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NBC Films
| NBC Films | |
| |
| Founded | March 1953 |
| Dissolved | March 1973 (merged into National Telefilm Associates) |
| President | |
| Notable Works | |
NBC Films was an American television distribution company. It is a predecessor of what is now CBS Media Ventures.
History
NBC Films was formed in March 1953 as the original syndication division of NBC, formed by the network to distribute its own programming as well as those of independent producers in off-network syndication, along with programs produced for the first-run syndication market. Some of the more well-known programs syndicated by NBC Films included Bonanza, Get Smart, I Spy and the original version of Divorce Court.
When the Federal Communications Commission ruled in 1970 that the American broadcast networks could no longer distribute their own programs for off-network syndication or produce first-run syndicated programs due to concerns about the networks monopolizing the broadcast landscape, the networks had to sell or spin off their distribution units. As a result of the FCC ruling, in March 1973, NBC sold NBC Films, along with the majority of its back catalog from before that date, to National Telefilm Associates.[1]
The majority of the NBC Films catalogue is now under the ownership of CBS Media Ventures. Exceptions to this include:
- Howdy Doody, which was kept by NBC following the sale of its pre-1973 archive to NTA and is now distributed by NBCUniversal Syndication Studios
- The Groucho Marx version of You Bet Your Life, which was also kept by NBC; many of that version's episodes fell into the public domain in the 1980s, while NUSS has the distribution rights to the non-public domain episodes
- Hopalong Cassidy, which was originally distributed in syndicated reruns by NBC Films, is now distributed by the Peter Rodgers Organization under license from the estate of Cassidy's portrayer, William Boyd (whose own syndication company, the U.S. Television Office, was a later distributor of the show)
References
External Links
- NBC Films closing logos at Closing Logos Group Wiki
