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.[18] By mid-November 1982, CPT agreed to license domestic distribution rights to Spelling-Goldberg's Family to Lexington Broadcast Services Company.[19][20]
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.[21] 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.[22] By early September, actress Suzanne Somers (via Hamel/Somers Productions) signed a deal with the studio.[23]
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,[24] 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.[25] 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),[26] while George Schenck and Frank Cardea (via Schenck/Cardea Productions) reupped their contract with CPT.[27]
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.[28] 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.
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.[31]
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).[32] 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.[33]
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.[34][35][36] On November 24, 1986, Coca-Cola regrouped CPT, Embassy Communications, and Merv Griffin Enterprises, forming a new subsidiary, Coca-Cola Television[37] 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).[38] It was headed by Gary Rosenthal, who was leading Embassy Telecommunications, and also inserted was a new subsidiary Coca-Cola Television Operations.
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.[41]
In 1987, a major reorganization shook up at Columbia/Embassy Television, whereas Embassy employee Glenn Patrick resigned to start his own film and television production company, and Barbara Corday was appointed as president at the studio. The Columbia name would now be used for dramatic shows, while the Embassy name would be used for comedic output.[42] Owing to the association with Castle Rock Entertainment, CPT signed on to handle international distribution and off-net syndication of Castle Rock's properties, because Columbia had a 40% interest in the studio.[43]
