Coca-Cola Telecommunications

Background

Coca-Cola Telecommunications was a short-lived television distribution arm of Columbia Pictures Television, that was established on November 24, 1986 under The Coca-Cola Company, the former owner of Columbia Pictures, that was responsible for first-run syndicated programming. It was also a merger between CPT's first-run division and "The Television Program Source". In January 1987, it formed a production division. On December 31, 1987, Coca-Cola Telecommunications closed its doors and it was folded into the reorganized Columbia Pictures Television Distribution (now "Sony Pictures Television") after Coke spun-off its entertainment business and sold it to Tri-Star Pictures, Inc. and was renamed as "Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc." (now "Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc.") and merged the theatrical banners on December 21, 1987. As of today, Sony Pictures Television distributes Punky Brewster in the United States, while NBCUniversal Television Distribution own the show and handles global rights. SPE also owns The Real Ghostbusters, Dinosaucers, and Dennis the Menace: Dinosaur Hunter, while Sylvanian Families and Starcom: The U.S. Space Force are now owned by WildBrain through Cookie Jar Entertainment.

(September 11, 1987-December 1987)

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 that is:

Coca-Cola

TELECOMMUNICATIONS

A unit of Coca-Cola 'TELEVISION'

Variant: A videotaped variant exists that has the text Exclusive Distributor below.

FX/SFX: Just the logo fading.

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

Music/Sounds Variant:

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 to 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.
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 on two episodes of the said show on Canada's Teletoon Retro, "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 season 3 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.

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.