On October 25, 1965, after his exit from Four Star Television as a staff writer prior to becoming a producer, Aaron Spelling formed his own company Aaron Spelling Productions, with a two-year exclusive agreement at United Artists Television.[3]
Thomas-Spelling Productions was a televisionproduction company formed by comedian Danny Thomas and producer Aaron Spelling on April 15, 1966, as a partnership with 24 properties. The company adopted its name by July 18, 1966, when it announced the financial involvement of ABC with its first show, Range (later Rango), a half-hour comedy western starring Tim Conway. ABC also picked up another show for a pilot, just in an outline treatment, in The Guns of Will Sonnett. Thomas-Spelling Productions' active operations ended with the last season of The Mod Squad in 1972, with Spelling forming a new partnership with Leonard Goldberg, called Spelling-Goldberg Productions.
History
Spelling, who was still involved with Thomas-Spelling Productions, signed an exclusive deal with ABC via Aaron Spelling Productions for TV series and feature films.[4]
In the late 1970s/early 1980s, Spelling was called king in television. In 1982, Aaron Spelling Productions struck a deal with Warner Bros. Television Distribution for worldwide syndication rights to future Spelling productions.[5] In 1984, Spelling had seven shows for the ABC television network, accounting for one-third their prime time schedule. This outweighed other production companies by a large margin, leading many industry insiders to dub ABC as "Aaron's Broadcasting Company".[6] Spelling himself was never amused with this name.
Aaron Spelling Productions went public in 1986 after raising $80 million.[7] In May 1987, Spelling decided to expand into feature production, with five projects already in the works for different studios, and four projects ASP is heading up for the development slate.[8] On August 17, 1987, Spelling extended its contract with ABC for three more years.[9] On September 28, 1987, Spelling's arrangement with ABC became non-exclusive as it was signed a deal to other networks.[10] In 1988, Aaron Spelling Productions acquired Laurel Entertainment and most of the Taft Entertainment Company, including Worldvision Enterprises, Inc. All three companies became part of Spelling Entertainment Inc. – though Worldvision was the only Taft division to continue operating. The sale was completed on March 1, 1989.[11] In 1990, the company started Spelling Films International as a distributor for feature films such as feature film financing.[12][13]
In the early 1990s Beverly Hills, 90210 and Melrose Place helped propel Fox even higher and reach a new generation of young teen viewers. Sunset Beach was Spelling's first and only foray into the daytime soap opera genre and whilst short lived, was incredibly popular abroad. Also in the 1990s the WB was launched and their longest running, highest rated and most successful show during their time in operation was 7th Heaven for ten seasons. By 2006, another new network, The CW, used 7th Heaven in their first season in operation as the newest network; 7th Heaven, in fact, turned out to be the last network broadcast series produced by Spelling Television. Spelling's ABC, Fox, and WB shows were enormously successful for the company and they wasted no time entering into the world of merchandise in the 1980s and 1990s. The company also was one of the first production companies to actively run a website for a show they produced, when the internet was just taking off in the 1990s. The website was for Melrose Place.
Spelling Entertainment Inc. was acquired by Charter Company on April 6, 1991.[14] On March 31, 1992, Spelling and Charter announced a merger agreement.[15] On October 5, 1992, Charter changed its name to Spelling Entertainment Group Inc. and updated its NYSE ticker symbol to SP.[16] On October 5, 1993, Blockbuster, Inc. acquired a controlling stake in Spelling Entertainment Group.[17] On April 28, 1994, Spelling Entertainment acquired Republic Pictures for $100 million.[18]
Viacom acquisition
On September 29, 1994, Blockbuster merged with Viacom. Blockbuster by then owned 67% of Spelling Entertainment.[19] After the merger, Spelling Entertainment integrated Worldvision into their Republic Pictures unit, thus dismantling Worldvision as a production company. Worldvision distribution functions continued until 1999, when it was folded into Paramount Domestic Television that year and assumed distribution functions (Viacom had bought Paramount Communications – formerly Gulf+Western – the parent of Paramount Pictures and its television division, in 1994).
In 1995, Viacom attempted to sell its then-78% share of Spelling. One reason was that they wanted to recoup the debt incurred from buying Paramount Communications. Also, they felt that the operations of Spelling Television was too similar to its Paramount Television division. Potential bids came from PolyGram, New World Entertainment, and News Corporation. These plans were called off in 1996 as Viacom could not find the perfect bidder.[20][21] The remainder of Spelling Entertainment was then acquired by Viacom on June 23, 1999.[22]
Before the merger with Viacom, most of Spelling's shows were distributed by Worldvision, with older Spelling shows distributed by several others including Warner Bros. Television and 20th Television.
The company's first home was a suite of offices on the old Warners lot in Hollywood. A newer base followed when the company was an original anchor tenant of the Wilshire Courtyard buildings in LA's revitalized Miracle Mile district. Aaron Spelling was said to have loved his old office's 1970s shag carpet so much that he had it removed piece by piece and installed in the new office. The company grew so large with so many different entities that at one point it leased all three top floors of the 5700 building and held additional office space across the street. Aaron Spelling had one of the largest offices in Hollywood for a single executive. Upon the company's exit, media companies from all over Los Angeles vied for the desirable office suites; the newly formed The CW briefly looked at the offices when considering a location for the new start-up network. Spelling Television briefly moved to smaller offices in Santa Monica in 2006.
By 2000, Aaron Spelling remained active and involved as CEO until his death in 2006. Company president Jonathan Levin handled day-to-day operations and longtime Spelling producing partner, E. Duke Vincent helped guide the successful production company. In late 2005, Spelling Television had downsized its staff and signed into a pod development and production deal with Paramount Television, and moved its employees there to Paramount.[23]
CBS/ViacomCBS/Paramount Global era
Spelling Television was eventually downsized even further and became a small "production shingle" under CBS Paramount Television (now CBS Studios), a division of CBS Corporation (now Paramount Global), with a small staff. After Aaron Spelling's June 2006 death, the following May saw Spelling Television shut down and becoming an in-name-only unit of CBS Studios.
Spelling's library today
The CBS/Viacom split essentially resulted in the de-merger of Spelling and Republic. CBS retained the rights to the television side of the Spelling/Republic library, while Viacom (Paramount) retained the theatrical and direct-to-video sides of the library.
Currently, all television programs that were produced or acquired by Spelling Television are distributed by CBS Media Ventures.
The Spelling Television company logo and series were seen on broadcast television for the last time during the rerun of the 7th Heaven series finale on September 16, 2007. The Spelling logo continues to appear on the covers of DVD releases of the Spelling library except for those shows owned outright by Sony Pictures Television, and shows that were not originally produced by Spelling although eventually later acquired, such as Bonanza.
Since 2015, CBS-owned Pop, formerly called TVGN, airs many of these shows, while Paramount+ streaming service and the CBS portal on Hulu distribute the shows online.[24]
In December 2019, CBS Corporation and Viacom remerged into a single entity under the name ViacomCBS (and eventually renamed into Paramount Global), which reunited Spelling library and Republic library full-circles back.
Spelling Entertainment Group
Spelling Entertainment Television logo.
Before the full acquisition by Viacom in 1999 (where only Spelling Television would be left standing as a separate operating unit), Spelling Entertainment Group's holdings consisted of the following:
In 1998, Spelling divested in several assets in an attempt to focus solely on television. Spelling Films was shut down, as well as their home video arm (which operated under the Republic brand).[26] In May 1998, TeleUNO was acquired by Sony Pictures.[27] In September 1998, Spelling licensed the North American home video rights to its library to Artisan Entertainment, initially for seven years. That same month, Virgin Interactive's software development assets were sold to Electronic Arts.[28]
After the late 2005 corporate split between Viacom and CBS Corporation, some of the above have gone to each company. Films mostly went to Viacom's Paramount Pictures unit and television with CBS Corporation's CBS Television Distribution unit until the 2019 re-merger, while the Selznick films went to the various territorial television syndication divisions of The Walt Disney Company/ABC, as ABC itself holds the rights to the Selznick films.
As for DVD rights, these are also split (and later reunited again):
Paramount Home Entertainment owns worldwide DVD rights to the television library; as a part of the original Paramount Television, Spelling content is released under the CBS Home Entertainment banner (one exception being the United Kingdom rights to Twin Peaks, which, due to prior contracts, are handled by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment through its Universal Playback label). Another exception is Holocaust, a miniseries Spelling acquired in the Taft Entertainment acquisition - CBS has licensed DVD rights to various other companies outside the US, while Paramount/CBS owns the United States rights.
In the United States, physical media rights to the Spelling/Republic feature film library were handled by Lionsgate Home Entertainment, successor to previous Spelling/Republic video licensee Artisan Entertainment, in the early 2000s. When Paramount took over full ownership, many were relicensed to home video label Olive Films. Today, almost all of the films are owned by Paramount, with a few of the titles (most notably It's a Wonderful Life) handled directly by Paramount while the rest have been licensed out to labels as Kino Lorber, Vinegar Syndrome, and Criterion. In the rest of the world, DVD rights to the films are owned by various other companies (for example, Universal in the UK, and Paramount themselves in France and Region 4).
Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production and distribution company and the namesake subsidiary of Paramount Global. It is the sixth-oldest film studio in the world, the second-oldest film studio in the United States, and the sole member of the "Big Five" film studios located within the city limits of Los Angeles.
Republic Pictures is currently an acquisition-only label owned by Paramount Pictures. Its history dates back to the Republic Pictures Corporation, an American film studio 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.
CBS Studios, Inc. is an American television production company which is a subsidiary of the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global. It was formed on January 17, 2006, by CBS Corporation as CBS Paramount (Network) Television, as a renaming of the original incarnation of the Paramount Television studio.
King World Productions, Inc. was a production company and syndicator of television programming in the United States founded by Charles King (1912–72) that was active from 1964 to 2007.
Big Ticket Television, Inc. is an American production company. Big Ticket is a subsidiary of CBS Studios, a division of Paramount Global. It is best known for producing the syndicated mainstay Judge Judy from 1996 to 2021.
The Westinghouse Broadcasting Company, also known as Group W, was the broadcasting division of Westinghouse Electric Corporation. It owned several radio and television stations across the United States and distributed television shows for syndication.
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.
Spelling-Goldberg Productions was an American television production company established on May 1, 1972 by Aaron Spelling and Screen Gems' top TV executive Leonard Goldberg. They produced series during the 1970s like Family, Starsky & Hutch, T. J. Hooker, S.W.A.T., Charlie's Angels, Fantasy Island, and Hart to Hart. Spelling's other companies, Aaron Spelling Productions and Thomas-Spelling Productions, co-existed at the same time period and produced other well-known shows. A majority of the series produced by Spelling-Goldberg originally aired on ABC.
Rysher Entertainment, Inc. was an American film and television production company and distributor. It was founded in 1991. In 1993, Rysher was acquired by Cox Enterprises, and was subsequently closed in 1999. That same year, Viacom entered an agreement with Cox Enterprises for distribution rights to the Rysher library, which currently lie with Viacom's successor Paramount Global, specifically its subsidiaries Paramount Pictures and CBS Media Ventures. Ownership of the company's assets changed hands multiple times over the 2000s before finally being acquired by Vine Alternative Investments in 2011.
Taft Broadcasting Company was an American media conglomerate based in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Paramount Global Content Distribution is the international television distribution arm of American media conglomerate, Paramount Global, originally established in 1962 as the international distribution division of Desilu Productions. With the sale of Desilu to Gulf+Western, then-owners of film studio Paramount Pictures, in 1968, the division evolved into Paramount's first foray into the international television industry in the 1970s.
Viacom Productions was a television production arm of Viacom International. Viacom Enterprises was also a movie production, and a sports production. The division was active from 1971 until 2004, when the company was folded into Paramount Television 10 years following Viacom's acquisition of Paramount Pictures, and led Perry Simon to move itself to Paramount for a production deal.
CBS Media Ventures, Inc. is the television broadcast syndication arm of CBS Studios, a division of the CBS Entertainment Group, in turn a division of Paramount Global, founded on January 17, 2006 by CBS Corporation from a merger of CBS Paramount Domestic Television and KingWorld.
Paramount Domestic Television (PDT) was the television distribution arm of American television production company Paramount Television, once the television arm of Paramount Pictures. It was formed in 1982 originally as Paramount Domestic Television and Video Programming, the successor to Paramount Television Domestic Distribution, Paramount Television Sales, and Desilu Sales.
The original phase of Viacom Inc. was an American mass media and entertainment conglomerate based in New York City. It began as CBS Television Film Sales, the broadcast syndication division of the CBS television network in 1952; it was renamed CBS Films in 1958, renamed CBS Enterprises in 1968, renamed Viacom in 1970, and spun off into its own company in 1971. Viacom was a distributor of CBS television series throughout the 1970s and 1980s, and also distributed syndicated television programs. The company went under Sumner Redstone's control in 1987 through his cinema chain company National Amusements.
Richard P. Rubinstein is an American film and television producer, who has worked mainly in the science fiction and horror genres. In the 1970s and 1980s he collaborated frequently with horror director George A. Romero, including on the seminal zombie films Dawn of the Dead (1978) and Day of the Dead (1985). He also produced 1984–1988 anthology horror television series Tales from the Darkside. In the 1980s and 1990s Rubinstein produced a substantial number of projects based on the writings of horror novelist Stephen King.
The 2019 merger of CBS Corporation and Viacom was announced on August 13, 2019, and was completed on December 4, 2019. The merger of equals reunited CBS Corporation and Viacom into a single company known as ViacomCBS after their separation from the first incarnation of Viacom on December 31, 2005. Both companies were owned by the theater company National Amusements, which remains the owner of the merged entity.
The first incarnation of Paramount Television was operated as the television production division of the American film studio Paramount Pictures, until it changed its name to CBS Paramount Television on January 17, 2006.
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