I know some current newer movies are available like Fox, Disney and a few others to local stations as our Jackson locals like WDBD Fox 40 and CW affiliate WRBJ air different packages. I was wondering about the older ones (30's-40's-50's-60's) like from MGM, Warner Brothers, UA, Universal, etc. that I grew up on in the latte 1960-1980's, especially on the local independent tv stations. I know TCM has the libraries of MGM-UA and Warner Brothers so are those titles no longer available to be syndicated to the local stations as they did in the past. Or does the current market have no need for them? Any info would really be appreciated.
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Are older syndicated movies available to stations?
- Thread starter mississippi fan
- Start date
C
Capemill
Guest
WITI Fox 6 in Milwaukee has the rights to a handful of the old RKO films (the notables that they air a couple times a year include King Kong and Top Hat) and have had them since at least the pre-Turner days (that's how old most of the poor quality prints are). They usually air as Sunday afternoon filler during the football off-season or on weekend late-nights.
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Capemill
Guest
rnigma said:
Some are and some aren't; the print of Bringing Up Baby WITI has ends with the '80s "distributed by" RKO Pictures logo.
RKO Movies On TV (Was: Re: Are older syndicated movies available to stations?)
"C & C Movietime U.S.A." goes back to when the RKO Pictures library first popped up on television!
In 1955, General Tire (which also owned WNAC-7 Boston, WGTH-18 Hartford (which would soon be sold-off), WOR-9 New York, WEAT-12 West Palm beach, WHBQ-13 Memphis and KHJ-9 Los Angeles) purchased the RKO Pictures studio and film library from Howard Hughes for about $25 million.
The purpose was two fold: General Tire wanted to revitalize the RKO studios so it could produce movies and TV shows (the later likely for syndication, with what would soon become the RKO General TV stations getting the rights to these syndicated shows in their markets); and for General to acquire the RKO film library.
C & C was a company owned by Matty Fox which distributed the RKO movies nationally, except for the six cities where General Tire owned TV stations. In those cities, the RKO film library went to the RKO General TV stations.
Initially, only those RKO movies made through 1948 were released to TV (there was a "Gentleman's Agreement" at the time that feature films made after 1948 would not yet be released to TV), but eventually, the post-1948 films "saw the light of day" on the tube.
In the cases of WOR and KHJ (and WGTH--later WHCT--after RKO re-acquired the station and ended the over-the-air pay-TV experiment), the better RKO movies were shown in prime-time since these stations were independents. The others were network affiliates, so these films were broadcast late at night or on weekend afternoons.
In the case of my hometown of Boston, WNAC showed RKO pictures (and occasionally, films from other studios or distributors) under the title "Cinema 7". Circa 1961, WNAC carried "Cinema 7" nightly at 11:15 P.M. (after the late news), a double feature that would usually run until 2:45 or 3 A.M.; and a Sunday-afternoon double-feature starting at 12 Noon and running until 3 or 3:30 P.M.
"C & C Movietime U.S.A." goes back to when the RKO Pictures library first popped up on television!
In 1955, General Tire (which also owned WNAC-7 Boston, WGTH-18 Hartford (which would soon be sold-off), WOR-9 New York, WEAT-12 West Palm beach, WHBQ-13 Memphis and KHJ-9 Los Angeles) purchased the RKO Pictures studio and film library from Howard Hughes for about $25 million.
The purpose was two fold: General Tire wanted to revitalize the RKO studios so it could produce movies and TV shows (the later likely for syndication, with what would soon become the RKO General TV stations getting the rights to these syndicated shows in their markets); and for General to acquire the RKO film library.
C & C was a company owned by Matty Fox which distributed the RKO movies nationally, except for the six cities where General Tire owned TV stations. In those cities, the RKO film library went to the RKO General TV stations.
Initially, only those RKO movies made through 1948 were released to TV (there was a "Gentleman's Agreement" at the time that feature films made after 1948 would not yet be released to TV), but eventually, the post-1948 films "saw the light of day" on the tube.
In the cases of WOR and KHJ (and WGTH--later WHCT--after RKO re-acquired the station and ended the over-the-air pay-TV experiment), the better RKO movies were shown in prime-time since these stations were independents. The others were network affiliates, so these films were broadcast late at night or on weekend afternoons.
In the case of my hometown of Boston, WNAC showed RKO pictures (and occasionally, films from other studios or distributors) under the title "Cinema 7". Circa 1961, WNAC carried "Cinema 7" nightly at 11:15 P.M. (after the late news), a double feature that would usually run until 2:45 or 3 A.M.; and a Sunday-afternoon double-feature starting at 12 Noon and running until 3 or 3:30 P.M.
C
C&C was actually the U.S. division of Cantrell and Cochrane, the Irish soft drink manufacturer. (They shut down the American operations years ago but still thrive in Ireland. They own the Irish rights to make Pepsi products.)
If I recall, Matty Fox owned Motion Pictures for Television, the syndicator which produced "The Adventures of Superman" and the "Sherlock Holmes" series with Ronald Howard. He may have had a stake in C&C, I don't recall.
A vault fire destroyed many master prints of RKO films, which survive only via C&C prints.
Joseph_Gallant said:
C&C was actually the U.S. division of Cantrell and Cochrane, the Irish soft drink manufacturer. (They shut down the American operations years ago but still thrive in Ireland. They own the Irish rights to make Pepsi products.)
If I recall, Matty Fox owned Motion Pictures for Television, the syndicator which produced "The Adventures of Superman" and the "Sherlock Holmes" series with Ronald Howard. He may have had a stake in C&C, I don't recall.
A vault fire destroyed many master prints of RKO films, which survive only via C&C prints.
crainbebo said:
Most stations don't even have movie libraries anymore. They do deals for syndicated packages on a yearly basis. And it's very nearly impossible to find movies that are 20 years old, much less 60 or 70 or more. The syndicators have barter spots in the movies, allowing stations to get them for a reduced fee or no cash at all. That means, though, that the movies need to deliver a desirable demographic like 18-49 or 25-54.
I could tell you here in Los Angeles, the Fox duopoly (KTTV/KCOP), KTLA, and KDOC are the only stations that air movies at least on a semi-regular basis; KTLA sometimes would poach a movie or two from This TV and Antenna TV to fill-out time.
KCBS airs movies occasionally on weekend afternoons if there's a reduced (or no) CBS Sports schedule, but that's probably 2-3 times a year; sister station KCAL also sometimes airs a movie or two most weekends (a lot of the time relegated to overnights, however). KNBC hasn't carried a syndicated movie in about a decade (a showing of the original Bad News Bears after a sporting event), and KABC pretty much phased-out movies within the last five or six years, replacing them with additional news and syndicated shows (most of it off-net reruns from ABC, such as Castle, Grey's Anatomy, and Private Practice).
More to Michael's point...with premium channels and streaming services like Netflix and Hulu, there isn't much a need for theatrical movies to air on over-the-air TV other than for strictly time-filler (either that or informericals). Personally, I much rather watch theatrical movies via cable/Netflix without dealing with editing issues.
KCBS airs movies occasionally on weekend afternoons if there's a reduced (or no) CBS Sports schedule, but that's probably 2-3 times a year; sister station KCAL also sometimes airs a movie or two most weekends (a lot of the time relegated to overnights, however). KNBC hasn't carried a syndicated movie in about a decade (a showing of the original Bad News Bears after a sporting event), and KABC pretty much phased-out movies within the last five or six years, replacing them with additional news and syndicated shows (most of it off-net reruns from ABC, such as Castle, Grey's Anatomy, and Private Practice).
More to Michael's point...with premium channels and streaming services like Netflix and Hulu, there isn't much a need for theatrical movies to air on over-the-air TV other than for strictly time-filler (either that or informericals). Personally, I much rather watch theatrical movies via cable/Netflix without dealing with editing issues.
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