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Viacom Enterprises

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Viacom Enterprises
Viacom 1990.jpeg
Founded May 3, 1971 (reincorporated from CBS Enterprises)
Dissolved 1995 (folded into Paramount Domestic Television)
President
Notable Works

Viacom Enterprises (VE) was a television distribution company formed in 1971 as the successor to the original CBS Enterprises (formerly CBS Films), and spun off in 1973 due to now-repealed Federal Communications Commission bylaws prohibiting networks from syndicating their own shows or from producing shows for first-run syndication. It is a predecessor company of what is now CBS Media Ventures.

History

VE's purpose upon formation was to distribute the classic CBS library, which also included the pre-1960 library of Desilu Productions. It distributed other series as well, among them All in the Family until 1991, the Carsey-Werner Company library, and for a number of years distributed the MTM Enterprises library until MTM acquired Victory Television in 1980. It also distributed the first four seasons of The Montel Williams Show, the pre-1984 New World Pictures library, most of the Cannon Films library, a majority of the Elvis Presley films originally released by Paramount Pictures, the FNN-produced program, Business This Morning and the CNBC-produced program, This Morning's Business.

In 1974, VE formed Viacom Productions to produce first-run television series airing on the major television networks. In 1986, the company became a subsidiary of the newly reincorporated Viacom Inc., after a takeover by movie theatre exhibition company National Amusements.

In 1994, Viacom acquired Paramount Communications, the owner of Paramount Pictures and Paramount Television. As a result, VE was folded into PTV's distribution arm, Paramount Domestic Television.

Today, many of the shows previously distributed by Viacom Enterprises are now distributed by CBS Media Ventures, while most of the theatrical output (which had included the Cannon Films and Elvis Presley libraries) are now handled by Trifecta Entertainment and Media under license from Paramount (films either produced in-house by CBS or had ancillary rights revert to CBS in later years are still distributed by CMV). However, worldwide television rights (outside of the United States and Canada) to the Cannon library belongs to MGM International Television Distribution. There are a few exceptions to the current distribution rights:

External links