1980s
After Norman Lear bought Avco Embassy Pictures, he dropped the name "Avco" and reincorporated T.A.T. Communications as Embassy Television. All series that were still produced by T.A.T. (such as The Facts of Life, The Jeffersons, and One Day at a Time) were produced under the Embassy name. All shows by Tandem Productions that were off the air were distributed by Embassy Telecommunications.
In 1983, Ken Stump, the former associate producer for Tandem Productions and T.A.T. Communications was made in charge of production for Tandem Productions and Embassy Television. The same year in June, Lear and Perenchio bought out Yorkin's interest in Tandem.[7]
On June 18, 1985, Norman Lear and Jerry Perenchio sold Embassy Communications, Inc. to The Coca-Cola Company for $485 million, but then Coke sold Embassy Pictures to Dino De Laurentiis since De Laurentiis wanted to start releasing his movies through his own studio. Coke's plan was to keep the television division and to spin off the other labels that weren't part of the deal.
De Laurentiis later folded Embassy Pictures with the formation of De Laurentiis Entertainment Group. The majority of the motion picture holdings are currently owned by StudioCanal. However, Columbia Pictures still retains Crimewave and Saving Grace (both co-distributed by Embassy Pictures). SPE also has the television rights to the Avco Embassy Film The Fog (1980) since a 2005 remake.
After the sale of Embassy, CPT also produced and distributed the sitcom What's Happening Now!! which was co-produced by LBS Communications. The same year, Diff'rent Strokes moved to ABC from NBC after NBC cancelled the series. Tandem Productions remained active, but Coke and Embassy Communications launched Tandem Licensing Corporation as Tandem's licensing division.
In 1986, Diff'rent Strokes was canceled due to low ratings and Tandem Productions was abandoned.[8] Embassy Television, Embassy Telecommunications, and Tandem Productions were merged into the Embassy Communications holding company and Embassy Communications became a full television studio (later becoming part of Columbia/Embassy Television in November 1986). However, Tandem still remained as an in-name-only division of Embassy Communications until January 2, 1988 when it became in-name-only to Columbia Pictures Television and in turn an in-name-only sub-division of ELP Communications. The same year, Coca-Cola spun off and sold Embassy Home Entertainment to Nelson Holdings, Inc. and became Nelson Entertainment.
CPT still retained the television rights to those Embassy movies by Joseph E. Levine, Avco Embassy Pictures, and Lear/Perenchio's Embassy Pictures.
