History
NTA was founded by Ely Landau and Oliver A. Unger [1] in 1954 when Ely Landau, Inc. was reorganized in partnership with Unger and Harold Goldman. [2] NTA was the successor company to U.M. & M. TV Corporation, which it bought out in 1956. [2]
In October 1956, NTA launched the NTA Film Network, a syndication service which distributed both film and live programs to television stations not affiliated with NBC, CBS, or ABC (DuMont had recently gone out of business). The ad-hoc network's flagship station was WNTA-TV, channel 13 in New York. [3] The NTA Network was launched as a "fourth TV network", and trade papers of the time referred to it as a new television network. [4]
The NTA network launched on October 15, 1956, with over 100 affiliate stations. [5] NTA programming included syndicated programs such as Police Call (1955), [6] How to Marry a Millionaire (1957-1959), The Passerby , Man Without a Gun (1957-1959), and This is Alice (1958). The network also distributed 52 Twentieth Century Fox films in 1956. [3] In November of the same year, it was announced that 50% of the network had been purchased by Fox, which would also produce original content for the network. [5]
In January 1959, Ely Landau was succeeded by Charles C. Barry, who took over as president of network operations. Landau continued to chair National Telefilm Associates. [7] Bernard Tabakin became the president of National Telefilms Associates in 1962 and retained that position until 1975. During his tenure, NTA became the largest independent television distributor in the industry and acquired various film libraries, including NBC Films and Republic Pictures. [8]
Despite the 50% ownership of 20th Century Fox, the film network never developed into a major commercial television network on a par with the "Big Three" television networks; modern TV historians regard the NTA Film Network as a syndication service rather than a major television network.
In March 1973, NTA bought NBC Films, the syndication arm of the NBC television network since March 1953 for $7.5 million, after the FCC ruled TV networks could not syndicate their own shows. Notable titles include Bonanza , The High Chaparral , Car 54, Where Are You? , Kimba the White Lion and Get Smart . [9]
Like its U.M. & M. predecessor, NTA altered the original negatives to the Paramount black-and-white animated shorts, replacing the front-and-end titles. References to Paramount and Technicolor were blacked out, with the NTA logo replacing the Paramount mountain.
At the end of color prints, the NTA logo had a U.M. & M. copyright byline below it, but on black-and-white prints, the U.M. & M. copyright appeared where the original Paramount copyright had been.
On some shorts, either the original Paramount copyright line, the original color process line, the "Paramount Presents" line, or even part of the Paramount logo could still be seen for a few frames before the black bars appear. On two Noveltoons featuring Little Audrey, the "spinning star" portion of the Paramount opening could still be seen. On the Little Lulu cartoons altered by NTA, they had no choice but to leave in the last part of the Paramount opening, albeit with much of it blacked out, since the "Little Lulu by Marge from The Saturday Evening Post " title card appeared over the Paramount mountain. In addition, most Betty Boop cartoons made between 1932 and 1934 utilize the Paramount mountain (minus the stars and typeface) as a backdrop for the main titles, with even a select few keeping the original copyright byline. However, when NTA repackaged many of those same cartoons in the 1970s, the original titles were kept without black bars, but the opening and ending Paramount logos were replaced with a contemporary NTA logo (the design taken from NTA predecessor Commonwealth United). At the same time, the Fleischer Studios feature Gulliver's Travels, as well as a small number of short subjects have circulated with their original Paramount titles.
Following Warner Bros.'s example of having their black-and-white cartoons colorized in 1968, NTA also sent the Betty Boop cartoons to South Korea in the early 1970s to be redrawn in color in order to become more marketable in the wake of color TV.
By 1982, NTA had launched a home video division called NTA Home Entertainment to market its holdings on VHS and Betamax, after its original contract with The Nostalgia Merchant ended. NTA previously licensed several of the titles for videocassette to The Nostalgia Merchant. [10] Two labels, Spotlite Video, releasing video cassettes of public domain material and documentaries, and Inspiration Video, which released Christian/faith content was also established. By 1984, NTA had bought the name and trademarks of the old Republic studio and renamed itself Republic Pictures and the home video arm was renamed to Republic Pictures Home Video, as well as Spotlite and Inspiration closing in 1986.
NTA/Republic changed hands in succeeding years, and distribution of the former NTA holdings is split—the theatrical rights are handled by Paramount Pictures, while television rights lie with Trifecta Entertainment & Media (for the theatrical output), and CBS Media Ventures (for the television library). When Republic folded in 2012, Viacom took full control of the former's theatrical library, with Olive Films or Kino Lorber handling home video rights to the theatrical catalog (except It's a Wonderful Life , which Paramount now distributes on DVD, among other selected films), while Paramount Home Entertainment (through CBS DVD) handles the television library for home video.
In December 2019, Viacom and CBS Corporation remerged into a single entity under the name ViacomCBS (and eventually renamed into Paramount Global), which reunited the former NTA assets.
Fleischer Studios was an American animation studio founded in 1929 by brothers Max and Dave Fleischer, who ran the pioneering company from its inception until its acquisition by Paramount Pictures, the parent company and the distributor of its films. In its prime, Fleischer Studios was a premier producer of animated cartoons for theaters, with Walt Disney Productions being its chief competitor in the 1930s.
Betty Boop is an animated cartoon character designed by Grim Natwick at the request of Max Fleischer. She originally appeared in the Talkartoon and Betty Boop film series, which were produced by Fleischer Studios and released by Paramount Pictures. She was featured in 90 theatrical cartoons between 1930 and 1939. She has also been featured in comic strips and mass merchandising.
Republic Pictures Corporation was an American film studio corporation that originally operated from 1935 to 1967, based in Los Angeles, California. It had production and distribution facilities in Studio City, as well as a movie ranch in Encino.
Noveltoons is a series of cartoons produced by Paramount Pictures' Famous Studios from 1943 to the end of the studio during 1967. The series was known for bringing the characters from Harvey Comics to life, such as Casper the Friendly Ghost, Wendy the Good Little Witch, Herman and Katnip, Little Audrey, and Baby Huey. All shorts from Baby Huey and Little Audrey are included. It was the successor to the series Color Classics produced by Fleischer Studios. Several Noveltoons feature characters which originated in Color Classics. This series was also similar to the two series from Warner Bros., Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies, in that it features several recurring characters with one general title.
Color Classics are a series of animated short films produced by Fleischer Studios for Paramount Pictures from 1934 to 1941 as a competitor to Walt Disney's Silly Symphonies. As the name implies, all of the shorts were made in color format, with the first entry of the series, Poor Cinderella (1934), being the first color cartoon produced by the Fleischer studio. There were 36 shorts produced in this series.
Worldvision Enterprises, Inc. was an American television program and home video distributor established in 1954 as ABC Film Syndication, the domestic and overseas program distribution arm of the ABC Television Network. They primarily licensed programs from independent producers, rather than producing their own content.
U.M. & M. TV Corporation was an American media company best known as the original purchaser of the pre-October 1950 short films and cartoons produced by Paramount Pictures, excluding Popeye and Superman. The initials stand for United Film Service, MTA TV of New Orleans, and Minot T.V.
Associated Artists Productions, Inc. (a.a.p.) later known as United Artists Associated was an American distributor of theatrical feature films and short subjects for television. Associated Artists Productions was the copyright owner of the Popeye the Sailor shorts by Paramount Pictures, and the pre-1950 Warner Bros. Pictures film library, notably the pre-August 1948 color Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of animated shorts, and the black-and-white Merrie Melodies shorts from Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising, excluding Lady, Play Your Mandolin!.
Screen Gems is an American brand name owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of Japanese multinational conglomerate, Sony Group Corporation. It has served several different purposes for its parent companies over the decades since its incorporation, initially as a cartoon studio, then a television studio, and later on as a film studio. The label currently serves as a film production that specializes in genre films, mainly horror.
NBCUniversal Syndication Studios, formerly known as NBCUniversal Television Distribution, Universal Domestic Television, Studios USA Television Distribution and MCA TV, is the television syndication division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, in the United States. Its predecessors include NBC Enterprises, Universal Television Distribution, Multimedia Entertainment, PolyGram Television, and Sky Vision. At some point in its history, it was also known as "NBCUniversal Television & New Media Distribution" and "NBC Universal Television and New Media Distribution.” This unit is possibly the parent for the similarly named "NBCUniversal Domestic Television Distribution" unit.
Gabby is a short-lived Max Fleischer animated cartoon series distributed through Paramount Pictures. Gabby debuted as the town crier in the 1939 animated feature Gulliver’s Travels produced by Fleischer. Shortly afterward, Paramount and Fleischer gave Gabby his own Technicolor spinoff cartoon series, eight entries of which were produced between 1940 and 1941. Gabby was voiced by Pinto Colvig, the voice of Walt Disney's Goofy, and Grumpy and Sleepy from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
The following is the 1958–59 network television schedule for the four major English language commercial broadcast networks in the United States. The schedule covers primetime hours from September 1958 through March 1959. The schedule is followed by a list per network of returning series, new series, and series cancelled after the 1957–58 season.
Spelling Television Inc. was an American television production company that went through several name changes. It was originally called Aaron Spelling Productions, then Spelling Entertainment Inc. and eventually part of Spelling Entertainment Group. The company produced popular shows such as The Love Boat, Dynasty, Beverly Hills, 90210, 7th Heaven, Melrose Place and Charmed. The company was founded by television producer Aaron Spelling on October 25, 1965. The company is currently an in-name-only unit of CBS Studios. A related company, Spelling-Goldberg Productions, co-existed during a portion of the same time period and produced other well-known shows such as Family, Charlie's Angels, Starsky & Hutch, and Fantasy Island but these series are not part of the modern day library now owned by Paramount Global. Another related company, The Douglas S. Cramer Company co-existed during a portion of the same time period, produced shows like Wonder Woman, Joe and Sons, and Bridget Loves Bernie and television films like Dawn: Portrait of a Teenage Runaway.
Popeye the Sailor is an American animated series of short films based on the Popeye comic strip character created by E. C. Segar. In 1933, Max and Dave Fleischer's Fleischer Studios, based in New York City, adapted Segar's characters into a series of theatrical cartoon shorts for Paramount Pictures. The plotlines in the animated cartoons tended to be simpler than those presented in the comic strips, and the characters slightly different. A villain, usually Bluto, makes a move on Popeye's "sweetie", Olive Oyl. The villain clobbers Popeye until he eats spinach, giving him superhuman strength. Thus empowered, Popeye makes short work of the villain.
The NTA Film Network was an early American television network founded by Ely Landau in 1956 that operated on a part-time basis, broadcasting films and several first-run television programs from major Hollywood studios. Despite attracting more than 100 affiliate stations and securing the financial support of Twentieth Century-Fox, the network proved unprofitable and was discontinued by 1961. The NTA Film Network's flagship station WNTA-TV is now WNET, one of the flagship stations of the Public Broadcasting Service.
In American television terminology, a fourth network is a reference to a fourth commercial broadcast (over-the-air) television network, as opposed to the Big Three television networks that dominated U.S. television from the 1950s to the 1980s: ABC, CBS and NBC.
The first and original incarnation of Paramount Television was the name of the television production division of the American film studio Paramount Pictures, that was responsible for the production of Viacom television programs, until it changed its name to CBS Paramount Television on January 17, 2006, due to the Viacom split.
