Colex Enterprises

Colex Enterprises was a joint venture between Columbia Pictures Television and LBS Communications, Inc., active from January 1984 to December 18, 1987. The name of the venture is a portmanteau of the two companies' names (Columbia and Lexington, the latter coming from LBS' initials/original name of Lexington Broadcast Services).^[1]

Colex Enterprises

Company type	Joint venture
Industry	Television syndication
Founded	January 1984; 41 years ago (1984-01)
Defunct	December 18, 1987; 37 years ago (1987-12-18)
Fate	Dissolved
Successors	Columbia Pictures Television
Headquarters	Burbank, California , United States
Parent	Columbia Pictures Television LBS Communications, Inc.

The company was responsible for distributing the Screen Gems television output, with the exception of pre-1967 Hanna-Barbera produced programs, as well as many of the post-1947 Bob Hope theatrical films.

History

In January 1984, Colex Enterprises was formed, over a year after Columbia Pictures Television agreed in December 1982 to license distribution rights to the television series Family to LBS.^[2][3] Family was subsequently added to Colex's roster when the company formed, and the first new show added to Colex's roster was the show Gidget. The venture was designed to handle barter syndication on a mixture of advertiser-supported and cash basis.^[4]

Colex formed a squad of banners in November 1985^[5]:

• Colex First-Run - new material, such as The New Gidget, The Hollywood Reporter and The New Monkees
• Colex Premiere Movies - various movies such as the Hope Diamonds collection and telemovies such as Family Reunion and The Best Place to Be
• The Colex Collection (a.k.a. Colex Off-Net) - newer off-network material, such as Hardcastle and McCormick, Father Murphy and Family
• The Colex 3-Pack - miniseries
• The Colex Classics - various classic series

Subsequently, a trio of rearrangements with the banners occurred: Colex Premiere Movies was renamed to Colex Films and Family was moved to The Colex Classics from Colex Off-Net, while Ghost Story/Circle of Fear was moved to the latter from the former.

Following the dissolution of Colex, some of the properties continued to be licensed to LBS from Columbia Pictures Television (labeled under the billing "Distributed by LBS in association with Columbia Pictures Television") until LBS filed for bankruptcy in 1991.

The name remains a trademark of Sony Pictures Television to this day.

Programming distributed by Colex Enterprises

Television programs

• Father Knows Best (1954-1960)
• The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show (1950-1958)
• Route 66 (1960-1964)
• Gidget (1965-1966)
• The Flying Nun (1967-1970)
• Ghost Story/Circle of Fear (1972-1973)
• Family (1976-1980)
• Father Murphy (1981-1983)
• Hardcastle and McCormick (1983-1986)

Movies

• 1941 (1979) (distribution only)
• The Amazing Mr. X (aka The Spiritualist) (1948) (distribution only)
• An American Christmas Carol (1979) (distribution only)
• The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez (1982) (distribution only)
• Brute Force (1947) (distribution only)
• The Care Bears Movie (1985) (distribution only)
• The Care Bears Movie II: A New Generation (1986) (distribution only)
• The Corsican Brothers (1941) (distribution only)
• Count Three and Pray (1955)
• The Electric Horseman (1979) (distribution only)
• Force 10 from Navarone (1978) (distribution only)
• Gunman's Walk (1958)
• He Walked by Night (1948) (distribution only)
• Heathcliff: The Movie (1986) (distribution only)
• Impact (1949) (distribution only)
• The Killers (1946) (distribution only)
• The Killers (1964) (distribution only)
• Lonely Are the Brave (1962) (distribution only)
• M (1951)
• The Naked City (1948) (distribution only)
• Patterns (1956) (distribution only)
• Phantom Lady (1944) (distribution only)
• 3:10 to Yuma (1957)
• The Prowler (1951) (distribution only)
• Quicksand (1950) (distribution only)
• Raw Deal (1948) (distribution only)
• Tomahawk (1951) (distribution only)
• Trapped (1949) (distribution only)
• Tulsa (1949) (distribution only)
• The Virginian (1946) (distribution only)
• Whistle Stop (1946) (distribution only)
• Wings of the Hawk (1953) (distribution only)

Telemovies

• Fear No Evil (1969) (distribution only)
• Gidget Gets Married (1972)
• Ritual of Evil (1970) (distribution only)
• Three Wishes for Jamie (1987)

See also

• Coca-Cola Telecommunications