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	Ceased operations
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 after Columbia Pictures Television agreed to license distribution rights to the TV show Family to LBS.^[2][3] Family was then added to Colex's roster when the company formed, and the first new show added to Colex's roster was the show Gidget. It was designed to handle syndication of barter series on an advertised-supported basis, mostly of obscure TV shows that never made it into syndication before.^[4]

Colex was split into five branches in November 1985, which were Colex First-Run, which distributed new material, such as The New Gidget, The Hollywood Reporter and The New Monkees, Colex Premiere Movies, which distributed several movies and telemovies, The Colex Collection, which handled distribution of newer off-network product, The Colex 3-Pack, which consisted of mini-series and The Colex Classics, which would continue distribution of several shows.^[5]

Colex closed its doors on December 18, 1987, the day that Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc. (now Sony Pictures Entertainment) was established, and most of the library was transferred into the reorganized Columbia Pictures Television Distribution. Currently, the name is part of Sony Pictures Television.

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)

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