Universal Television — BrandWiki

Universal Television

Overview

Universal Television LLC

former names	NBC Universal Television Studio (2004–07) Universal Media Studios (2007–11)
type	Division
predecessors	Revue Studios Universal Television (first incarnation) NBC Studios Studios USA Television PolyGram Television USA Cable Entertainment MCA Television Entertainment
parent	NBCUniversal (2004–2019) NBCUniversal Media Group (2019–present)
founded	1943
founder	Barry Diller
hq location	10 Universal City Plaza
hq location city	Universal City, California
hq location country	United States
key people	Erin Underhill (president)
industry	Television production
divisions	SNL Studios EMKA, Ltd. Open 4 Business Productions

Universal Television LLC (abbreviated as UTV), formerly NBC Universal Television Studio and Universal Media Studios, is an American television production company and the television studio arm of Universal Pictures, established in 2004, as the successor to Revue Studios, NBC Studios, Studios USA Television, PolyGram Television, USA Cable Entertainment and MCA Television Entertainment, under the name NBC Universal Television Studio, as a renaming of the original Universal Television. The flagship television division of the Universal Studio Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast, it serves as the network television production arm of NBC; a predecessor of the company, NBC Studios, previously assumed such functions, and a substantial portion of the company's shows air on the network.

It is also known as Open 4 Business Productions in copyright in certain television series produced by them since 2009. Re-established in 2004, it was renamed Universal Media Studios in 2007 and to its current name on September 12, 2011.

History

Revue Studios

Universal Television (original)

In 1962, MCA acquired Decca Records, including the film studio Universal-International Pictures (later integrated into Universal Pictures). The following year, in 1963, Revue Studios was reincorporated as the original iteration of Universal Television.[3] Since then, they have made many contributions to television programming, including the production of the first television film (See How They Run from 1964), the first wheel series (The Name of the Game from 1968), the first rotating series with an umbrella title (1969's The Bold Ones) and the first two-part television movie (Vanished from 1971). Universal Television (also commonly known as MCA/Universal) also co-produced many shows with Jack Webb's Mark VII Limited, such as Emergency!, Adam-12 and a revival of the 1951 series Dragnet.

In 1967, Grant Tinker, formerly employee of NBC was hired to join the studio. He held the position for two years, until he left in 1969 to join 20th Century-Fox Television, and later that year, had to start MTM Enterprises. He subsequently left Fox in 1971 due to conflicts with running MTM.[4][5][6]

During the 1970s and 1980s, Universal Television produced shows such as Baretta, The Rockford Files, Murder, She Wrote, Miami Vice, The Equalizer, The Incredible Hulk, Battlestar Galactica, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Knight Rider, The A-Team, Simon & Simon and Magnum, P.I., many of which received critical acclaim and several TV movie spin-offs after their cancellations.

In 1980, Bud Austin has received a production contract with Universal Television to produce television series.[7] One of the more notable contracts was writer/producer Dick Wolf, whose Universal association began in 1986 with Miami Vice, then writing for several more shows before creating the hit Law & Order franchise.[8] In 1987, Universal Television, which by then, was the leading producers in prime time television programming, decided to have six pilots committed for network production value, plus three series for the 1987–88 season, which included development deals with people who already contracted with Universal.[9]

In 1990, MCA/Universal Television began the Law & Order franchise. In 1991, Tom Thayer was named president of the Universal Television arm.[10] In 1993, former Warner Bros. Television senior vice president of production employee Steven J. Papazian joined Universal Television as vice president of production.[11] In 1992, Universal Television signed a deal with several newer talent, plus some returning and existing talent that were offered at the studio, including Ivan Reitman, David Burke, John Leekley and R.J. Stewart.[12] In 1993, St. Clare Entertainment, a company owned by John Landis had reupped its contract at both MCA TV, MTE and Universal Television, three of the encompassing TV units of MCA via the MCA TV Group.[13] In 1994, Universal Television made a financing partnership with ABC to help them fund the show Blue Skies.[14]

In 1996, MCA was reincorporated as Universal Studios. Around the same time, Universal was acquired by Joseph A. Seagram and Sons and later acquired the Multimedia Entertainment and USA Network.[15][16] Also that year, Universal Television collaborated with Warner Bros. Television to develop the series Spy Game for ABC, with Universal alumnus Sam Raimi and Robert Tapert of Renaissance Pictures, and Warner alumnus John McNamara producing the series, but it didn't last long, as it only lasted one season on the air.[17]

Universal purchased a 50% stake of Brillstein-Grey Entertainment in 1996 for $75 to $100 million, and included distribution rights to then-new BGE programming such as Alright Already, and did not include older BGE programs that was grandfathered by the Columbia TriStar distribution agreement, such as The Larry Sanders Show for HBO, NewsRadio and Just Shoot Me! for NBC, and The Steve Harvey Show for The WB.[18] They considered buying the other 50% after selling its own television unit to Barry Diller in 1998.[19] Universal sold its stake in BGE in 1999 and BGE was renamed as Brad Grey Television, though Universal continued to co-produce Just Shoot Me! and The Steve Harvey Show until their cancellations.[20]

EMKA, Ltd. is the holding company responsible for a majority of the pre-1950 Paramount Pictures sound library. As an official part of the Universal Pictures library, they are part of the company's television unit, Universal Television.

NBC Studios

NBC's in-house production division, commonly referred to as "NBC Television Network" was founded in 1947 by RCA (NBC's former parent company). One of its first productions was the children's television program Howdy Doody.

In 1955, NBC acquired production company Kagran Corporation,[46] and by 1956, changed its company name to California National Productions (CNP) and became its syndication and merchandising division.[47] The company also brought several NBC-aired programs, like The Adventures of Hiram Holliday and The Lawless Years, as well as non-NBC programs like The Silent Service and Philip Marlowe, but none of them were successful. The company's first hit was the television show Bonanza, which aired from 1959 to 1973 on the NBC television network. Its follow-up project that was produced independently was Outlaws, a western from 1960 to 1962. The third independently produced NBC show, The Americans, which aired only in 1961, lasted a few episodes, and bombed after only one season.

In 1961, NBC replaced CNP as its syndication division with NBC Films. Two years later, in 1963, NBC launched its production arm, NBC Productions, which succeeded NBC Television Network, to continue producing its existing show Bonanza, and develop newer projects for the network.[48] NBC developed and produced several shows internally like Kentucky Jones, Captain Nice and T.H.E. Cat. By 1966, the company had output talent deals with Sheldon Leonard, Bob Finkel, Norman Felton and David Dortort.[49] The next big project was The High Chaparral, which was a hit among viewers throughout its four-season run, only to be axed in 1971 due to the rural purge. Throughout its partnership with Sheldon Leonard, they produced three shows Accidental Family, My Friend Tony and My World and Welcome to It, but none of them were successful.

In 1971, NBC spun off NBC Films and sold it to National Telefilm Associates (which was itself later sold to Worldvision Enterprises) due to the 1970 fin-syn rules initiated by the Nixon administration, while programs from NBC News continued to be distributed internationally by NBC Enterprises for $7.5 million.[50] In 1974, NBC produced its next big hit Little House on the Prairie.

In the 1980s, NBC produced Punky Brewster, which was popular among viewers. NBC's production output was primarily on television movies and miniseries. NBC's other television series output were Sara and Roomies; both of them were unsuccessful. In 1985, Michael Filerman through his Michael Filerman Productions company signed a deal with NBC Productions to develop long-form telemovies and miniseries, as well as television series.[51] In the late 1980s, NBC Productions attempted to enter the film business, but it was proven unsuccessful, after the failure of the film Codename: Emerald. In 1987, NBC Productions provided funding for a feature film that starred Cassandra Peterson as her Elvira character, which raised $5–6 million by NBC to fund the film.[52] In 1988, NBC started a deal with Peter Engel that resulted in the creation of Good Morning, Miss Bliss and eventually producing a number of teen shows.[53]

In early 1990, NBC had struck a development deal with musician/producer Quincy Jones and his Quincy Jones Entertainment company. Also the same year, NBC signed a deal with Jay Tarses for his production company.[54] By 1990, NBC returned to producing hit programs with the sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, which starred Will Smith, in one of his first television roles. Also that same year, NBC Productions partnered with Group W Productions to develop a syndicated program House Party.[55] In 1991, NBC produced another syndicated show, this time, out of the WMAQ-TV studios, Johnny B...On the Loose, in partnership with Viacom Enterprises.[56]

In 1993, Perry Simon left NBC to start his own production company with a non-exclusive production agreement.[57] In 1995, NBC launched a partnership with television director James Burrows to create 3 Sisters Entertainment, who produced series for the network.[58] Out of these five, the most successful out of the venture were Will & Grace and Caroline in the City (co-produced and owned by CBS Productions). Later that year, NBC Productions was however folded into NBC's entertainment division.[59]

In 1996, the company was renamed NBC Studios. The company had returned to producing hit programs like The Pretender, Profiler, Providence, Ed, Las Vegas and Crossing Jordan. In 1997, NBC Studios, Paramount Pictures, and Saturday Night Live creator and producer Lorne Michaels launched a joint venture named SNL Studios, which would produce future episodes of Saturday Night Live in association with Broadway Video (also owned by Michaels), as well as movies featuring Saturday Night Live sketch characters.[60]

In 2004, NBC Studios was merged with Universal Network Television and USA Cable Entertainment to form NBC Universal Television Studio.

The current CBS broadcast syndication arm, CBS Media Ventures, through Spelling Television, currently distributes most of NBC's pre-1973 series, with the exception of non-public domain episodes of Howdy Doody and several episodes of the game show You Bet Your Life by Buddy Hackett and non-public domain episodes by Groucho Marx, which are owned by NBCUniversal; many other NBC-produced programs from before 1973 are in the public domain. Most NBC programs post-1973 are distributed by NBCUniversal Syndication Studios in the United States and MGM Worldwide Television Distribution outside of the United States.