NBCUniversal Syndication Studios

Background

NBCUniversal (first spelled as NBC Universal) was first formed on May 11, 2004 by the merger of the General Electric Company’s NBC and the entertainment division of Vivendi Universal Entertainment. The day after its founding, the television production and distribution arms of Universal Television (Universal Network Television, Universal Domestic Television, and USA Cable Entertainment) and NBC Studios and the distributor NBC Enterprises were merged into NBC Universal. This was the first time NBC added the Universal name to its production and distribution arms. For Universal, it’s the second time that its production and distribution arms have a new name, since 1998 when Universal became "Studios USA", but maintained Universal Worldwide Television and acquired PolyGram Filmed Entertainment in 1998, renaming PolyGram's television operations as Universal's and retained the USA Networks fully reforming Universal Television in 2002, but during July 2004, the NBC name was added. All shows in production by either Universal TV, NBC, or USA Cable Entertainment changed to the NBC Universal logo starting on July 30, 2004. On January 26, 2011, Vivendi S.A. sold the remaining 20% of NBC Universal to GE until January 28, when Comcast Corporation acquired 51% of NBC Universal, Inc. with GE owning 49%. NBC Universal, Inc. became NBCUniversal Media, LLC, a subsidiary of the holding company NBCUniversal, LLC. On March 19, 2013, Comcast acquired the rest of NBCUniversal from GE, making NBCU a wholly-owned subsidiary.

NBC Universal Television Distribution

(July 30, 2004-June 11, 2014)

Normal variants

Green is Universal variants

Logo: Over a golden burst of light hovering in space, the text "NBC UNIVERSAL", sandwiched between both halves of Universal's circular globe motif with the six-feathered peacock between "NBC" and "UNIVERSAL", in Copperplate Gothic Bold, slightly zooms out to its familiar distance. One of these texts fades in below:

"TELEVISION STUDIO" (2004-2007. for network and cable programs; retired when it became Universal Media Studios (and later "Universal Television") on November 1, 2007).
"TELEVISION DISTRIBUTION" (for first-run syndicated programs, off-network reruns, and worldwide series).

Variants:

Medical Investigation features the words "In association with" fading in below "TELEVISION STUDIO", cutting to the 2003-2006 Paramount Network Television logo.
From November 5-9, 2007, April 21-27 and November 17-23, 2008, and April 20-26, 2009, the NBC Universal Television Distribution logo was placed on a sky background with a URL "GreenIsUniversal.com" (in green, of course!) and green grass below the logo, with leaves falling off the logo and green monarch butterflies flying past it. This was introduced to celebrate "Green Week"/"Earth Week", observed by all NBC Uni properties that week; all of the television operations changed their bugs to feature a green tint (NBC, MSNBC, USA, etc.).
On The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, and Last Call with Carson Daly, the NBC Uni TV Studio logo featured the NBC Studios, Inc. copyright stamp.
On November 20, 2008, there is another variant of the "Green is Universal" variant. It features the 2007 Green Is Universal logo (which is the word "green" with "IS UNIVERSAL" in the bottom right of "green" with the circular globe having a leaf at the end of each part) on the same background used on the 2007 Green is Universal background. The letters start popping up one by one for the logo. We later see the wind blowing up the letters to form the slogan "Green Your Routine" underneath the logo.
On the variants where the logo isn't on it's gold sun background, the NBCUniversal font is thicker and smaller than on the original version.
There is also a black & white variant seen on the lost pilot episode of Leave it to Beaver.
From April 20-26 and November 16-20, 2009, and April 19-23 and November 15-19, 2010, the sky on the NUTD/GIU logo is much clearer, there are no clouds, the green grass is taller, a green butterfly lands on the logo then flies away, and there is a sunshine effect behind the NBC Uni logo to represent the sun.
On Law & Order: UK, the NBC Universal Television Studio logo is seen on the lower right with the Wolf Films logo on the left and the Kudos Film & Television logo with the Shine Group byline below above the Wolf/NUTS logos with the letter "A" above the Kudos logo and the word "Production" below the logos. 2013 episodes omit the words "A" and "Production". Below the logos has the word "for" and below it has the 2013 ITV logo.
Two print logos were used on video games. One of them was gray with the separation line below and "TELEVISION CONSUMER PRODUCTS" below it. The other was black-colored without any bylines, but with the copyright info. Seen on Minute to Win It for NDS and The Office for PC, respectively.
The logo would come in either the standard 4:3 version (seen on full-screen prints) or the widescreen 16:9 version.
A 2.35:1 scope version exists.

Technique: CGI animation.

Music/Sounds: The slower orchestration of the 1999 music plug from the 1996 NBC Studios logo.

Music/Sounds Variants:

On some shows, like Heist, early episodes of 30 Rock and The Martha Stewart Show, the end title theme played over this logo.
Several shows and DVDs of some shows used the regular 1999 NBC Studios music plug which is commonly used on "Television Studios" while rarely used on "Television Distribution".
A high tone variant of the fanfare was used on newer DVD's of Little House on the Prairie, starting with season 2.
Several other shows used the 2000 warp speed low tone NBC Studios theme, (i.e., House, M.D., some episodes of the 2006 Curious George TV series and post-2004 Will & Grace and Starting Over eps.) This is mainly heard on the "TELEVISION STUDIO" logo, but was also heard on the "TELEVISION DISTRIBUTION" logo on Starting Over.
There is also a silent version that appeared on Complete Savages.
On Netflix's print of the S1 Law and Order episode "The Torrents of Greed: Part 1", the late 1986 theme from the 1975 Universal Television logo is heard over the "Television Studio" logo due to sloppy plastering. It is rumored there is a version with the 1975 theme was heard on "Television Distribution" variant.
This was also in the same show mentioned in the previous variant on Netflix, the S6 episode "Bitter Fruit" has the 1991 Universal Television theme. It is rumored there is a version with the 1991 theme was heard on "Television Distribution" variant.
The pilot episode of the 2006 TV show Conviction had the short 1997 Universal Television theme play on the "Television Distribution" variant.

Availability: Uncommon. This was very common during its usage.

The "Television Distribution" variant was found on shows such as reruns of Law & Order: Criminal Intent last aired on Bravo and local reruns of Saved by the Bell, along with episodes of Jerry Springer, Maury, The Martha Stewart Show, The Steve Wilkos Show, and Access Hollywood in local syndication, and Caught on Camera reruns on Universal Channel and on Shout! Factory's releases of seasons 3 & 4 of Punky Brewster on DVD, which plastered the Coca Cola Telecommunications logo on season 3 and follows the 1982 or 1989 CPT "Torch Lady" or the short CTTD logo on season 4 except on 2 episodes because the NBC Enterprises logo was used, this also followed the NBC Enterprises logo on newer DVD prints of seasons 2 & 3 of Little House on the Prairie.
It was also seen on TV One Access on TV One.
This logo appeared on one episode on Minute to Win It on GSN after the Universal Media Studios logo.
The black & white version is extremely rare and so far it can only be found on the lost pilot episode of Leave it to Beaver on DVD.
This version also plastered the Universal Domestic Television and Multimedia Entertainment logos on pre-2004 reruns of Maury and Jerry Springer, the latter can be seen atnosey.com. Plus, this version was also seen across the globe on series such as Project Runway to hence "NBC Universal International Television Distribution", but only using "Television Distribution".
It was also seen on the syndicated version of Deal or No Deal.
The "Television Studio" version is fairly common and it pops up frequently on reruns of Law & Order: SVU on USA, Cloo and MyNetworkTV, Law & Order: Criminal Intent on USA, Ion Television and Cloo, 2004-2007 episodes of Monk on USA and Ion Television, HD prints of Law & Order, the first three seasons and the first five Season 4 episodes of The Office (with the exception of DVD releases of the first two seasons), among other shows on several other networks such as Syfy, TNT, USA, and Cloo. Also seen on international prints of the 2006 Curious George TV series after the PBS Kids logo, and sometimes before the MGM Television logo.
It still appeared on Law & Order: UK until that show went on hiatus.
It was also seen at the end of a Sleuth airing of In The Shadow of a Killer (1992).

NBCUniversal Television Distribution

(March 5, 2011-)

Normal variants

Green is Universal variants

Movie variant
Minions: The Rise of Gru variant

Logo: On a flowing purple satin background, we have the current NBCUniversal logo (in NBCU's corporate typeface, Rock Serif) swiveling across letter-by-letter and zooming in at the same time and then the "Television Distribution" text in the Rock Sans typeface (which is also exclusively for NBCU's own use) fades and zooms-in all in white lettering.

Trivia: The new logo debuted on January 27, 2011 and was created at Wolff Olins.

Variants:

For Earth Week (April 17-22, 2011 and April 16-22, 2012), a special Earth Day version of the logo was used with a recycling symbol-like design made out of the NBC logo's feathers with "GREEN is UNIVERSAL", with "GREEN" bigger and above "is UNIVERSAL", next to it and the slogan "Green lives here." intact underneath. This causes a green version of the NBCUniversal logo to zoom in. This is all against the classic NBC Earth Day background.
- Most of the time, the Green is Universal logo appears as an in-credit logo at the end of Universal films. The 2011 GiU logo is seen with the text "THIS MOTION PICTURE USED SUSTAINABILITY STRATEGIES TO REDUCE ITS CARBON EMMISIONS AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT." The font of the text varies by film.
- On Minions: The Rise of Gru, the logo is in yellow.
On reruns of pre-2012 episodes of Jerry Springer, Maury, and The Steve Wilkos Show, the logo is letterboxed to 4:3, rather than center-cut.

Technique: CGI animation for the background, 2D computer animation for the text.

Music/Sounds: Same as the previous logo. The GiU movie variants just have the closing theme playing over.

Music/Sounds variant: Sometimes, the 1999 NBC Studios was played which is rarely appeared on American Ninja Warriors.

Availability: Common.

It's seen on Access Hollywood/Access Daily, Maury, The Jerry Springer Show, The Steve Wilkos Show, Steve Harvey, The Kelly Clarkson Show, Judge Jerry, the syndicated run of Baggage, and reruns of The Office, also plastering older Universal logos on some local reruns of Law & Order, most episodes of Law & Order: Criminal Intent in local syndication, syndicated Deal or No Deal reruns on GSN, H&I airings of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys which follows older MCA TV/Universal Television/Studios USA logos, current prints of seasons 3 & 4 of Punky Brewster which follows the 1982 Columbia Pictures Television or the 1987 Coca-Cola Telecommunications logos, and Nosey prints of older episodes of The Steve Wilkos Show and The Maury Show.
The logo was also seen at the close of the talk show Harry during its two-year run (2016-2018).
Other first-run and off-net series will follow. It also made a surprise appearance at the end of the Monster High TV special New Ghoul @ School on its DVD release.
Also seen at the end of most non-TV/non-Netflix and international prints of recent DreamWorks Animation Television series, like The Epic Adventures of Captain Underpants. Various shows and movies on Peacock also have this, often following older logos (or in some cases, is added where there wasn't a logo, like on Code Monkeys).
The logo also makes an appearance in the Freeform reruns of The Office episode, The Pilot.

Legacy: Reaction to this logo and its preceding NBCU re-branding have been primarily negative. Not only does this logo eschew any sort of identifying NBC and Universal elements to it, it is generally seen as severely lazy.

NBCUniversal Syndication Studios

(March 1, 2021-)

Logo: On a white background, we zoom out as many purple dust-like particles sweep to the right, forming the current NBCUniversal logo as they pass by. Below, "SYNDICATION STUDIOS" in a Rock Sans font is formed with a line separating it from the NBCU logo. The purple particles can be seen moving around the logo after it finishes forming, and soon disappear.

Trivia: This logo was designed by Joseph Kiely and animated at Vivid Zero, a subsidiary of Smith Geiger Fathom.

Other concepts conceived before the final product include the NBC Peacock colors instead of purple, and a different design using the arc from the Universal logo. Those stills can be seen here.

Variant: An extended version was made where it starts on a close-up shot of the dust/particles forming the "NBC" portion, then it cuts to a close-up of the "Universal" section being formed the same way as it pans toward the left, followed by a close-up of the first few letters of "SYNDICATION" and the line above it also being formed by the dust/particles. The animation then continues as normal, right as the logo reaches its position. This version can be seen in the above link.

Technique: CGI animation of dust/particles forming the logo.

Music/Sounds: Same as the previous two logos. The aforementioned long version is silent.

Availability: Brand new. First seen on the March 1, 2021 episode of The Kelly Clarkson Show, Maury and The Steve Wilkos Show in local syndication, as well as Freeform reruns of The Office, and is expected to be seen on other shows from the studio in the future. The extended version has not been used on any shows and can be seen on Vivid Zero's website.