Colex Enterprises

Colex Enterprises

Company type	Joint venture
Industry	Television syndication
Founded	December 1982; 42 years ago (1982-12) (as an agreement) January 1984; 41 years ago (1984-01) (as an entity)
Defunct	December 18, 1987; 37 years ago (1987-12-18) (as an entity) December 1991; 33 years ago (1991-12) (as an agreement)
Fate	Dissolved (as an entity)
Successors	Columbia Pictures Television Distribution
Headquarters	Burbank, California , United States
Parent	Columbia Pictures Television LBS Communications, Inc.

Colex Enterprises was a joint venture between Columbia Pictures Television and LBS Communications, Inc., active from January 1984 to December 18, 1987. The name of the venture is a portmanteau of the two companies' names (Columbia and Lexington, the latter coming from LBS' initials/original name of Lexington Broadcast Services).^[1]

History

In December 1982, Columbia Pictures Television agreed to license domestic distribution rights to the television series Family to LBS.^[2][3] Family was subsequently added to Colex's roster when the venture was officially formed as an entity, and the first new series added to Colex's roster was Gidget. The venture was designed to handle barter syndication on an advertiser-supported basis and a cash basis.^[4]

Initially, the billing for this entity was "A joint venture of LBS Communications Inc. and Columbia Pictures Television."^[5]

Colex formed a squad of package monikers in November 1985^[6]:

• Colex First-Run - new material, such as The New Gidget, The Hollywood Reporter and The New Monkees
• Colex Premiere Movies - various movies such as eleven post-1947 Bob Hope theatrical films (collectively "Hope Diamonds") and telemovies such as Family Reunion and The Best Place to Be
• The Colex Collection (a.k.a. Colex Off-Net) - newer off-network material with proven appeal, such as Hardcastle and McCormick, Father Murphy and Family
• The Colex 3-Pack - miniseries
• The Colex Classics - various classic series

Subsequently, the billing for this entity was changed to "A joint venture of Columbia Pictures Television and LBS Communications Inc."

A year later, a duo of rearrangements with the package monikers occurred:

• Colex Premiere Movies was renamed to Colex Films.
• Family was moved to The Colex Classics from Colex Off-Net, while Ghost Story/Circle of Fear was moved to the latter from the former.

By the very beginning of 1987, following the formation of Coca-Cola Telecommunications (from a merger between sister joint venture The Television Program Source and CPT's first-run syndication unit), the billing for this entity was changed to "A joint venture of LBS Communications Inc. and Columbia Pictures Television, in association with Coca-Cola Telecommunications."^[7] Both Colex and Coca-Cola Telecommunications were eventually dissolved, following the formation of Columbia Pictures Entertainment (from a merger between Coca-Cola's entire entertainment business and Tri-Star Pictures).

The name remains a trademark of Sony Pictures Television to this day.

Programming distributed by Colex Enterprises

Television programs

• Father Knows Best (1954-1960)
• The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show (1950-1958)
• Route 66 (1960-1964)
• Gidget (1965-1966)
• The Flying Nun (1967-1970)
• Ghost Story/Circle of Fear (1972-1973)
• Family (1976-1980)
• Father Murphy (1981-1983)
• Hardcastle and McCormick (1983-1986)

Movies

• The Care Bears Movie (1985)
• The Care Bears Movie II: A New Generation (1986)
• Heathcliff: The Movie (1986)

Telemovies

• Gidget Gets Married (1972)
• Three Wishes for Jamie (1987)

Post-dissolution

Following the dissolution of Colex as an entity, the agreement between Columbia Pictures Television and LBS continued for four more years, until LBS filed for bankruptcy. During this time, in addition to properties previously handled by Colex (plus What's Happening Now!!, a joint production of Columbia Pictures Television in association with LBS, which was initially not part of Colex's roster), the following properties were licensed to LBS from Columbia Pictures Television (labeled under the billing "distributed by LBS in association with Columbia Pictures Television")^[8]:

Programming previously not in syndication

• Matt Helm (1975-1976)
• Gibbsville (1976)
• David Cassidy: Man Undercover (1978-1979)
• Salvage 1 (1979)
• The Rousters (1983-1984)
• Crazy Like a Fox (1984-1986)

Programming previously handled solely by Columbia Pictures Television

• What's Happening!! (1976-1979)
• Code Red (1981-1982)
• The Real Ghostbusters (1986-1991)

See also

• Coca-Cola Telecommunications

References

1. "Sale in the works for 'Eden' mini-series". Broadcasting: 45. 1984-01-30.
2. "Family" (PDF). Broadcasting. 1982-12-20. Retrieved 2021-11-13.
3. "Monitor" (PDF). Broadcasting. 1983-02-14. Retrieved 2021-11-14.
4. "The World of TV Programming: Syndication". Broadcasting. 1984-10-22.
5. "Route 66: The American Adventure" (PDF). Broadcasting. 1985-09-23. Retrieved 2025-10-19.
6. "Syndication Marketplace" (PDF). Broadcasting. 1985-11-11. Retrieved 2021-11-16.
7. "New Monkees" (PDF). Broadcasting. 1987-04-27. Retrieved 2025-10-19.
8. "LBS Communications Inc. advertisements" (PDF). Television/Radio Age. 1988-12-26. Retrieved 2025-10-17.