Viacom Enterprises

Fate	Merged into Paramount Domestic Television
Successor	CBS Television Distribution
Founded	1971 1973 (spun-off)
Defunct	1995
Headquarters	Los Angeles, California, USA
Products	Television Production
Parent	Viacom (now CBS Corporation) (1986-1995)

Viacom Enterprises was a television distribution company formed in 1971 as the successor to CBS Films, and spun off in 1973 due to now-repealed FCC bylaws prohibiting networks from syndicating their own shows.

Its purpose upon formation was to distribute the classic CBS library, which also included the pre-1960 library of Desilu Productions.

It distributed other series as well, among them All in the Family (now owned by Sony Pictures Television), the Carsey-Werner Productions library, and for a number of years distributed the MTM Enterprises (now owned by 20th Television) library until MTM formed Victory Television to distribute its library in 1980. It also distributed the first 4 seasons of The Montel Williams Show, the pre-1984 New World Pictures library, most of the Cannon Films library, and a majority of the Elvis Presley films originally released by Paramount.

In 1974, it formed Viacom Productions to produce first-run television series airing on the major television networks.

In 1986, the company became a subsidiary of the newly-reincorporated Viacom Inc., after a takeover by National Amusements.

In 1994, Viacom acquired Paramount Pictures. As a result, Viacom Enterprises was merged into Paramount Television's distribution arm, Paramount Domestic Television.

Today, many of the shows distributed by Viacom Enterprises are now distributed by CBS Television Distribution, while most of the theatrical output (which had included the Cannon Films and Elvis Presley libraries) are now handled by Trifecta Entertainment and Media under license from Paramount (films either produced in-house by CBS or had ancillary rights revert to CBS in later years are still distributed by CTD).

[edit] See also

• Viacom Productions
• CBS
• Paramount Television
• CBS Paramount Television
• CBS Television Distribution
• Viacom (1971-2005)