Paramount Television Network

This article is about the 1948–1956 television network. For the 1995–2006 network, see UPN. For the current day cable network, see Paramount Network.
Paramount Television Network
TypeDefunct broadcast television network
CountryUnited States
Broadcast areaNationwide (primarily through ad-hoc network of affiliates)
Ownership
OwnerParamount Pictures
Key peoplePaul Raibourn (President, Paramount Television Productions)[1]
Klaus Landsberg (Producer; VP, Paramount Television Productions)[2]
George T. Shupert (Executive, Program Sales, Paramount Television Productions)[3]
Burt Balaban (Executive, Programming)[3]
John Howell (Executive, Sales)[3]
Bernard Goodwin (VP, Paramount Television Productions)[4]
History
Launched1948; 76 years ago (1948)[5]
Closed1956; 68 years ago (1956)

The Paramount Television Network, Inc. was a venture by American film corporation Paramount Pictures to organize a television network in the late 1940s. The company-built television stations KTLA in Los Angeles and WBKB in Chicago; it also invested $400,000 in the DuMont Television Network, which operated stations WABD in New York City, WTTG in Washington, D.C., and WDTV in Pittsburgh. Escalating disputes between Paramount and DuMont concerning breaches of contract, company control, and network competition erupted regularly between 1940 and 1956, culminating in the DuMont Network's dismantling. Television historian Timothy White called the clash between the two companies "one of the most unfortunate and dramatic episodes in the early history of the television industry."[6]

The Paramount Television Network aired several programs, including the Emmy Award-winning children's series Time for Beany. Filmed in Hollywood, the programs were distributed to an ad-hoc network of stations across the United States. The network signed affiliation agreements with more than 50 television stations in 1950; despite this, most of Paramount's series were not widely viewed outside the West Coast. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which filed suit against Paramount for antitrust violations, prevented the studio from acquiring additional television stations. Paramount executives eventually gave up on the idea of a television network, and continued to produce series for other networks. In 1995, after four decades of television production for other companies, Paramount re-entered the broadcast network field when the company and Chris-Craft Industries launched the United Paramount Network (UPN), a television network that operated until 2006. CBS Studios now owns Paramount's longtime television division, and it has since founded a second version of Paramount Television under Viacom ownership. Both of these (along with the former WDTV, now KDKA-TV) are now part of Paramount Global.

  1. ^ "Tele is Radio Costs". Billboard. 1946-10-26. p. 17.
  2. ^ Billboard. Vol. 62, no. 21. 1950-05-27. p. cover. {{cite magazine}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  3. ^ a b c "Shupert Joins Peerless TV". Billboard. 1951-11-03. p. 12.
  4. ^ "Sunrise Corp. Buys WLOD". Billboard. 1965-06-12. p. 34.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference Schatz was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference White3 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).