TriStar Television, Inc. (first spelled Tri-Star, and abbreviated as TT) is an

American television Television is one of the major mass media outlets in the United States. , household ownership of television sets in the country is 96.7%, with approximately 114,200,000 American households owning at least one television set as of August 2013. ...

production studio A production company, production house, production studio, or a production team is a studio that creates works in the fields of performing arts, new media art, film, television, radio, comics, interactive arts, video games, websites, music, an ...

that is a division of

Sony Entertainment Sony Entertainment, Inc. is an American entertainment company established in 2012. It focuses on most of Sony's motion picture, television and music businesses. It is a subsidiary of the Japanese Sony Group Corporation, managed by Sony's Americ ...

Sony Pictures Television Sony Pictures Television Inc. (abbreviated as SPT) is an American television production and distribution studio. Based at the Sony Pictures Studios complex in Culver City, it is a division of Sony Entertainment's unit Sony Pictures Entertainm ...

. TriStar Television was launched in March 1986 by

TriStar Pictures TriStar Pictures, Inc. (spelled as Tri-Star until 1991) is an American film studio and production company that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, part of the multinational conglomerate Sony. It is a corporate sibling of Sony ...

, and remained a joint-venture between

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...

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 ...

, and

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

until it was acquired by

Sony Pictures Entertainment Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Sony Pictures or SPE, and formerly known as Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc.) is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment studio conglomerate that produces, ac ...

, the parent of both Columbia and TriStar. After a purchase by Sony Pictures Entertainment, both companies Columbia Pictures Television and TriStar Television merged and formed

Columbia TriStar Television Columbia TriStar Television, Inc. (abbreviated as CTT) was an American television production and distribution company that was active from 1994 to 2002. It was operated as the third name of the early television studio Screen Gems and the fourth ...

on February 21, 1994. The television studio was relaunched twice and is currently a specialty label for Sony Pictures Television. The entity was originally a sister company of

Columbia Pictures Television Columbia Pictures Television, Inc. (abbreviated as CPT) was launched on May 6, 1974, by Columbia Pictures as an American television production and distribution studio. It is the second name of the Columbia Pictures television division Screen Gem ...

which was shut down in 2001.

History

It was formed when Tri-Star Pictures joined forces with Stephen J. Cannell Productions and

Witt/Thomas Productions Witt/Thomas Productions is an American television and movie production company run by TV producers Paul Junger Witt and Tony Thomas. The company was consistently productive between its founding in 1973 and 1999, but is still active, producing a ...

and created a television distribution company called TeleVentures. Scott Siegler was immediately hired as president of the studio. As the Tri-Star Television studio rolled around, the company inked overall deals with various personnel, like

Ron Samuels Ron Samuels is an American film producer and artist manager. His film production credits include ''Iron Eagle'' (1986), '' Aces: Iron Eagle III'' (1992), and ''Raven Hawk'' (1996). Career Samuels owned a television production company in Beverly ...

, Richard Leder, Michael Jacobs, Larry Tucker,

Donald P. Bellisario Donald Paul Bellisario (born August 8, 1935) is an American television producer and screenwriter who created and sometimes wrote episodes for the TV series '' Magnum, P.I.'' (1980), ''Tales of the Gold Monkey'' (1982), ''Airwolf'' (1984), ''Quan ...

, Jim Green and Larry Epstein to help develop projects for the studio and decided that they would be involved in various television movies. By December 1987, Coca-Cola owned 80% Columbia Pictures Entertainment until January 1988, when it was reduced down to 49% and Tri-Star Television was then merged with Columbia/

Embassy A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually deno ...

Television into the reorganized Columbia Pictures Television (CPT) in January 1988, although TeleVentures was retained to handle sales of the existing Tri-Star programs that were inherited under contract to CPT, which would continue as a separate sales and distribution company from the CPT unit. Scott remained president of the studio until he left in 1993. Columbia Pictures Entertainment was sold in November 1989 to

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

of Japan. In the late of 1988, Witt/Thomas Productions withdrew from the TeleVentures venture, ceding it to

Walt Disney Television Disney General Entertainment Content, doing business as Walt Disney Television, is an American entertainment company that oversees television content and assets owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company. Forming the company's General Enter ...

, and sold its shares to Cannell. On July 11, 1990, both Tri-Star and Cannell dissolved the TeleVentures joint venture and Tri-Star sold its shares to Stephen J. Cannell Productions and TeleVentures became Cannell Distribution Co. Most of the series and the Tri-Star film packages that were distributed by TeleVentures were taken over by Columbia Pictures Television Distribution.

Revival and merger with Columbia Pictures Television

CPT would continue on under Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE), but TriStar Television was reestablished in October 1991 after CPT acquired some of the library of

New World Television New World Pictures (also known as New World Entertainment and New World Communications Group, Inc.) was an American independent production, distribution, and (in its final years as an autonomous entity) multimedia company. It was founded in 19 ...

Jon Feltheimer Jon Feltheimer (born September 2, 1951) is the Chief Executive Officer of Lions Gate Entertainment and has held that position since 2000. Feltheimer has led Lionsgate to grow into the leading Canadian independent filmed entertainment studio. Bi ...

, who was president of New World Television became the new president of TriStar Television. On March 15, 1993, star

Larry Hagman Larry Martin Hagman (September 21, 1931 – November 23, 2012) was an American film and television actor, director, and producer, best known for playing ruthless oil baron J. R. Ewing in the 1978–1991 primetime television soap opera, ''Dal ...

had signed a deal with the studio to develop projects for the 1993-94 TV season. On February 21, 1994, TriStar Television merged with

and formed

(CTT). In 1997, most new shows, and some existing TriStar shows like ''

Early Edition ''Early Edition'' is an American fantasy comedy-drama television series that aired on CBS from September 28, 1996, to May 27, 2000. Set in Chicago, Illinois, it follows the adventures of a man who mysteriously receives each ''Chicago Sun-Times'' ...

'', dropped the separate CPT and TriStar logos and begin placing it under the CTT logo, and also in January 1997, changed monikers from Sony Television Entertainment to Columbia TriStar Television Group. When TriStar Television's productions were folded into Columbia TriStar Television in 1999, ''

'' (a joint production with CBS) retained the TriStar copyright until 2000. The final season of ''

Malcolm & Eddie ''Malcolm & Eddie'' is an American sitcom that premiered August 26, 1996, on UPN, and ran for four seasons, airing its final episode on May 22, 2000. This series starred Malcolm-Jamal Warner and Eddie Griffin in the lead roles. The program was ...

'' was later produced by CTT and TriStar Television operated in-name-only. On October 25, 2001, Columbia TriStar Television and Columbia TriStar Television Distribution merged to become Columbia TriStar Domestic Television. On September 16, 2002, SPE retired the Columbia and TriStar names from television, renaming CTDT as

.Sony Pictures Entertainment Renames Television Operations; Domestic and International Divisions Take Sony Name
prnewswire.com

Second revival

On May 28, 2015, TriStar Television was re-launched as a boutique production label for Sony Pictures Television. Until her death in March 2018, the revived studio was run by Suzanne Patmore-Gibbs after being in-name-only for 15 years.Sony Eyes Relaunching TriStar Television Banner Run By Suzanne Patmore Gibbs
Nellie Andreeva deadline.com, Retrieved on May 28, 2015 The first new series was ''

Good Girls Revolt ''Good Girls Revolt'' is an American period drama streaming television series. It is inspired by Lynn Povich's 2013 book ''The Good Girls Revolt'' and based on real-life events. The show was released on October 28, 2016, on Amazon Prime Video. ...

'' and was piloted for

Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, also known simply as Prime Video, is an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, streaming and Renting, rental service of Amazon (c ...

on November 5, 2015.

List of shows by TriStar Television

References

{{Sony Pictures Sony Pictures Television Television production companies of the United States Entertainment companies based in California Sony Pictures Entertainment Predecessors of Sony Pictures Television Companies based in Culver City, California Re-established companies American companies established in 1991 American companies established in 2015 1986 establishments in California 1988 disestablishments in California 1991 establishments in California 1999 disestablishments in California 2015 establishments in California