__notoc__ TelePrompTer Corporation was an American media company that existed from approximately 1950 until 1981. The company was named for its eponymous primary product, a

display device A display device is an output device for presentation of information in visual or tactile form (the latter used for example in tactile electronic displays for blind people). When the input information that is supplied has an electrical signal the ...

invented by

Hubert Schlafly Hubert Joseph Schlafly Jr. (August 14, 1919 – April 20, 2011) was an American electrical engineer who co-invented the teleprompter. Schlafly is also credited with spearheading the movement towards satellite television within the industry. Schl ...

which scrolls

text Text may refer to: Written word * Text (literary theory), any object that can be read, including: **Religious text, a writing that a religious tradition considers to be sacred **Text, a verse or passage from scripture used in expository preachin ...

to people on video or giving speeches, replacing

cue cards Cue cards, also known as note cards, are cards with words written on them that help actors and speakers remember what they have to say. They are typically used in television productions where they can be held off-camera and are unseen by the au ...

or scripts. Branded as the "TelePrompTer", the name has become a

genericized trademark A generic trademark, also known as a genericized trademark or proprietary eponym, is a trademark or brand name that, because of its popularity or significance, has become the generic term for, or synonymous with, a general class of products or ...

as "teleprompter".

History

The company started around 1950 by businessman Irving B. Kahn; Fred Barton, Jr., a Broadway theatre actor; and Schlafly, an electrical engineer. Schlafly had invented the teleprompter in order to help a

soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...

actor who could not remember his lines. He unveiled the device on the set of the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

soap opera, ''

The First Hundred Years ''The First Hundred Years'' is the first ongoing TV soap opera in the United States that began as a daytime serial, airing on CBS from December 4, 1950 until June 27, 1952. A previous daytime drama on NBC, '' These Are My Children'', aired in 1 ...

'', in 1950. Initially,

public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. P ...

personnel handled the teleprompters. TelePrompTer sold its eponymous business in the 1960s and invested in cable and satellite broadcast services. Schlafly went on to develop microwave video transmission services with

Hughes Aircraft Company The Hughes Aircraft Company was a major American aerospace and defense contractor founded on February 14, 1934 by Howard Hughes in Glendale, California, as a division of Hughes Tool Company. The company was known for producing, among other produ ...

. Kahn was convicted in Federal court in 1971 and imprisoned for 20 months for trying to bribe members of the

Johnstown, Pennsylvania Johnstown is a city in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 18,411 as of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Located east of Pittsburgh, Johnstown is the principal city of the Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Metropol ...

city council to award his company a local cable franchise. He was also convicted of perjury.Barron, James
"Irving B. Kahn, 76, a Founder Of Teleprompter and Cable TV"
''The New York Times'', January 25, 1994 Kahn had stepped down as chairman of TelePrompTer several months before his conviction. Kahn maintained, before and after his 20-month prison term, that the issue was extortion by the officials and not bribery by the company. In 1969, TelePrompTer acquired the

Filmation Filmation Associates was an American production company that produced animation and live-action programming for television from 1963 until 1989. Located in Reseda, California, the animation studio was founded in 1962. Filmation's founders and pr ...

animation studio from its founders,

Lou Scheimer Louis Scheimer (October 19, 1928 – October 17, 2013) was an American producer and voice actor who was one of the original founders of Filmation. He was also credited as an executive producer of many of its cartoons. Early life and education ...

Hal Sutherland Harold H. "Hal" Sutherland (July 1, 1929 – January 16, 2014) was an American animator and painter who began his career as a Disney animator in 1954 working on ''Sleeping Beauty'', ''Lady and the Tramp'', ''Peter Pan'' and the last theatrical sh ...

and

Norm Prescott Norman Prescott (January 31, 1927 – July 2, 2005) was co-founder and executive producer at Filmation Associates, an animation studio he created with veteran animator Lou Scheimer. Life and career Born in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston ...

. Scheimer continued as an executive producer for the company until its dissolution."Filmation purchased by Teleprompter." ''

Broadcasting Broadcasting is the distribution (business), distribution of sound, audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic medium (communication), mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio ...

'', June 30, 1969, pg. 38

/ref> TelePrompTer merged with H & B American Corporation in 1970, creating the nation's largest cable company at the time. TelePrompTer grew to become the largest cable television, cable television provider in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

by 1973. The company was later sold to Westinghouse, merging the cable operations into

Westinghouse Broadcasting The Westinghouse Broadcasting Company, also known as Group W, was the broadcasting division of Westinghouse Electric Corporation. It owned several radio and television stations across the United States and distributed television shows for syndicat ...

. After the merger, TelePrompTer's cable systems would be renamed Group W Cable, with the broadcasting division renamed "Westinghouse Broadcasting and Cable". The Filmation studios were also part of the deal. Westinghouse would sell off its cable operations in 1986 to Houston Industries, which became

Paragon Cable Paragon Cable was a cable system based in Minneapolis, Minnesota and was owned by Houston Industries. Beginnings Formed in the 1980s, Paragon Cable was the largest cable provider in Minnesota with 177,100 subscribers in the Twin Cities and Sou ...

; 25% was sold to

Comcast Comcast Corporation (formerly known as American Cable Systems and Comcast Holdings),Before the AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corpora ...

. In 1989, Westinghouse sold Filmation to Paravision International, an investment consortium led by the French cosmetics company

L'Oréal L'Oréal S.A. () is a French personal care company headquartered in Clichy, Hauts-de-Seine with a registered office in Paris. It is the world's largest cosmetics company and has developed activities in the field concentrating on hair color, sk ...

. Before that sale was complete, Westinghouse shuttered the film studio on February 3, 1989, which left L'Oréal with only the Filmation library."Group W sells Filmation." ''Broadcasting'', February 13, 1989, pg. 94
/ref>

Charter Communications Charter Communications, Inc., is an American telecommunications and mass media company with services branded as Spectrum. With over 32 million customers in 41 states, it is the second-largest cable operator in the United States by subscribers, ...

(which bought

Time Warner Cable Time Warner Cable, Inc. (TWC) was an American cable television company. Before it was acquired by Charter Communications on May 18, 2016, it was ranked the second largest cable company in the United States by revenue behind only Comcast, operat ...

and

Bright House Networks Bright House Networks, LLC also simply known as Bright House, was an American telecom company. Prior to its purchase by Charter Communications, it was the tenth-largest multichannel video service provider and the 6th largest cable internet provi ...

in 2016), and, in some areas, Comcast (which obtaining most of the Filmation library as part of acquisition of

DreamWorks Animation DreamWorks Animation LLC (DWA, also known as DreamWorks Animation Studios and simply known as DreamWorks) is an American animation studio that produces animated films and television programs and is a subsidiary of Universal Pictures, a division ...

in 2016), own and operate cable systems previously run by TelePrompTer.

References

Notes Further reading
"Oral History of Monroe Rifkin"
The Hauser Oral and Video History Collection, The Barco Library, The Cable Center, Denver, Colorado.

External links

{{Boxing on television American companies established in 1950 American companies disestablished in 1981 Defunct mass media companies of the United States Cable television companies of the United States Westinghouse Broadcasting Filmation Time Warner Cable Comcast Mass media companies established in 1950 Mass media companies disestablished in 1981 1970 mergers and acquisitions

History

See also

References

External links