Post by Anonymous on Jan 9, 2018 20:39:53 GMT
Continuing from the Clockman thread, here is Pinwheel, a very important part of early Nickelodeon and cable television in general.
Why is this show so important? Because without Pinwheel, the well-known Nickelodeon channel would have never existed.
Speaking of NIckelodeon, the channel is owned by Viacom Media Networks (a division of Viacom), Viacom also owns Viacom International (who manages trademarks and copyrights associated with Viacom's assets).
But it wasn't exactly like this back then.
Viacom has a very complicated history, full of conflicting information and whatnot:
- The most common history is that the very original incarnation of Viacom was CBS' syndication company, CBS Enterprises, who was spun-off from CBS due to a now outdated FCC law stating that networks can't own syndication companies, CBS Enterprises became thus known as Viacom Enterprises.
- However, other sources and the trademarks itself say otherwise, stating that CBS created a new company called Viacom International and then spun-off the company, it's possible that Viacom International was the overseas division of Viacom Enterprises, but that dosen't explain why Viacom's trademarks were owned by them.
- Viacom was apparently reincoprorated as Viacom Inc. in 1986 (Viacom International would be reincoprorated years later in 1995).
- Viacom claims to have been spun-off as a public company in 1971, yet CBS Corporation's (the 1986 incarnation of Viacom) IR website only goes back to 1994. what happened to the pre-1994 documents is a mistery.
- Also, spinning off a very small distribution company into a public company is a very big risk, it could have drove Viacom to bankruptcy and changed history forever, yet Viacom survived.
This is when Warner-Amex gets involved:
- Viacom International (through its now defunct Viacom Cablevision system) launched two channels: a medical channel that would eventually become Lifetime (now owned by A&E Networks), and Showtime.
- Viacom International eventually became interested in rival The Movie Channel, which was a joint-venture between various entertainment companies, after buying a stake, they merged it with Showtime, forming Showtime/The Movie Channel, Inc. (now Showtime Networks)
- Viacom International also became interested in the pubblicy traded company MTV Networks, which was like TMC owned by Warner Communications and the Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment holding company (whose only assets were a majority stake in MTV Networks and part of Showtime/The Movie Channel).
- On August 26, 1985, Viacom International acquired Warner Communications direct stake and Warner-Amex's combined 50% ownership interest in Showtime/The Movie Channel, Inc. as well as full ownership of Warner-Amex and public shareholder interests in MTV Networks (they would buy the whole company in 1986) for $671.7 million, giving Viacom exclusive ownership of both networks and once again making it the sole owner of Showtime through its $500 million cash payment and acquisition of 1.625 million shares from Warner for the latter's 31% stake in Showtime/The Movie Channel and Warner-Amex's 19% interest in the unit and its 60% interest in MTV Networks (Viacom owned Showtime alone or jointly with other companies – TelePrompTer Corporation, and later briefly, its successor Group W Cable – from the time it launched in July 1976). The buyout, part of an option given by Warner in its purchase of American Express' interest in MTV, was exercised in part to finance much of the buyout of Showtime/The Movie Channel without borrowing any money (ironically, Warner Communications would eventually acquire rivals HBO and Cinemax, when the company merged with Time Inc. in 1989 to form Time Warner).
And this is when the modern rights chaos began:
- In 2000, Viacom bought CBS Corporation for $35.6 billion.
- However, in 2005 Viacom decided to split from CBS amid issues of the stock price stagnating (although it was alleged that another main force behind the split was the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show controversy, which led to MTV not being allowed to produce any more halftime shows, they had also produced the show for Super Bowl XXXV, the first Super Bowl CBS aired since regaining NFL rights and becoming MTV's corporate sibling).
- Thus, on January 1, 2006, Viacom was renamed CBS Corporation while Viacom International was renamed CBS Operations, Viacom and Viacom Interrnational were then reincorporated yet another time, creating rights issues between various proprieties (most notably Terrytoons).
Because of the various mergers Viacom has gone thought, no one is quite sure who owns Pinwheel, the only thing close is a dead trademark, stating that MTV Networks was the last registred owner.
Only 4 companies could possibly own this show:
- CBS Operations, Inc. - the 1995 incarnation of Viacom International, assuming the rights are still held by them and were transfered from MTV Networks in 1986
- Viacom International - assuming the rights have been transferred from CBS Operations, Inc. along with every other Viacom propriety.
- Viacom Media Networks (formerly MTV Networks) - assuming the rights have never been transferred to Viacom International and are still held by them.
- Warner Bros. - WB originally owned home video rights to Pinwheel (hence why the Songbook was released), since Viacom didn't have an home video division until they bought Paramount, it's very possible that WB kept (and continues to keep) the home video rights to Pinwheel, this has yet to be confirmed.
If the Clockman/Sally connection is confirmed, this search may also get us to find the Sally english dub.
Pinwheel was an American television series that aired on the Nickelodeon cable network from 1979-1990. It was initially broadcasted on channel C-3, a network available through Warner Cable's QUBE system in Columbus, Ohio.
Pinwheel was the starting point of Nickelodeon, not only being the first series developed for the network but with 13 seasons and 260 episodes, it remains the longest-running series in episodes and hours on air from Nickelodeon to date.
Pinwheel was the flagship series on C-3, a commercial-free children's television network available through Time Warner's QUBE from December 1, 1977-April 1, 1979, while cable television broadcasting was still in its infancy. QUBE was the first two-way major market interactive cable system and had brought many new concepts that are still used today in modern cable, such as pay-per-view and special interest networks. This channel, in particular, was also a "community" channel (Hence the "C" in "C-3"), meaning that it was provided to QUBE subscribers at no additional cost. Pinwheel would air exclusively from 7:00 AM to 9:00 PM EST.
Both the channel and television series were developed by Dr Vivian Horner, who had previously worked on The Electric Company as director of research, and Gus Hauser, who was the CEO of Warner Cable. In the very early stages of Pinwheel's development, cast and crew members, consisting of Dr Vivian Horner, Sandy Kavanaugh, Andrea Cvirko, Gabi Lopez, Brad Williams and George James, would meet at the Warner Communications offices four times a week to share ideas. These meetings resulted in the Pinwheel episodes produced in Columbus in 1977.[1]
Soon enough, the name C-3 was dropped, and the network was renamed The Pinwheel Network. Initially, this network was also used as a loss leader for Warner Cable against rival companies such as HBO, due to the fact that HBO had no network specifically for children at this point in time.
Warner then purchased the communications satellite RCA Satcom-1 from televangelists Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker. This went into orbit on March 26, 1979, and on April 1, Nickelodeon was launched in Buffalo, New York. Pinwheel remained one of the most popular series on the network, not only spanning 260 episodes but also spawning a live show.
Pinwheel remained in production until about 1984 or 1989 (sources differ) and aired reruns until 1989 on Nickelodeon and 1990 on Nick Jr.
Despite being the lengthiest series Nickelodeon has to offer, episodes have been proven difficult to find. Pinwheel last aired in 1990, and in the 28 years it has been absent from television, only about 10 hours of footage has been recovered (Including the segments featured in The Pinwheel Songbook). These were originally on a bootleg compilation DVD available through a Freewebs site called "Stuff I Like".
It is currently unknown if Nickelodeon still owns broadcast rights. Regardless, chances of Pinwheel ever airing again are slim.
Pinwheel was the starting point of Nickelodeon, not only being the first series developed for the network but with 13 seasons and 260 episodes, it remains the longest-running series in episodes and hours on air from Nickelodeon to date.
Pinwheel was the flagship series on C-3, a commercial-free children's television network available through Time Warner's QUBE from December 1, 1977-April 1, 1979, while cable television broadcasting was still in its infancy. QUBE was the first two-way major market interactive cable system and had brought many new concepts that are still used today in modern cable, such as pay-per-view and special interest networks. This channel, in particular, was also a "community" channel (Hence the "C" in "C-3"), meaning that it was provided to QUBE subscribers at no additional cost. Pinwheel would air exclusively from 7:00 AM to 9:00 PM EST.
Both the channel and television series were developed by Dr Vivian Horner, who had previously worked on The Electric Company as director of research, and Gus Hauser, who was the CEO of Warner Cable. In the very early stages of Pinwheel's development, cast and crew members, consisting of Dr Vivian Horner, Sandy Kavanaugh, Andrea Cvirko, Gabi Lopez, Brad Williams and George James, would meet at the Warner Communications offices four times a week to share ideas. These meetings resulted in the Pinwheel episodes produced in Columbus in 1977.[1]
Soon enough, the name C-3 was dropped, and the network was renamed The Pinwheel Network. Initially, this network was also used as a loss leader for Warner Cable against rival companies such as HBO, due to the fact that HBO had no network specifically for children at this point in time.
Warner then purchased the communications satellite RCA Satcom-1 from televangelists Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker. This went into orbit on March 26, 1979, and on April 1, Nickelodeon was launched in Buffalo, New York. Pinwheel remained one of the most popular series on the network, not only spanning 260 episodes but also spawning a live show.
Pinwheel remained in production until about 1984 or 1989 (sources differ) and aired reruns until 1989 on Nickelodeon and 1990 on Nick Jr.
Despite being the lengthiest series Nickelodeon has to offer, episodes have been proven difficult to find. Pinwheel last aired in 1990, and in the 28 years it has been absent from television, only about 10 hours of footage has been recovered (Including the segments featured in The Pinwheel Songbook). These were originally on a bootleg compilation DVD available through a Freewebs site called "Stuff I Like".
It is currently unknown if Nickelodeon still owns broadcast rights. Regardless, chances of Pinwheel ever airing again are slim.
Speaking of NIckelodeon, the channel is owned by Viacom Media Networks (a division of Viacom), Viacom also owns Viacom International (who manages trademarks and copyrights associated with Viacom's assets).
But it wasn't exactly like this back then.
Viacom has a very complicated history, full of conflicting information and whatnot:
- The most common history is that the very original incarnation of Viacom was CBS' syndication company, CBS Enterprises, who was spun-off from CBS due to a now outdated FCC law stating that networks can't own syndication companies, CBS Enterprises became thus known as Viacom Enterprises.
- However, other sources and the trademarks itself say otherwise, stating that CBS created a new company called Viacom International and then spun-off the company, it's possible that Viacom International was the overseas division of Viacom Enterprises, but that dosen't explain why Viacom's trademarks were owned by them.
- Viacom was apparently reincoprorated as Viacom Inc. in 1986 (Viacom International would be reincoprorated years later in 1995).
- Viacom claims to have been spun-off as a public company in 1971, yet CBS Corporation's (the 1986 incarnation of Viacom) IR website only goes back to 1994. what happened to the pre-1994 documents is a mistery.
- Also, spinning off a very small distribution company into a public company is a very big risk, it could have drove Viacom to bankruptcy and changed history forever, yet Viacom survived.
This is when Warner-Amex gets involved:
- Viacom International (through its now defunct Viacom Cablevision system) launched two channels: a medical channel that would eventually become Lifetime (now owned by A&E Networks), and Showtime.
- Viacom International eventually became interested in rival The Movie Channel, which was a joint-venture between various entertainment companies, after buying a stake, they merged it with Showtime, forming Showtime/The Movie Channel, Inc. (now Showtime Networks)
- Viacom International also became interested in the pubblicy traded company MTV Networks, which was like TMC owned by Warner Communications and the Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment holding company (whose only assets were a majority stake in MTV Networks and part of Showtime/The Movie Channel).
- On August 26, 1985, Viacom International acquired Warner Communications direct stake and Warner-Amex's combined 50% ownership interest in Showtime/The Movie Channel, Inc. as well as full ownership of Warner-Amex and public shareholder interests in MTV Networks (they would buy the whole company in 1986) for $671.7 million, giving Viacom exclusive ownership of both networks and once again making it the sole owner of Showtime through its $500 million cash payment and acquisition of 1.625 million shares from Warner for the latter's 31% stake in Showtime/The Movie Channel and Warner-Amex's 19% interest in the unit and its 60% interest in MTV Networks (Viacom owned Showtime alone or jointly with other companies – TelePrompTer Corporation, and later briefly, its successor Group W Cable – from the time it launched in July 1976). The buyout, part of an option given by Warner in its purchase of American Express' interest in MTV, was exercised in part to finance much of the buyout of Showtime/The Movie Channel without borrowing any money (ironically, Warner Communications would eventually acquire rivals HBO and Cinemax, when the company merged with Time Inc. in 1989 to form Time Warner).
And this is when the modern rights chaos began:
- In 2000, Viacom bought CBS Corporation for $35.6 billion.
- However, in 2005 Viacom decided to split from CBS amid issues of the stock price stagnating (although it was alleged that another main force behind the split was the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show controversy, which led to MTV not being allowed to produce any more halftime shows, they had also produced the show for Super Bowl XXXV, the first Super Bowl CBS aired since regaining NFL rights and becoming MTV's corporate sibling).
- Thus, on January 1, 2006, Viacom was renamed CBS Corporation while Viacom International was renamed CBS Operations, Viacom and Viacom Interrnational were then reincorporated yet another time, creating rights issues between various proprieties (most notably Terrytoons).
Because of the various mergers Viacom has gone thought, no one is quite sure who owns Pinwheel, the only thing close is a dead trademark, stating that MTV Networks was the last registred owner.
Only 4 companies could possibly own this show:
- CBS Operations, Inc. - the 1995 incarnation of Viacom International, assuming the rights are still held by them and were transfered from MTV Networks in 1986
- Viacom International - assuming the rights have been transferred from CBS Operations, Inc. along with every other Viacom propriety.
- Viacom Media Networks (formerly MTV Networks) - assuming the rights have never been transferred to Viacom International and are still held by them.
- Warner Bros. - WB originally owned home video rights to Pinwheel (hence why the Songbook was released), since Viacom didn't have an home video division until they bought Paramount, it's very possible that WB kept (and continues to keep) the home video rights to Pinwheel, this has yet to be confirmed.
If the Clockman/Sally connection is confirmed, this search may also get us to find the Sally english dub.
