Coca-Cola Telecommunications

Credits

Descriptions by
Jason Jones, James Fabiano, Matt Williams, Ryan Mead, and Michael Bode

Captures by
ClosingLogosHD

Editions by
Shadeed A. Kelly

Video captures courtesy of
Luke2505 TV

Background

Coca-Cola Telecommunications was a short-lived television distribution arm of The Coca-Cola Company (former owner of Columbia Pictures) that specialized in first-run syndicated programming. It was established on November 24, 1986 under Columbia Pictures Television via a merger between CPT's first-run division and The Television Program Source. A production division was formed 2 months later in January 1987. On December 21, 1987, Coke spun-off its entertainment business and sold it to Tri-Star Pictures, Inc., who then renamed the business to "Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc." (now "Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc.") and merged the theatrical banners. 10 days later, on New Year's Eve, Coca-Cola Telecommunications closed its doors and was folded into the reorganized Columbia Pictures Television Distribution (now Sony Pictures Television). Today, Sony distributes Punky Brewster in the United States, while NBCUniversal Television Distribution owns the show and handles global rights. It also owns The Real Ghostbusters, Dinosaucers, and Dennis the Menace: Dinosaur Hunter (international rights of the latter, however, lie with WildBrain, previously Cookie Jar Entertainment), while Sylvanian Families and Starcom: The U.S. Space Force are now owned by WildBrain.

(September 11, 1987-December 1987)

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Nicknames: "The Coke Box", "The Coke Swirl", "The Coca-Cola Box"

Logo: On a black background is a red box with the Coca-Cola "Dynamic Ribbon" in it outlined in black (the space under it is decorated with horizontal black lines). Under it is the following text:

Coca-Cola
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
A unit of Coca-Cola TELEVISION

In both the main text and byline, "Coca-Cola" appears as its corporate logo, and the second parts are sandwiched in between 2 thin lines and a larger 1st "T".

Variants:

• Filmed and videotaped variants exist (the former being the most common).
• There is a variant in the videotaped version that has the text Exclusive Distributor below.
• On Milton Berle: the Second Time Around, the words "Distributed By" are seen above the box.

FX/SFX: Just the logo fading.

Music/Sounds: A light synthesized 6-note flute tune that sounds somewhat similar to the flute solo at the start of "Sledgehammer" by Peter Gabriel.

Music/Sounds Variants:

• On the Action Max Blue Thunder game, it uses the end theme.
• A version with more clearer synths appeared on episode 2 of Season 2 of The New Gidget. It was also used on original first-run syndicated episodes of What's Happening Now!!
• On Peacock's print of the Season 3 premiere of Punky Brewster, it uses the 1982 Columbia Pictures Television theme, due to a bad plaster.
• On Dennis the Menace: Dinosaur Hunter, the logo is silent.

Availability: Very rare, as this logo was short lived.

• Originally seen on 1987 episodes of The Real Ghostbusters, season 3 of Punky Brewster, and Dinosaucers, among other shows, as well on the TV movie incarnation of Dennis the Menace (a.k.a. Dennis the Menace: Dinosaur Hunter), but was plastered (along with the LBS logo) by the SPT logo on recent prints, however the "Coca Cola Telecommunications Presents" text at the beginning was intact (on AT&T's now defunct streaming service Screen Pack, the opening text was deleted). It is preserved on the Vidmark Entertainment VHS and Laserdisc releases, however. An international print of this, however, replaced the whole logo combo with the 2009 Cookie Jar Entertainment logo.
• The logo was plastered on USA and Fox Family Channel reruns of The Real Ghostbusters, as well as the more recent Sony and Time-Life DVD releases, though it was spotted in Canada on Teletoon Retro airings of two episodes of the said show, "Ain't NASA-sarily So" and "Doctor, Doctor".
• Columbia reportedly put the 1988 and 1989 CPT logos at the end of Punky Brewster reruns when they were more common, and the logo was plastered by the 1993 CPTD or 1996 CTTD logos on the Family Channel (now Freeform) reruns and it hasn't been aired since.
• More recently, the logo was spotted on a bonus Sylvanian Families episode (after a 1990 "Kid in Bed" plaster!) on the UAV/Sterling Care Bears DVD To the Rescue (now out of print), on the special Meet Julie on DiC's KEWL Cartoons website (later taken down, but could be accessed through Feedage.com until KEWL Cartoons shut down completely).
  • As for the "Exclusive Distributor" variant, it's extremely rare, and was only seen on reruns of Punky Brewster and a few older reruns of The Real Ghostbusters; it is intact on current prints (including Peacock) of the 3rd season of the former, followed by the 2011 NBCUniversal Television Distribution logo. It was plastered over by the 2004 NBC Universal Television Distribution logo on the season 3 DVD released by Shout! Factory.
• This logo has also turned up on at least one local rerun episode of Hardcastle and McCormick, following both the Stephen J. Cannell Productions and the 1987 LBS Distribution logos.
• Recently, it was retained on DHX Media Retro's YouTube Channel print of Starcom: The U.S. Space Force, after the Cookie Jar logo and is retained on Mill Creek's DVD release.
• It is also at the end of the Blue Thunder game for the infamous Action Max console.
• The variant with the clearer synths in the music appears on episode 2 of Season 2 to The New Gidget, & can be viewed on CTV Throwback, where the whole series can be streamed.
• It also appeared on Boomerang airings of Dinosaucers, followed by the SPT logo.

Editor's Note: This is a very soothing logo. It's a favorite to many, despite its rarity. This also briefly replaced the Colex logo on shows distributed from them.