"CBS Syndication Network"

Hi all,

In my UFO FAQ, I refer to UFO initially being shown in the USA on the
"CBS Syndication Network", as I've seen this mentioned in newspaper
and magazine articles from the time. However, I just got an e-mail
from someone who claims that there was no such thing as a "CBS
Syndication Network", and UFO was simply purchased by CBS for showing
on their affiliates in New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, St. Louis,
and Los Angeles, and the rest of the stations were individually
approached by ITC.

I'm curious, does anyone here have any specific
information/recollection of anything called a "CBS Syndication
Network"? I'm wondering if such a thing really ever existed or not?

Marc

Marc:

Call me crazy (but don't call me late for dinner), but have you thought of
asking CBS directly? Perhaps you already have. Technically, there is a
"syndication network" for all the major networks -- the networks only own a
few stations in key markets with the rest being affiliates. Perhaps this was
the confusion? It could be an old term used in the 70s (syndication network)
whereas nowadays it's referred to as "affiliates" or "affiliate network"
("Check your local ABC affiliate for time and date in your area").

Just a thought or 2.

Anthony
================================================
----- Original Message -----
From: "Marc Martin" <[hidden email]>
To: "SHADO Discussion Group" <[hidden email]>
Sent: Sunday, September 29, 2002 11:48 AM
Subject: [SHADO] "CBS Syndication Network"

Sorry Marc, there is no such thing. UFO was sold into syndication by
ITC here in the states. CBS bought it for it station in New York City which
is WCBS. They might have also picked up the right for other stations that
they own. Here where things get a bit tricky. CBS was one of the big three
networks back then, Well there were only three back then if you didn't count
PBS. It was made up of TV stations owned by Columbia Broadcasting
Systems(CBS) but there is a limit to how many stations a company could own to
keep them from forming a monoply so CBS shows it own shows on what are called
Affiliate TV stations which are not owned by CBS but show their programs.
ITC sold UFO to other TV stations. For example here in the Birmingham,
Alabama area it was shown on WBRC which was an Affiliate station of ABC back
then(its Fox now) while further south down in Mobile, Alabama UFO was shown
on a TV station that was a NBC Affiliate station.
So sorry Marc, there is not such thing as the CBS Syndication Network.
CBS just happen to buy it for their New York City station and that got every
one thinking was shown on the CBS network when there was talking of CBS being
interested in have another year of the series made for showing on the CBS
network.

James K.


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

>Call me crazy (but don't call me late for dinner), but have you thought of
>asking CBS directly? Perhaps you already have.

I haven't asked CBS, because usually the folks you contact don't know
anything! Especially about something that happened 30 years ago...

It's just that I seem to recall reading SOMEWHERE details about this
"CBS Syndication Network"... when it started up, and when/why they
discontinued it. However, now I have no clue where I might have read
this (or if I just imagined it!).

Marc

Actually Antony what I forgot to mention in my reply to Marc was back
then the networks were prevented from owning programs which prevented them
from selling them to local stations. This is what has made the studios rich!
So now that the law regarding this has changed you see studios like Disney,
buying networks and other studios like Fox and Warner Brothers and Paramount
forming their own networks.

James K.


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

I don't know if there was a CBS syndication network, but I do know that in
the San Francisco area, UFO was originally broadcast on the CBS affiliate
KPIX.


Ron

CONTENTS DELETED

>But 30 years ago, when Congress, the FCC and the Justice
>Department really cared about media competition, it was forced to sell the
>then-small company because FCC regulations and an anti-trust consent decree
>banned network production or syndication of the TV series they ran.)

Yes, thanks, and that post led me to find this:

http://www.brook.edu/views/op-ed/crandall/19990909.htm
http://www1.excite.com/home/careers/company_profile/0,15623,1359,00.html
http://www.ketupa.net/viacom2.htm

So I guess the "CBS Syndication Network" became Viacom in 1972.

Marc