DuMont Laboratories launched the DuMont Television Network
in 1946. Despite Paramount's partial ownership of DuMont, Paramount's two stations never aired television programs from DuMont's television network (with the exception of one year on KTLA in 1947–48), and competed against DuMont's affiliates in Los Angeles and Chicago. According to authors Auter and Boyd, Paramount's construction of KTLA and WBKB and its subsequent launch of the Paramount Television Network "undercut" DuMont, a company it had invested in.
KTLA began commercial broadcasts in January 1947; its first evening broadcast was hosted by Bob Hope
and featured Kirk Douglas
, William Bendix
, Dorothy Lamour
, William Demarest
, Ray Milland
, and Cecil B. DeMille
. KTLA was the first commercial station west of the Mississippi River. Although other Los Angeles TV stations operated experimentally and received commercial licenses, KTLA had a head start that resulted in a large viewership; a 1949 audience estimate from the C.E. Hooper company indicated that KTLA was broadcasting 28 of the top 30 television series in Los Angeles. The popularity of KTLA's local programs opened up the possibility that they would become national hits if released to other stations across the country.
that year and in Television magazine early the following year. Filming of programs took place at KTLA. A coaxial cable
link between KTLA and KFMB-TV
in San Diego transmitted a live signal to San Diego viewers. Other television stations across the United States received Paramount programs via kinescope
recording for airing; these filmed series allowed stations to "fill in" their schedules during hours when ABC
, NBC
, CBS
, and DuMont were not broadcasting shows, or when station managers preferred Paramount's filmed offerings to those of the four networks. Station managers at WBKB-TV in Chicago also had plans to distribute their own kinescoped programs.
Paramount management planned to acquire additional owned-and-operated station
s ("O&Os"); the company applied to the FCC for additional stations in San Francisco, Detroit, and Boston. The FCC, however, denied Paramount's applications. A few years earlier, the federal regulator had placed a five-station cap on all television networks: no network was allowed to own more than five VHF television stations. Paramount was hampered by its minority stake in the DuMont Television Network. Although both DuMont and Paramount executives stated that the companies were separate, the FCC ruled that Paramount's partial ownership of DuMont meant that DuMont and Paramount were in theory branches of the same company. Since DuMont owned three television stations and Paramount owned two, the federal agency ruled neither network could acquire additional television stations. The FCC requested that Paramount relinquish its stake in DuMont, but Paramount refused. According to television historian William Boddy, "Paramount's checkered anti-trust history" helped convince the FCC that Paramount controlled DuMont. Both television networks suffered as a result, with neither company able to acquire five O&Os. Meanwhile, CBS, ABC, and NBC had each acquired the maximum of five stations by the mid-1950s.
Author Timothy White has called Paramount's efforts to launch its own television service, which directly competed with the DuMont Television Network, an unwise decision—Paramount in effect was competing with itself. The resulting ill feelings between Paramount's and DuMont's executives continued to escalate throughout the early 1950s, and the lack of cooperation hindered both entities' network plans. According to White, by 1953, even the public pretense of cooperation between Paramount and DuMont was gone.
Various press releases indicated that other KTLA series would be offered on the network. There is no indication, however, that the following series aired outside Los Angeles:
, president of ABC during this era, Raibourn "constantly nitpicked and needled [Allen DuMont] over the smallest expenditures. DuMont came to the point where, psychologically, he thought he couldn't do anything without Raibourn's approval." Raibourn trimmed DuMont's budgets at a time when the network should have been expanding. Goldenson credits Raibourn as one of the reasons ABC eventually became a successful, established television network while the DuMont network failed: "the name of the television game is programs. If you won't put money into programs, you won't succeed."
Klaus Landsberg
, a German immigrant, produced many Paramount Television Network series; he also served as one of the company's vice presidents and as KTLA's general manager. Other Paramount executives included: George T. Shupert, Paramount Television Productions' program sales executive; Burt Balaban, programming executive; John Howell, sales executive; and Bernard Goodwin, a director and vice president of Paramount Television Productions.
During this era, American television programs were either broadcast live to local television stations via microwave relay and AT&T
's coaxial cable service or were recorded on kinescope and delivered through the mail to local stations. The live broadcast method was expensive, but was preferred by executives at each of the four major U.S. television networks (ABC, NBC, CBS, and DuMont); in 1954, DuMont alone spent $3 million on live TV broadcasts. The major networks sent kinescopes to stations when live transmissions were not possible. "Film networks", which sent out only prerecorded material, also existed; kinescopes were cheap to produce and cost little to mail. Paramount's television service was a hybrid of the two systems, with a live connection between KTLA and KFMB-TV in San Diego, and other affiliates broadcasting programs from kinescope recordings. Paramount executives considered a live connection between Los Angeles and San Francisco too expensive. Uniquely, Paramount's The Harry Owens Show was broadcast live in Los Angeles and San Francisco by having the program's performers and crew commute via airplane between the two stations for sequential performances.
The table below lists stations which carried Paramount Television Network programs, including the company's two owned-and-operated stations, KTLA and WBKB. DuMont's three VHF stations, WABD, WTTG, and WDTV, which aired little or no Paramount programming but which the FCC ruled were O&Os of the same entity, also appear in this list. Also included are DuMont's two short-lived UHF licenses: KCTY-TV, which only operated for a few months, and WHK-TV, which never signed on. A number of stations carried Armchair Detective, Sandy Dreams, and Frosty Frolics when those programs aired on CBS and ABC. Stations which aired those programs as part of an ABC or CBS affiliation are not shown in the table below.
After a grueling 18-month trial, the federal agency allowed the ABC-UPT merger, but never ruled on Paramount's partial ownership of a second network; Paramount was allowed to retain its shares in DuMont. Leo Resnick, hearing examiner for the Commission, concluded that Paramount did not control DuMont, but the FCC rejected this portion of Resnick's findings, restricting Paramount and DuMont to a total of five stations. The commissioners had not forgotten Paramount's previous anti-trust violations, and believed Paramount executives were attempting to control television by operating two television networks. According to White, the FCC's ruling "ensured that television broadcasting would be controlled by the same three companies that had dominated radio broadcasting, thus fostering a lack of diversity in both station and network ownership".
The 1953 merger of ABC and United Paramount Theatres lead to the divestiture of WBKB (now WBBM-TV
), which was sold to CBS. Paramount retained KTLA and applied to the FCC for a new station in Boston, but the construction permit was never granted. By this time, Paramount's television arm was called Paramount TV Productions, Incorporated; Paramount ceased using the PTN name. The company continued to distribute programs nationally, however, and continued to sign network affiliation agreements with local television stations.
With just one owned-and-operated station, Paramount's program service never gelled into a true television network; television historians such as Alex McNeil (1996) consider Paramount programs syndicated rather than network series. While the Paramount series Hollywood Wrestling and Time For Beany were widely seen on stations across the United States, most other Paramount television programs aired in only a handful of markets (another exception, Hollywood Reel, aired in fourteen major cities in 1950).
Paramount's revenues were much smaller than those of a true television network, and gradually Paramount began losing program sponsors or ended production on formerly-popular television series. American Vitamin Corporation, Paramount's sponsor for both The Spade Cooley Show and Frosty Frolics, pulled its $25,000 weekly sponsorship in October 1951. In June 1953 it was announced that Time For Beany and Paramount Television Productions were "calling it a day". Paramount ended production of its flagship series in October 1953; rival Los Angeles station KTTV
and independent distributor Consolidated Television took over production and distribution, respectively, of Time For Beany. Independent distributor Cinema-Vue took over Hollywood Wrestling. By late 1955, Billboard reported the Paramount Network consisted of just 15 stations airing Bandstand Revue. Billboard called this a "sort of" network. Management changes at KTLA, coupled with low local ratings, caused the cancellation of Bandstand Revue in October 1956. Klaus Landsberg, who had produced many of the series for KTLA, died in September 1956 and the new station manager made what Billboard called "sweeping changes" at the station.
By Autumn 1955, Hollywood insiders were predicting that Paramount would launch a major television network using KTLA and the DuMont stations. Articles reported that Paramount was seeking television scripts and was constructing theaters and studios which rivaled those of ABC, CBS, and NBC. In a dramatic move, Paramount's board of directors seized control of DuMont Laboratories in a boardroom coup
in August 1955. Paramount executives replaced DuMont's board of directors, Dr. DuMont was removed as president of the company, and DuMont Network operations ceased the following year. However, no combined Paramount-DuMont network ever materialized; according to television historian Timothy White, by this time "a television network was no longer among Paramount's plans for exploitation of the small screen". Paramount sold its interest in DuMont (by this time renamed "Metropolitan Broadcasting Company") in 1959; the sale ended Paramount's first ventures into network television.
, Associated Artists Productions
, Motion Pictures for Television and Harvey Comics
. In 1958, Paramount sold most of their pre-1950 sound live action feature film library to EMKA, Ltd.
, a subsidiary of MCA. The live action films would end up with Universal
's library after MCA bought Universal Pictures.
After acquiring Desilu Productions
in 1967, the company continued to produce series
seen on the "big three" television networks
. Among these programs were Here's Lucy
, Mission: Impossible
, and Mannix
for CBS; The Brady Bunch
, The Odd Couple
, and Happy Days
for ABC; and (in later years) Family Ties
and Cheers
for NBC. KTLA was eventually sold to actor and singer Gene Autry
for $12 million in 1964.
In 1978, Paramount CEO Barry Diller
planned to launch the Paramount Television Service
, a new "fourth television network
"; its programs would have aired 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 Paramount made the decision to transform Phase II into Star Trek: The Motion Picture
.
On January 16, 1995, Paramount launched the United Paramount Network
(UPN), a new broadcast television network. In eleven years on the air, UPN never made a profit; The New Yorker
reported that the network had lost $800 million during its first five years of operation. UPN ceased operations in 2006, when it merged with the WB Television Network
to form the CW Television Network
. Today Paramount's television division is part of CBS Television Studios.
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
to organize a television network
Television network
A television network is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, whereby a central operation provides programming to many television stations or pay TV providers. Until the mid-1980s, television programming in most countries of the world was dominated by a small...
in the late 1940s. The company had built television stations KTLA
KTLA
KTLA, virtual channel 5, is a television station in Los Angeles, California, USA. Owned by the Tribune Company, KTLA is an affiliate of the CW Television Network. KTLA's studios are on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, and its transmitter is located atop Mount Wilson...
in Los Angeles and WBKB
WBBM-TV
WBBM-TV, virtual channel 2 , is the CBS owned-and-operated television station in Chicago, Illinois. WBBM-TV's main studios and offices are located in The Loop section of Chicago, as part of the development at Block 37, and its transmitter is atop the Willis Tower.-History:WBBM-TV traces its history...
in Chicago; it also had invested US$
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
400,000 in the DuMont Television Network
DuMont Television Network
The DuMont Television Network, also known as the DuMont Network, DuMont, Du Mont, or Dumont was one of the world's pioneer commercial television networks, rivalling NBC for the distinction of being first overall. It began operation in the United States in 1946. It was owned by DuMont...
, which operated stations WABD
WNYW
WNYW, virtual channel 5 , is the flagship television station of the News Corporation-owned Fox Broadcasting Company, located in New York City. The station's transmitter is atop the Empire State Building and its studio facilities are located in the Yorkville section of Manhattan...
, WTTG
WTTG
WTTG, channel 5, is an owned-and-operated television station of the Fox Broadcasting Company, located in the American capital city of Washington, D.C...
, and WDTV
KDKA-TV
KDKA-TV, channel 2, is an owned and operated television station of the CBS Television Network, located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. KDKA-TV broadcasts from a transmitter located in the Perry North neighborhood of Pittsburgh, and its studios are located in downtown Pittsburgh at Gateway Center....
in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Pittsburgh. Escalating disputes between Paramount and DuMont concerning breaches of contract, company control, and network competition erupted regularly between 1940 and 1956, and culminated in the dismantling of the DuMont Network. Television historian Timothy White called the clash between the two companies "one of the most unfortunate and dramatic episodes in the early history of the television industry."
The Paramount Television Network aired several programs, including the Emmy award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
-winning children's series Time For Beany
Time for Beany
Time for Beany was an American television series, with puppets for characters, which aired locally in Los Angeles starting in 1949 and nationally on the improvised Paramount Television Network from 1950 to 1955...
. Filmed in Hollywood
Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
Hollywood is a famous district in Los Angeles, California, United States situated west-northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Due to its fame and cultural identity as the historical center of movie studios and movie stars, the word Hollywood is often used as a metonym of American cinema...
, the programs were distributed to an ad-hoc network of stations across the United States. The network signed affiliation agreements with more than 50 television stations in 1950; despite this, most of Paramount's series were not widely viewed outside the West Coast. The Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
(FCC), which had filed suit against Paramount for anti-trust violations, prevented the studio from acquiring additional television stations. Paramount executives eventually gave up on the idea of a television network, but continued to produce series for other networks. In 1995, after four decades of television production for other companies, Paramount re-entered the broadcast network field when the company launched the United Paramount Network (UPN), a television network which operated until 2006. Paramount's television division is now owned by CBS Television Studios.
Origins
William Wadsworth Hodkinson founded American film corporation Paramount PicturesParamount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
in 1914. Famous Players-Lasky Corporation acquired the company in 1916 and by the 1920s Paramount had become a key player in Hollywood
Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
Hollywood is a famous district in Los Angeles, California, United States situated west-northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Due to its fame and cultural identity as the historical center of movie studios and movie stars, the word Hollywood is often used as a metonym of American cinema...
. The company founded or acquired many film production and exhibition properties; among these were the 2,000-screen theater chain United Paramount Theatres
United Paramount Theatres
Plitt Theatres was one of the largest chain of cinemas in the United States.The theater chain was divested from Paramount Pictures as a result of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in the case United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc. ....
(UPT), newsreel service Paramount News
Paramount News
Paramount News is the name on the newsreels produced by Paramount Pictures .-History:The Paramount Newsreel began operation in 1927 and distributed roughly two movie theater issues per week until their closing in 1957. Movie theaters across the country would run these issues, usually on 35mm...
, and animation studio Famous Studios
Famous Studios
Famous Studios was the animation division of the film studio Paramount Pictures from 1942 to 1967. Famous was founded as a successor company to Fleischer Studios, after Paramount acquired the aforementioned studio and ousted its founders, Max and Dave Fleischer, in 1941...
. The company became one of the "big five" Hollywood studios. By the 1940s, however, Paramount was the target of several anti-trust lawsuits brought against the studio by the federal government, which accused Paramount of conducting monopolistic practices. The Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
(FCC) forced Paramount to sell off its theater division in 1949.
As early as 1937, executives at Paramount Pictures were interested in the new medium of television. The following year, Paramount purchased a minority interest in DuMont Laboratories
DuMont Laboratories
DuMont Laboratories was an American television equipment manufacturer. The company was founded in 1931, by inventor Allen B. DuMont. Among the company's developments were long-lasting cathode ray tubes that would be used for television. Another product out of the lab was a DuMont invention, the...
, a pioneer in early television technology founded by Dr. Allen B. DuMont
Allen B. DuMont
Allen Balcom DuMont also spelled Du Mont, was an American scientist and inventor best known for improvements to the cathode ray tube in 1931 for use in television receivers. Seven years later he manufactured and sold the first commercially practical television set to the public...
. Relations between Paramount and DuMont staff were strained by 1940, when Paramount, without DuMont, opened Chicago television station WBKB
WBBM-TV
WBBM-TV, virtual channel 2 , is the CBS owned-and-operated television station in Chicago, Illinois. WBBM-TV's main studios and offices are located in The Loop section of Chicago, as part of the development at Block 37, and its transmitter is atop the Willis Tower.-History:WBBM-TV traces its history...
and Los Angeles station KTLA
KTLA
KTLA, virtual channel 5, is a television station in Los Angeles, California, USA. Owned by the Tribune Company, KTLA is an affiliate of the CW Television Network. KTLA's studios are on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, and its transmitter is located atop Mount Wilson...
. Dr. DuMont claimed that the original 1937 acquisition proposal required that Paramount would expand its television interests "through DuMont". Paramount representative Paul Raibourn denied that any such restriction had ever been discussed (a 1953 examination of the original draft document vindicated DuMont on this point). The stock in DuMont, coupled with the Chicago and Los Angeles stations, gave Paramount full or partial ownership of four of the first nine television stations in the United States.
DuMont Laboratories launched the DuMont Television Network
DuMont Television Network
The DuMont Television Network, also known as the DuMont Network, DuMont, Du Mont, or Dumont was one of the world's pioneer commercial television networks, rivalling NBC for the distinction of being first overall. It began operation in the United States in 1946. It was owned by DuMont...
in 1946. Despite Paramount's partial ownership of DuMont, Paramount's two stations never aired television programs from DuMont's television network (with the exception of one year on KTLA in 1947–48), and competed against DuMont's affiliates in Los Angeles and Chicago. According to authors Auter and Boyd, Paramount's construction of KTLA and WBKB and its subsequent launch of the Paramount Television Network "undercut" DuMont, a company it had invested in.
KTLA began commercial broadcasts in January 1947; its first evening broadcast was hosted by Bob Hope
Bob Hope
Bob Hope, KBE, KCSG, KSS was a British-born American comedian and actor who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in radio, television and movies. He was also noted for his work with the US Armed Forces and his numerous USO shows entertaining American military personnel...
and featured Kirk Douglas
Kirk Douglas
Kirk Douglas is an American stage and film actor, film producer and author. His popular films include Out of the Past , Champion , Ace in the Hole , The Bad and the Beautiful , Lust for Life , Paths of Glory , Gunfight at the O.K...
, William Bendix
William Bendix
William Bendix was an American film, radio, and television actor, best remembered in movies for the title role in the movie The Babe Ruth Story and for portraying clumsily earnest aircraft plant worker Chester A. Riley in radio and television's The Life of Riley...
, Dorothy Lamour
Dorothy Lamour
Dorothy Lamour was an American film actress. She is best remembered for appearing in the Road to... movies, a series of successful comedies starring Bing Crosby and Bob Hope .-Early life:Lamour was born Mary Leta Dorothy Slaton in New Orleans, Louisiana, the daughter of Carmen Louise Dorothy...
, William Demarest
William Demarest
Carl William Demarest was an American character actor. He frequently played crusty but good-hearted roles.-Early life and career:...
, Ray Milland
Ray Milland
Ray Milland was a Welsh actor and director. His screen career ran from 1929 to 1985, and he is best remembered for his Academy Award–winning portrayal of an alcoholic writer in The Lost Weekend , a sophisticated leading man opposite a corrupt John Wayne in Reap the Wild Wind , the murder-plotting...
, and Cecil B. DeMille
Cecil B. DeMille
Cecil Blount DeMille was an American film director and Academy Award-winning film producer in both silent and sound films. He was renowned for the flamboyance and showmanship of his movies...
. KTLA was the first commercial station west of the Mississippi River. Although other Los Angeles TV stations operated experimentally and received commercial licenses, KTLA had a head start that resulted in a large viewership; a 1949 audience estimate from the C.E. Hooper company indicated that KTLA was broadcasting 28 of the top 30 television series in Los Angeles. The popularity of KTLA's local programs opened up the possibility that they would become national hits if released to other stations across the country.
Launch
Paramount's television division, Television Productions, Inc., created the Paramount Television Network in 1948. Full-page advertisements announcing the newly created network ran in BillboardBillboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
that year and in Television magazine early the following year. Filming of programs took place at KTLA. A coaxial cable
Coaxial cable
Coaxial cable, or coax, has an inner conductor surrounded by a flexible, tubular insulating layer, surrounded by a tubular conducting shield. The term coaxial comes from the inner conductor and the outer shield sharing the same geometric axis...
link between KTLA and KFMB-TV
KFMB-TV
KFMB-TV is the local CBS television affiliate in San Diego, California. Its studios are located on Engineer Road in the Kearny Mesa area of San Diego along with its sister radio stations, AM 760 and FM 100.7...
in San Diego transmitted a live signal to San Diego viewers. Other television stations across the United States received Paramount programs via kinescope
Kinescope
Kinescope , shortened to kine , also known as telerecording in Britain, is a recording of a television program made by filming the picture from a video monitor...
recording for airing; these filmed series allowed stations to "fill in" their schedules during hours when ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
, NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
, CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
, and DuMont were not broadcasting shows, or when station managers preferred Paramount's filmed offerings to those of the four networks. Station managers at WBKB-TV in Chicago also had plans to distribute their own kinescoped programs.
Paramount management planned to acquire additional owned-and-operated station
Owned-and-operated station
In the broadcasting industry , an owned-and-operated station usually refers to a television station or radio station that is owned by the network with which it is associated...
s ("O&Os"); the company applied to the FCC for additional stations in San Francisco, Detroit, and Boston. The FCC, however, denied Paramount's applications. A few years earlier, the federal regulator had placed a five-station cap on all television networks: no network was allowed to own more than five VHF television stations. Paramount was hampered by its minority stake in the DuMont Television Network. Although both DuMont and Paramount executives stated that the companies were separate, the FCC ruled that Paramount's partial ownership of DuMont meant that DuMont and Paramount were in theory branches of the same company. Since DuMont owned three television stations and Paramount owned two, the federal agency ruled neither network could acquire additional television stations. The FCC requested that Paramount relinquish its stake in DuMont, but Paramount refused. According to television historian William Boddy, "Paramount's checkered anti-trust history" helped convince the FCC that Paramount controlled DuMont. Both television networks suffered as a result, with neither company able to acquire five O&Os. Meanwhile, CBS, ABC, and NBC had each acquired the maximum of five stations by the mid-1950s.
Author Timothy White has called Paramount's efforts to launch its own television service, which directly competed with the DuMont Television Network, an unwise decision—Paramount in effect was competing with itself. The resulting ill feelings between Paramount's and DuMont's executives continued to escalate throughout the early 1950s, and the lack of cooperation hindered both entities' network plans. According to White, by 1953, even the public pretense of cooperation between Paramount and DuMont was gone.
Programs
The Paramount Television Network aired several television series during its years of operations. The following is a partial list:- Armchair Detective, a half-hour crime reenactment series produced at KTLA that aired on CBS and Paramount stations
- Bandstand Revue, a 30-minute long music program sponsored by Ralston Purina
- Dixie Showboat, a weekly Country and Western musical variety program
- Frosty Frolics, an ice skating show which also briefly aired (for four weeks) on ABC
- Harry Owens' Royal Hawaiians, a series featuring Hawaiian music airing in Los Angeles and San Francisco that later moved to CBS
- Hollywood Opportunity, a talent show
- Hollywood Reel, a Hollywood gossip program narrated by Hollywood columnist Erskine Johnson
- Hollywood WrestlingHollywood WrestlingHollywood Wrestling, also known as Wrestling From Hollywood, was an American professional wrestling television series which originally aired locally in Los Angeles on KTLA in the early 1950s, and by 1952 nationally on the improvised Paramount Television Network...
, an early professional wrestling series - Latin Cruise, a musical series starring Bobby Ramos
- Magazine of the Week, a women's program
- Meet Me in Hollywood, a man on the street interview series that was broadcast from the famed intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and Vine StreetHollywood and VineHollywood and Vine, the intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, became famous in the 1920s for its concentration of radio and movie-related businesses. The Hollywood Walk of Fame is centered on the intersection.Today, not many production...
- Movietown, RSVP, a charades program
- Olympic Wrestling, another professional wrestling series
- Sandy Dreams, a children's program that also briefly aired on ABC stations.
- The Spade Cooley Show, a variety program hosted by Spade CooleySpade CooleyDonnell Clyde Cooley , better known as Spade Cooley, was an American Western swing musician, big band leader, actor, and television personality...
and which featured Dick LaneDick Lane (TV announcer)Richard Lane , more commonly known as Dick Lane, was an American television announcer and actor who made his mark broadcasting wrestling and roller derby shows on KTLA-TV, mainly from the Grand Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles, California.-Early years:Lane was born in 1899 in Rice Lake, Wisconsin...
, Anita Aros, Phil Gray, and Kay Cee Jones - Time for BeanyTime for BeanyTime for Beany was an American television series, with puppets for characters, which aired locally in Los Angeles starting in 1949 and nationally on the improvised Paramount Television Network from 1950 to 1955...
, a children's series that received an Emmy awardEmmy AwardAn Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
in 1949, in the category Best Children's Show - Yer Ole Buddy, a comedy program
Various press releases indicated that other KTLA series would be offered on the network. There is no indication, however, that the following series aired outside Los Angeles:
- Girls Only, a comedy/drama starring Mary GordonMary Gordon (actor)Mary Gordon was a Scottish actress, long in the United States, who specialized in housekeepers and mothers, most notably the landlady Mrs. Hudson in the Sherlock Holmes series of movies of the Thirties and Forties...
as an aging ex-actress with four young female charges - The Ina Ray Hutton ShowThe Ina Ray Hutton ShowThe Ina Ray Hutton Show was a TV show starring prominent female jazz bandleader Ina Ray Hutton and her all-female orchestra. The show lasted as a regional television show for five years, from 1951 to 1956, and had a brief network run in 1956....
, a series featuring bandleader Ina Ray HuttonIna Ray HuttonIna Ray Hutton was an American female leader during the Big band era, and sister to June Hutton.Hutton was born as Odessa Cowan in Chicago, Illinois of African American descent. She began dancing and singing in stage revues at the age of eight. Cowan's mother Marvel Ray was a local pianist and... - The Lawrence Welk ShowThe Lawrence Welk ShowThe Lawrence Welk Show is an American televised musical variety show hosted by big band leader Lawrence Welk. The series aired locally in Los Angeles for four years , then nationally for another 27 years via the ABC network and first-run syndication .In the years since first-run syndication...
, a musical program starring Lawrence WelkLawrence WelkLawrence Welk was an American musician, accordionist, bandleader, and television impresario, who hosted The Lawrence Welk Show from 1955 to 1982...
which moved to ABC in summer 1955 - Mayfair Mystery House, a 39-episode drama filmed in England
- Spade Cooley's Western Varieties, another series featuring Spade Cooley
Staff
Paul Raibourn served as the president of Paramount Television Productions. Raibourn was also appointed vice president of Paramount Pictures Corporation, and, due to Paramount's minority interest in DuMont, was installed as treasurer of the DuMont Television Network. This appointment created another point of conflict between Paramount and DuMont. According to Leonard GoldensonLeonard Goldenson
Leonard H. Goldenson was President of the U.S. television and radio broadcaster ABC.-Early life and career:...
, president of ABC during this era, Raibourn "constantly nitpicked and needled [Allen DuMont] over the smallest expenditures. DuMont came to the point where, psychologically, he thought he couldn't do anything without Raibourn's approval." Raibourn trimmed DuMont's budgets at a time when the network should have been expanding. Goldenson credits Raibourn as one of the reasons ABC eventually became a successful, established television network while the DuMont network failed: "the name of the television game is programs. If you won't put money into programs, you won't succeed."
Klaus Landsberg
Klaus Landsberg
Klaus Landsberg was a pioneering electrical engineer who made history with early commercial telecasts and helped pave the way to today's television networks.He appeared in many plays during his childhood...
, a German immigrant, produced many Paramount Television Network series; he also served as one of the company's vice presidents and as KTLA's general manager. Other Paramount executives included: George T. Shupert, Paramount Television Productions' program sales executive; Burt Balaban, programming executive; John Howell, sales executive; and Bernard Goodwin, a director and vice president of Paramount Television Productions.
Affiliates
During the 1940s and '50s, television networks in the United States were restricted to owning no more than five local VHF TV stations. This system, which had evolved from similar FCC regulations governing radio, resulted in TV network executives forming alliances with local station owners in order to air network programs across the U.S. These alliances were codified in network affiliation contracts; Paramount Television Network staff required affiliate station managers to sign a network contract even if the station only aired one Paramount program. At its peak in late 1950, the Paramount Television Network was distributing five television series a week to over 40 affiliated television stations. Most Paramount stations were in the United States, but at least two were Canadian stations.During this era, American television programs were either broadcast live to local television stations via microwave relay and AT&T
AT&T
AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications corporation headquartered in Whitacre Tower, Dallas, Texas, United States. It is the largest provider of mobile telephony and fixed telephony in the United States, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services...
's coaxial cable service or were recorded on kinescope and delivered through the mail to local stations. The live broadcast method was expensive, but was preferred by executives at each of the four major U.S. television networks (ABC, NBC, CBS, and DuMont); in 1954, DuMont alone spent $3 million on live TV broadcasts. The major networks sent kinescopes to stations when live transmissions were not possible. "Film networks", which sent out only prerecorded material, also existed; kinescopes were cheap to produce and cost little to mail. Paramount's television service was a hybrid of the two systems, with a live connection between KTLA and KFMB-TV in San Diego, and other affiliates broadcasting programs from kinescope recordings. Paramount executives considered a live connection between Los Angeles and San Francisco too expensive. Uniquely, Paramount's The Harry Owens Show was broadcast live in Los Angeles and San Francisco by having the program's performers and crew commute via airplane between the two stations for sequential performances.
The table below lists stations which carried Paramount Television Network programs, including the company's two owned-and-operated stations, KTLA and WBKB. DuMont's three VHF stations, WABD, WTTG, and WDTV, which aired little or no Paramount programming but which the FCC ruled were O&Os of the same entity, also appear in this list. Also included are DuMont's two short-lived UHF licenses: KCTY-TV, which only operated for a few months, and WHK-TV, which never signed on. A number of stations carried Armchair Detective, Sandy Dreams, and Frosty Frolics when those programs aired on CBS and ABC. Stations which aired those programs as part of an ABC or CBS affiliation are not shown in the table below.
EWLINE
|
End of network
In May 1951, ABC chairman Edward Noble and United Paramount Theatres president Leonard Goldenson announced a proposed merger between their companies. The plan was to merge ABC and its five television stations with United Paramount Theatres, a company only recently spun off from Paramount Pictures. UPT also owned the Chicago station, WBKB; that station would have to be sold in order for the merged company to stay under the five-station cap. Because the proposed merger involved the sale of a television station, it required the approval of the FCC, which opened a hearing on the issue that August. The proposed deal was complex, and would affect many parties involved in television broadcasting, including Paramount, DuMont, and CBS (CBS executives wanted to purchase WBKB). During the hearing, Allen DuMont asked the FCC to force Paramount to sell its share of the DuMont Network. He stated that Paramount in effect owned two television networks, the PTN and DuMont; the FCC had similarly forced NBC to sell off one of its two radio networks eight years earlier due to concerns about multi-network ownership. Paramount executives, however, denied ever having operated a television network. Evidence presented against Paramount included network affiliation contracts and advertisements for the Paramount Television Network from 1951. Despite Paramount executives' testimony, advertisements for the Paramount Television Network ran as late as 1952.After a grueling 18-month trial, the federal agency allowed the ABC-UPT merger, but never ruled on Paramount's partial ownership of a second network; Paramount was allowed to retain its shares in DuMont. Leo Resnick, hearing examiner for the Commission, concluded that Paramount did not control DuMont, but the FCC rejected this portion of Resnick's findings, restricting Paramount and DuMont to a total of five stations. The commissioners had not forgotten Paramount's previous anti-trust violations, and believed Paramount executives were attempting to control television by operating two television networks. According to White, the FCC's ruling "ensured that television broadcasting would be controlled by the same three companies that had dominated radio broadcasting, thus fostering a lack of diversity in both station and network ownership".
The 1953 merger of ABC and United Paramount Theatres lead to the divestiture of WBKB (now WBBM-TV
WBBM-TV
WBBM-TV, virtual channel 2 , is the CBS owned-and-operated television station in Chicago, Illinois. WBBM-TV's main studios and offices are located in The Loop section of Chicago, as part of the development at Block 37, and its transmitter is atop the Willis Tower.-History:WBBM-TV traces its history...
), which was sold to CBS. Paramount retained KTLA and applied to the FCC for a new station in Boston, but the construction permit was never granted. By this time, Paramount's television arm was called Paramount TV Productions, Incorporated; Paramount ceased using the PTN name. The company continued to distribute programs nationally, however, and continued to sign network affiliation agreements with local television stations.
With just one owned-and-operated station, Paramount's program service never gelled into a true television network; television historians such as Alex McNeil (1996) consider Paramount programs syndicated rather than network series. While the Paramount series Hollywood Wrestling and Time For Beany were widely seen on stations across the United States, most other Paramount television programs aired in only a handful of markets (another exception, Hollywood Reel, aired in fourteen major cities in 1950).
Paramount's revenues were much smaller than those of a true television network, and gradually Paramount began losing program sponsors or ended production on formerly-popular television series. American Vitamin Corporation, Paramount's sponsor for both The Spade Cooley Show and Frosty Frolics, pulled its $25,000 weekly sponsorship in October 1951. In June 1953 it was announced that Time For Beany and Paramount Television Productions were "calling it a day". Paramount ended production of its flagship series in October 1953; rival Los Angeles station KTTV
KTTV
KTTV, channel 11, is an owned-and-operated television station of the News Corporation-owned Fox Broadcasting Company, located in Los Angeles, California. Serving the vast Los Angeles metropolitan area, KTTV is a sister station to KCOP , Los Angeles' MyNetworkTV station...
and independent distributor Consolidated Television took over production and distribution, respectively, of Time For Beany. Independent distributor Cinema-Vue took over Hollywood Wrestling. By late 1955, Billboard reported the Paramount Network consisted of just 15 stations airing Bandstand Revue. Billboard called this a "sort of" network. Management changes at KTLA, coupled with low local ratings, caused the cancellation of Bandstand Revue in October 1956. Klaus Landsberg, who had produced many of the series for KTLA, died in September 1956 and the new station manager made what Billboard called "sweeping changes" at the station.
By Autumn 1955, Hollywood insiders were predicting that Paramount would launch a major television network using KTLA and the DuMont stations. Articles reported that Paramount was seeking television scripts and was constructing theaters and studios which rivaled those of ABC, CBS, and NBC. In a dramatic move, Paramount's board of directors seized control of DuMont Laboratories in a boardroom coup
Boardroom coup
A boardroom coup is the sudden overthrow of the management or governing body of a corporation by an individual or small group of individuals, usually from within the company.-Notable examples:...
in August 1955. Paramount executives replaced DuMont's board of directors, Dr. DuMont was removed as president of the company, and DuMont Network operations ceased the following year. However, no combined Paramount-DuMont network ever materialized; according to television historian Timothy White, by this time "a television network was no longer among Paramount's plans for exploitation of the small screen". Paramount sold its interest in DuMont (by this time renamed "Metropolitan Broadcasting Company") in 1959; the sale ended Paramount's first ventures into network television.
Paramount's later involvement with television
Despite Paramount's failure to build a national broadcast television network, the company retained KTLA, and executives at Paramount continued to toy with the idea of entering the television medium once more. Paramount sold its library of shorts and cartoons in separate deals to U.M.&M. T.V. Corp.U.M.&M. T.V. Corp.
U.M.&M. T.V. Corp. is best known as the original purchaser of Paramount Pictures' pre-October 1950 shorts and cartoons...
, Associated Artists Productions
Associated Artists Productions
Associated Artists Productions was a distributor of theatrical feature films and short subjects for television. It existed from 1953 to 1958. It was later folded into United Artists. The former a.a.p. library was later owned by MGM/UA Entertainment and then Turner Entertainment. Turner continues...
, Motion Pictures for Television and Harvey Comics
Harvey Comics
Harvey Comics was an American comic book publisher, founded in New York City by Alfred Harvey in 1941, after buying out the small publisher Brookwood Publications. His brothers Robert B...
. In 1958, Paramount sold most of their pre-1950 sound live action feature film library to EMKA, Ltd.
EMKA, Ltd.
EMKA, Ltd. is an in-name-only division of Universal Studios' television unit whose sole function is overseeing Paramount Pictures' pre-1950 sound feature film library. EMKA was formed by MCA in 1957 .In the aftermath of the landmark 1948 United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc...
, a subsidiary of MCA. The live action films would end up with Universal
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
's library after MCA bought Universal Pictures.
After acquiring Desilu Productions
Desilu Productions
Desilu Productions was a Los Angeles, California-based company jointly owned by actors Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball, who were married to each other from 1940 to 1960....
in 1967, the company continued to produce series
Paramount Television
Paramount Television was an American television production/distribution company that was active from January 1, 1968 to August 27, 2006.Its successor is CBS Television Studios, formerly CBS Paramount Television...
seen on the "big three" television networks
Big Three Television Networks
The Big Three Television Networks are the three traditional commercial broadcast television networks in the United States: ABC, CBS and NBC...
. Among these programs were Here's Lucy
Here's Lucy
Here's Lucy is Lucille Ball's third network television sitcom. It ran on CBS from 1968 to 1974.-Background:Though The Lucy Show was still hugely popular during the previous season, finishing in the top five of the Nielsen Ratings , Ball opted to end that series at the end of that season and create...
, Mission: Impossible
Mission: Impossible
Mission: Impossible is an American television series which was created and initially produced by Bruce Geller. It chronicled the missions of a team of secret American government agents known as the Impossible Missions Force . The leader of the team was Jim Phelps, played by Peter Graves, except in...
, and Mannix
Mannix
Mannix is an American television detective series that ran from 1967 through 1975 on CBS. Created by Richard Levinson and William Link and developed by executive producer Bruce Geller, the title character, Joe Mannix, is a private investigator. He is played by Mike Connors...
for CBS; The Brady Bunch
The Brady Bunch
The Brady Bunch is an American sitcom created by Sherwood Schwartz and starring Robert Reed, Florence Henderson, and Ann B. Davis. The series revolved around a large blended family...
, The Odd Couple
The Odd Couple (TV series)
The Odd Couple is a television situation comedy broadcast from September 24, 1970 to July 4, 1975 on ABC. It starred Tony Randall as Felix Unger and Jack Klugman as Oscar Madison. It was based upon the play of the same name, which was written by Neil Simon.Felix and Oscar are two divorced men....
, and Happy Days
Happy Days
Happy Days is an American television sitcom that originally aired from January 15, 1974, to September 24, 1984, on ABC. Created by Garry Marshall, the series presents an idealized vision of life in mid-1950s to mid-1960s America....
for ABC; and (in later years) Family Ties
Family Ties
Family Ties is an American sitcom that aired on NBC for seven seasons, from 1982 to 1989. The sitcom reflected the move in the United States from the cultural liberalism of the 1960s and 1970s to the conservatism of the 1980s. This was particularly expressed through the relationship between young...
and Cheers
Cheers
Cheers is an American situation comedy television series that ran for 11 seasons from 1982 to 1993. It was produced by Charles/Burrows/Charles Productions, in association with Paramount Network Television for NBC, and was created by the team of James Burrows, Glen Charles, and Les Charles...
for NBC. KTLA was eventually sold to actor and singer Gene Autry
Gene Autry
Orvon Grover Autry , better known as Gene Autry, was an American performer who gained fame as The Singing Cowboy on the radio, in movies and on television for more than three decades beginning in the 1930s...
for $12 million in 1964.
In 1978, Paramount CEO Barry Diller
Barry Diller
Barry Charles Diller is the Chairman and Senior Executive of IAC/InterActiveCorp and the media executive responsible for the creation of Fox Broadcasting Company and USA Broadcasting.-Early life:...
planned to launch the Paramount Television Service
Paramount Television Service
The Paramount Television Service was the name of a proposed but ultimately, unrealized "fourth television network" from the major American film studio, Paramount Pictures...
, a new "fourth television network
Fourth television network
In American television terminology, a fourth network is a reference to a fourth broadcast television network, as opposed to the Big Three television networks that dominated US TV from the 1950s to the 1990s: ABC, CBS, and NBC....
"; its programs would have aired only one night a week. Thirty "Movies of the Week" would have followed Star Trek: Phase II
Star Trek: Phase II
Star Trek: Phase II was a planned television series based on the characters of Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek, which had run from 1966 to 1969. It was set to air in early 1978 on a proposed Paramount Television Service...
on Saturday nights. This plan was aborted when Paramount made the decision to transform Phase II into Star Trek: The Motion Picture
Star Trek: The Motion Picture
Star Trek: The Motion Picture is a 1979 American science fiction film released by Paramount Pictures. It is the first film based on the Star Trek television series. The film is set in the twenty-third century, when a mysterious and immensely powerful alien cloud called V'Ger approaches the Earth,...
.
On January 16, 1995, Paramount launched the United Paramount Network
UPN
United Paramount Network was a television network that was broadcast in over 200 markets in the United States from 1995 to 2006. UPN was originally owned by Viacom/Paramount and Chris-Craft Industries, the former of which, through the Paramount Television Group, produced most of the network's...
(UPN), a new broadcast television network. In eleven years on the air, UPN never made a profit; The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
reported that the network had lost $800 million during its first five years of operation. UPN ceased operations in 2006, when it merged with the WB Television Network
The WB Television Network
The WB Television Network is a former television network in the United States that was launched on January 11, 1995 as a joint venture between Warner Bros. and Tribune Broadcasting. On January 24, 2006, CBS Corporation and Warner Bros...
to form the CW Television Network
The CW Television Network
The CW Television Network is a television network in the United States launched at the beginning of the 2006–2007 television season. It is a joint venture between CBS Corporation, the former owners of United Paramount Network , and Time Warner's Warner Bros., former majority owner of The WB...
. Today Paramount's television division is part of CBS Television Studios.
Further reading
- Lev, Peter (2006). The Fifties: Transforming the Screen, 1950–1959. pp. 128–129. University of California Press ISBN 0-520-24966-6.