Paramount Television Service

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Paramount Television Service
Former names
Paramount Programming Service[3]
CallsignsPTVS

The Paramount Television Service, Inc. (or PTVS for short and also known as Paramount Programming Service[3]) was the name of a proposed but ultimately unrealized "fourth television network"[4] from the U.S. film studio Paramount Pictures (then a unit of Gulf+Western, now owned by Paramount Global). It was a forerunner of the later UPN[5] (the United Paramount Network), which launched 17 years later.

History

In 1974,

Chief Executive Officer of Paramount Pictures Corporation. With Diller at the helm, the studio produced television programs such as Laverne & Shirley (1976), Taxi (1978), and Cheers (1982). With his television background, Diller kept pitching an idea of his to the board: a fourth commercial network.[6]

Paramount Pictures purchased the

Movies of the Week" would have followed Star Trek: Phase II[10] on Saturday nights. Planned too was a series derived from Paramount's version of The War of The Worlds (1953) as "backup" for Phase II; a pilot presentation was completed by the film's producer George Pal. PTVS was delayed until the 1978-79 season due to cautious advertisers.[11][12]

At the time,

television movie ever made.[14]

Despite Barry Diller's best efforts, the Paramount board, and studio chief

20th Century Fox to start the Fox Broadcasting Company.[6]

Meanwhile, Paramount, long successful in syndication with repeats of

Hard Copy, Webster (which moved from ABC for its last two seasons), The Arsenio Hall Show, Friday the 13th: The Series, War of the Worlds (unrelated to the 1970s attempt) and Star Trek: The Next Generation.[19]

On February 9, 2017, Viacom announced that Spike would take on the new branding of the Paramount Network in early 2018, as the company switches to a focus on six prime ViacomCBS brands with most of the company's backing and resources.[20]

See also

References

  1. YouTube
  2. ^ "Two Appointed". Gadsden Times. AP. October 7, 1977. Retrieved October 24, 2012.
  3. ^ a b c Nadel, Gerry (May 30, 1977). "Who Owns Prime Time? The Threat of the 'Occasional' Networks". New York Magazine. New York: 34–35. Retrieved October 4, 2009.
  4. ^ Margulies, Lee (March 9, 1978). "'Fourth Network' Gains Momentum". Los Angeles Times. p. E22. Retrieved May 25, 2012. Appearing at the same session with Masini and Cox Rich Frank president of Paramount Television Distribution said the studio has not given up on ... of Star Trek original TV movies and occasional specials The service will be offered if sufficient advertiser interest can be lined up he said.
  5. ISBN 9780520276222.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link
    )
  6. ^ a b c d Lowry, Brian. "After 5 years, the WB and UPN still head in different directions". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 25, 2012.
  7. ^ Lowery, Brian. "After 5 years, the WB and UPN still head in different directions". Los Angeles Times.
  8. ^ Retro TV1 dead link
  9. ^ "'Star Trek' will be new TV Series". The Free Lance-Star. AP. June 18, 1977. p. 13. Retrieved May 25, 2012.
  10. ISBN 9781476672519
    .
  11. ^ "Snag postpones 'Star Trek'". Boca Raton News. November 11, 1977. Retrieved May 25, 2012.
  12. ISBN 0671568396
    .
  13. ^ Sackett, Susan (March 1978). "A Conversation with Gene Roddenberry". Starlog (12): 25–29. Retrieved December 12, 2014.
  14. ^ Masters 2000, pp. 80–81.
  15. ^ Vespoli, Chris (April 7, 2010). "Dead Air: A Timeline of Failed Broadcast TV Networks". Gawker.
  16. ISBN 9781317331667
    .
  17. ^ "A Lok At Star Trek". TVObscurities.com. September 1, 2006. Retrieved March 29, 2013.
  18. ^ Hadley, Josh (February 12, 2018). "Death Slot: The Secret Origin of First Run Syndication". Force of Geek.
  19. ^ "SALHANY, LUCY". The Museum of Broadcast Communications. Retrieved October 24, 2012.
  20. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (February 9, 2017). "Spike President On Channel's Rebranding As The Paramount Network". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved February 10, 2017.
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