LBS Communications, Inc.
TypeSubsidiary
IndustryTelevision syndication
FoundedNovember 15, 1976 (1976-11-15)
Defunct1992 (1992)
FateAcquired by All American Communications
Successor
HeadquartersNew York City, New York, United States
ParentAll American Communications (1991–1992)

The Lexington Broadcast Services Company (first known as Lexington Broadcast Services and later known as LBS Communications) was a television production and syndication company founded on November 15, 1976, by advertising pioneer Henry Siegel, who, according to Advertising Age, was "the man who built Lexington Broadcast Services into the nation's largest barter syndicator, and thus defined that segment of the TV ad business."[1][2]

History

LBS was originally a unit of Grey Advertising, in order to develop products that were marketed for syndication. Some of the first products that were made were Not for Women Only, which was produced by WNBC-TV in New York City, and Hot Fudge, which was produced by then-ABC O&O WXYZ-TV in Detroit.[3] Siegel was moved from Grey Advertising's president in order to become head of Lexington Broadcast Services Company.[4] In 1977, it launched its first breakout hit for the company, Sha Na Na, for syndication, with advertising on a barter basis.[5]

In December 1982, it entered into a partnership with Columbia Pictures Television to bring the ABC drama Family to off-net syndication starting in September 1983, with LBS handling distribution under license from Columbia Pictures Television, which was sold onto a barter basis.[6][7] The success of Family led to the formation of the Colex Enterprises joint venture (as mentioned below).[8] In 1986, it launched a syndicated block with DIC Entertainment and Mattel, Kideo TV.[9][10] That year, DIC and LBS formed the Family Theater package of eight animated specials, and decided that DIC and LBS would team up with Columbia Pictures Television to produce a live-action Dennis the Menace feature film.[11]

In 1985, LBS, DIC Enterprises and Karl/Lorimar Home Video set up a home video distribution venture, Kideo Video, which released titles from LBS' Kideo catalog, through which, by 1986, LBS planned to release titles for the videocassette market, and it gained programming rights for 200 Kideo titles. By 1987, LBS had to market beauty videocassettes due to the underperforming expectations of the initial Kideo videocassettes, and sponsored made-for-TV specials would not be included in its initial deal.[12]

In June 1987, DIC and LBS settled their lawsuits regarding Kideo Video "amicably" out of court, due to the cross complaints that stemmed from the home video label beginning in 1985. The settlement allowed Lorimar Home Video to continue distributing for the home video market certain kids' animated programs, and called for LBS and DIC to have the right to enter into separate home video agreements independently of each other. In addition, the rights of one of the companies could be independent of each other, and also independent of Lorimar Home Video, and the issue of a joint account that LBS was managing and allegedly was being trafficked in and out of the Cayman Islands was raised. It was revealed that there was wrongdoing in the $250 million account co-owned by LBS.[13]

In late July 1987, LBS Communications, on behalf of Westgate Entertainment, began marketing a $3 million, two-hour barter syndicated special on the Titanic, and LBS and Westgate had exclusive rights to the taped footage of the attacks at that time. The company had to feed the special to an ad-hoc network of TV stations on October 28, and at least 30 minutes of the two-hour special would be from Monte Carlo. It was decided that LBS would sell the telecast as part of a four-special barter package.[14]

The company was known for distributing programs from DIC Entertainment and Columbia Pictures Television (including select material from Columbia subsidiary/label Screen Gems), by way of its Colex Enterprises joint venture with Columbia,[8] in addition to the 1991 syndicated re-launch of Baywatch. The company was also known for handling Elia Kazan's films that he directed from 1945 to 1976, and syndicating selected Bob Hope-produced movies that reverted to him after their initial release. That year, LBS Communications built up its distribution arm to allow stations to broadcast syndicated TV productions from outside production companies, and Paul Siegel would take over as president of the LBS Entertainment division. He had plans for advertising with Paramount Domestic Television and Coca-Cola Telecommunications, but the company then found itself in the cold, and the alternatives failed to materialize due to a management buyout of the company from Grey Advertising by Marvin Davis, who was a former employee of the 20th Century-Fox film studio.[15]

Around the time that LBS' partnership with Columbia Pictures Television ended in late 1989, LBS began to lose money, and in December 1991, LBS filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. As a result, the company ended up having to sell between 80 and 85 percent of its assets to its Baywatch distributor partner, the Scotti Brothers' All American Television. In 1997, All American was sold to Pearson plc, and was re-branded as Pearson Television. Pearson Television later merged with CLT-UFA to form RTL Group and Pearson Television was renamed Fremantle. As of today, some of LBS' library is owned by Fremantle, while many of their programs are owned by other companies.

Programming distributed by LBS

TV programs

Title Run Co-producer Current distributor
Not for Women Only1976–79
Hot Fudge1976–80
The Andy Williams Show1976–77Pierre Cossette Enterprises
Sha Na Na1977–81Pierre Cossette Enterprises
Sorority '621978Dick Clark Productions
Hee Haw Honeys1978–79Yongestreet ProductionsRyman Hospitality Properties
The Health Field1979–84
Doctor Snuggles1981Polyscope
The Glen Campbell Music Show1982–83Pierre Cossette Productions
Gaylord Program Services
In Search of...1982–83Alan Landsburg ProductionsNBCUniversal Syndication Studios
Super Friends1982–85Hanna-Barbera
DC Comics
Warner Bros. Television
Inspector Gadget1983–86DIC EnterprisesWildBrain
Family1983–84Columbia Pictures Television
Spelling/Goldberg Productions
Sony Pictures Television
How the West Was Won1983–84MGM TelevisionWarner Bros. Television
LBS Children's Theater1983–85VariousVarious
The Greatest American Hero1984–85Stephen J. Cannell ProductionsShout! Factory
Heathcliff1984–85DIC EnterprisesWildBrain
Tales from the Darkside1984–88Laurel Entertainment
Jaygee Productions
CBS Media Ventures
INDAY
  • It's A Great Life
  • All About Us
  • INDAY News
  • What's Hot? What's Not?
1985–86Tribune Broadcasting
M.A.S.K.1985–86DIC EnterprisesWildBrain
Care Bears1985DIC EnterprisesWildBrain
What's Happening Now!!1985–88Columbia Pictures TelevisionSony Pictures Television
Kideo TV 1986–87DIC Enterprises
Mattel
WildBrain
Canned Film Festival1986Young & Rubicam
Chelsea Communications
Keurig Dr Pepper/Fremantle
The New Gidget1986–88Ackerman/Riskin Productions
Columbia Pictures Television
Sony Pictures Television
The Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin1986–87DIC Enterprises
Atkinson Film-Arts
The Jim Henson Company
The Real Ghostbusters1987–91DIC Enterprises
Columbia Pictures Television
Sony Pictures Television
The New American Bandstand1987–88Dick Clark Productions
Hardcastle and McCormick1987–88Stephen J. Cannell ProductionsSony Pictures Television
New Monkees1987–88Coca-Cola Telecommunications
Straybert Productions
Sony Pictures Television
Family Feud1988–92Mark Goodson ProductionsFremantle
Police Academy1988–89Ruby-Spears Productions
Warner Bros. Television
Warner Bros. Television
Crazy Like a Fox1989Columbia Pictures TelevisionSony Pictures Television
The New Adventures of He-Man1990Jetlag Productions
Parafrance Communications
NBCUniversal Syndication Studios
Dragon Warrior1990Saban International
Memories...Then and Now1990–92NBC News ProductionsNBCUniversal Syndication Studios
Baywatch1991–92The Baywatch Company
Tower 12 Productions
Fremantle

Ad sales

Colex Enterprises

Films

TV specials

Title Run Co-producer Current distributor
The Clairol Crown1979–81
Strawberry Shortcake 1980–85Kenner Products
Mueller/Rosen Productions (#1-#3)
Murakami-Wolf-Swenson (#1/#3)
Perpetual Motion Pictures (#2)
Nelvana (#4-#6)
CBS Media Ventures (#1-#2)
WildBrain (#3-#6)
Peter and the Magic Egg1983Mueller/Rosen Productions
Murakami-Wolf-Swenson
CBS Media Ventures
The Care Bears in the Land Without Feelings1983Kenner Products
Atkinson Film-Arts
Cloudco Entertainment
The Care Bears Battle the Freeze Machine1984Kenner Products
Atkinson Film-Arts
Cloudco Entertainment
Poochie1984DIC EnterprisesWildBrain
The Adventures of the Get Along GangMay 6, 1984NelvanaCloudco Entertainment
GoBots: Battle for GoBotron1984Hanna-Barbera
Tonka
Warner Bros. Television
It Came Upon the Midnight ClearDecember 8, 1984Columbia Pictures TelevisionSony Pictures Television
Peter and Paul1985Universal TelevisionNBCUniversal Syndication Studios
Hope Diamonds 1986Hope EnterprisesSony Pictures Television
The Story of Rock 'n Roll1987Chelsea CommunicationsFremantle
Return to the Titanic...LiveOctober 28, 1987Westgate CommunicationsFremantle
Bonanza: The Next Generation1988Bonanza Ventures
Gaylord Productions
Entertainment One
Exploring Pyschic Powers...Live1989Fremantle
The Billy Martin Celebrity RoastSeptember 30, 1989Multiview ProductionsFremantle
It Nearly Wasn't Christmas1989Ventura Entertainment GroupFremantle

References

  1. "50 Who Made A Difference", page 45. Advertising Age, Spring 1995.
  2. "Media Dealmakers Summit focuses on industry's new realities". 5 February 2010.
  3. "Lexington Broadcast goes full stream into syndication" (PDF). Broadcasting. 1976-11-29. Retrieved 2021-11-15.
  4. "Grey gets deeper in barter with Lexington subsidiary" (PDF). Broadcasting. 1976-11-22. Retrieved 2011-11-16.
  5. "Programming Briefs" (PDF). Broadcasting. 1977-07-04. Retrieved 2021-11-16.
  6. "Family" (PDF). Broadcasting. 1982-12-20. Retrieved 2021-11-13.
  7. "Monitor" (PDF). Broadcasting. 1983-02-14. Retrieved 2021-11-14.
  8. 1 2 "Sale in the works for 'Eden' mini-series". Broadcasting. 1984-01-30. p. 45.
  9. Perlmutter, David (2014). America Toons In: A History of Television Animation. pp. 207–212. ISBN 9780786476503. Retrieved 27 January 2016.
  10. "The Hot Team. The Hot Programs. The New Hot Weekend Network for Kids" (PDF). Broadcasting (LBS ad). January 6, 1986. pp. 8–9. Retrieved May 19, 2016.
  11. "DIC Fields 8-Pack Through LBS; Dennis Will Menace Again". Variety. 1986-08-20. pp. 51, 74.
  12. Melanson, James (1986-09-10). "LBS Enterprises Division Plans To Market Videocassettes". Variety. pp. 56, 58.
  13. "LBS And DIC Settle Lawsuit On Kideo Vid". Variety. 1987-06-03. pp. 61, 76.
  14. "LBS Stringing Ad Hoc Network To Launch Syndie 'Titanic' Spec". Variety. 1987-08-05. p. 39.
  15. Dempsey, John (1987-05-06). "LBS Seeking To Shore Up Syndie Division In Wake Of Barter Bust". Variety. pp. 586, 592.
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