Coca-Cola Telecommunications

Background

Coca-Cola Telecommunications was a short-lived television distribution arm of The Coca-Cola Company, then-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 of 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., which then renamed the business to "Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc." (now Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc.) and merged the theatrical banners. Ten 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 Syndication Studios (formerly 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.

Logo (September 11-December 1987)

Visuals: 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 (in modified Friz Quadrata) are sandwiched in between two thin lines and both have a larger 1st "T".

Variants:

Filmed and videotaped variants exist (the former being the most common).
A variant of the videotaped version that has the text "Exclusive Distributor" below also exists.
On Milton Berle: The Second Time Around and The Return of Ben Casey, the words "Distributed By" are seen above the box.
A variant of the "Exclusive Distributor" variant where "Exclusive Distributor" appears just before the rest of the logo appears also exists.

Technique: A still graphic.

Audio: A light synthesized 6-note shakuhachi (bamboo flute) tune with chimes, similar to the flute solo at the start of "Sledgehammer" by Peter Gabriel. The tune is usually heavily muffled; the original version appeared on episode 2 of season 2 of The New Gidget and original first-run syndicated episodes of What's Happening Now!!.

Audio Variants:

On the Action Max Blue Thunder game, it uses the end theme.
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:

Originally seen on 1987 episodes of The Real Ghostbusters and Dinosaucers, among other shows. The former show doesn't retain this logo on current prints, but several episodes of the latter show keep it, such as Amazon Prime's prints.
This also origially appeared on the TV movie incarnation of Dennis the Menace (a.k.a. Dennis the Menace: Dinosaur Hunter), but was plastered (along with the 1987 LBS logo) by the 2002 Sony Pictures Television logo on current prints, however the "Coca Cola Telecommunications Presents" text at the beginning is intact (on AT&T's now defunct streaming service Screen Pack, the opening text was deleted).
- It is also preserved on the Vidmark Entertainment VHS and Laserdisc releases, however.
- An international print of this, however, also 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 current 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", respectively.
It also appeared on Boomerang airings of Dinosaucers, followed by the 2002 SPT logo.
Columbia reportedly put the 1988 and 1989 Columbia Pictures Television logos at the end of Punky Brewster reruns when they were more common, and the logo was plastered by the 1993 Columbia Pictures Television Distribution or the 1995 Columbia TriStar Television Distribution logos on the Family Channel (now Freeform) reruns and it hasn't been aired since.
This logo was also spotted on a bonus Sylvanian Families episode (after the 1990 DiC logo) 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 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 is also 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.
It was also 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 Entertainment's DVD release.
It is also at the end of the Blue Thunder game for the Action Max game console.
The variant with the original, unmuffled version of the music appears on episode 2 of season 2 to The New Gidget, and can also be viewed on CTV Throwback, where the whole series can be streamed.

Legacy: This logo is a favorite of many, thanks to its calm music.

Coca-Cola Telecommunications

Columbia Pictures Television Distribution

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