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National Telefilm Associates

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National Telefilm Associates
Company typeCorporation
IndustryTelevision
Founded1954; 70 years ago (1954)
DefunctDecember 28, 1984; 39 years ago (1984-12-28)
FateRenamed to Republic Pictures
SuccessorsStudio:
Republic Pictures
Library:
Disney–ABC Domestic Television
(20th Television's pre-1949 20th Century Fox library only)
Paramount Television/CBS Media Ventures
(all other material)
HeadquartersStudio City, California

National Telefilm Associates (NTA) was an audio-visual marketing company primarily concerned with the syndication of American film libraries to television, including the Republic Pictures film library. It was successful enough on cable television between 1983 and 1985 that it renamed itself Republic Pictures and undertook film production and home video sales as well.

History

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NTA was founded by Ely Landau and Oliver A. Unger[1] in 1954 when Ely Landau, Inc. was reorganized in partnership with Unger and Harold Goldman.[2] NTA was the successor company to U.M. & M. TV Corporation, which it bought out in 1956.[2]

In October 1956, NTA launched the NTA Film Network, a syndication service which distributed both film and live programs to television stations not affiliated with NBC, CBS, or ABC (DuMont had recently gone out of business). The ad-hoc network's flagship station was WNTA-TV, channel 13 in New York.[3] The NTA Network was launched as a "fourth TV network", and trade papers of the time referred to it as a new television network.[4]

The NTA network launched on October 15, 1956, with over 100 affiliate stations.[5] NTA programming included syndicated programs such as Police Call (1955),[6] How to Marry a Millionaire (1957-1959), The Passerby, Man Without a Gun (1957-1959), and This is Alice (1958). The network also distributed 52 Twentieth Century Fox films in 1956.[3] In November of the same year, it was announced that 50% of the network had been purchased by Fox, which would also produce original content for the network.[5]

In January 1959, Ely Landau was succeeded by Charles C. Barry, who took over as president of network operations. Landau continued to chair National Telefilm Associates.[7] Bernard Tabakin became the president of National Telefilms Associates in 1962 and retained that position until 1975. During his tenure, NTA became the largest independent television distributor in the industry and acquired various film libraries, including NBC Films and Republic Pictures.[8]

Despite the 50% ownership of 20th Century Fox, the film network never developed into a major commercial television network on a par with the "Big Three" television networks; modern TV historians regard the NTA Film Network as a syndication service rather than a major television network.

In March 1973, NTA bought NBC Films, the syndication arm of the NBC television network since March 1953 for $7.5 million, after the FCC ruled TV networks could not syndicate their own shows. Notable titles include Bonanza, The High Chaparral, Car 54, Where Are You?, Kimba the White Lion and Get Smart.[9]

Like its U.M. & M. predecessor, NTA altered the original negatives to the Paramount black-and-white animated shorts, replacing the front-and-end titles. References to Paramount and Technicolor were blacked out, with the NTA logo replacing the Paramount mountain.

At the end of color prints, the NTA logo had a U.M. & M. copyright byline below it, but on black-and-white prints, the U.M. & M. copyright appeared where the original Paramount copyright had been.

On some shorts, either the original Paramount copyright line, the original color process line, the "Paramount Presents" line, or even part of the Paramount logo could still be seen for a few frames before the black bars appear. On two Noveltoons featuring Little Audrey, the "spinning star" portion of the Paramount opening could still be seen. On the Little Lulu cartoons altered by NTA, they had no choice but to leave in the last part of the Paramount opening, albeit with much of it blacked out, since the "Little Lulu by Marge from The Saturday Evening Post" title card appeared over the Paramount mountain. In addition, most Betty Boop cartoons made between 1932 and 1934 utilize the Paramount mountain (minus the stars and typeface) as a backdrop for the main titles, with even a select few keeping the original copyright byline. However, when NTA repackaged many of those same cartoons in the 1970s, the original titles were kept without black bars, but the opening and ending Paramount logos were replaced with a contemporary NTA logo (the design taken from NTA predecessor Commonwealth United). At the same time, the Fleischer Studios feature Gulliver's Travels, as well as a small number of short subjects have circulated with their original Paramount titles.

Following Warner Bros.'s example of having their black-and-white cartoons colorized in 1968, NTA also sent the Betty Boop cartoons to South Korea in the early 1970s to be redrawn in color in order to become more marketable in the wake of color TV.

By 1982, NTA had launched a home video division called NTA Home Entertainment to market its holdings on VHS and Betamax, after its original contract with The Nostalgia Merchant ended. NTA previously licensed several of the titles for videocassette to The Nostalgia Merchant.[10] Two labels, Spotlite Video, releasing video cassettes of public domain material and documentaries, and Inspiration Video, which released Christian/faith content was also established. By 1984, NTA had bought the name and trademarks of the old Republic studio and renamed itself Republic Pictures and the home video arm was renamed to Republic Pictures Home Video, as well as Spotlite and Inspiration closing in 1986.

NTA/Republic changed hands in succeeding years, and distribution of the former NTA holdings is split—the theatrical rights are handled by Paramount Pictures, while television rights lie with Trifecta Entertainment & Media (for the theatrical output), and CBS Media Ventures (for the television library). When Republic folded in 2012, Viacom took full control of the former's theatrical library, with Olive Films or Kino Lorber handling home video rights to the theatrical catalog (except It's a Wonderful Life, which Paramount now distributes on DVD, among other selected films), while Paramount Home Entertainment (through CBS DVD) handles the television library for home video.

In December 2019, Viacom and CBS Corporation remerged into a single entity under the name ViacomCBS (and eventually renamed into Paramount Global), which reunited the former NTA assets.

Library

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NTA's library includes:

Notes

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  1. ^ "Oliver Unger Quits NTA; Charles Glett Successor". BOXOFFICE. 1961-05-29. Retrieved 2009-03-09. [dead link]
  2. ^ a b "U.M. & M. and NTA, a brief history". Archived from the original on 2009-08-06. Retrieved 2009-03-09.
  3. ^ a b Golembiewski, Dick (2008). Milwaukee Television History: The Analog Years. Marquette University Press. pp. 280–281. ISBN 978-0-87462-055-9.
  4. ^ "Fourth TV Network, for Films, is Created". Boxoffice. 1956-07-07. p. 8. [dead link]
  5. ^ a b "Fox Buys Into TV Network; Makes 390 Features Available". Boxoffice. 1956-11-03. p. 8.
  6. ^ "Billboard Magazine". August 18, 1956. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  7. ^ "Barry Named President of NTA Film Network". Boxoffice. 1959-01-26. p. 17.
  8. ^ "Bernard Tabakin". 13 August 1997. Archived from the original on 2016-05-29. Retrieved 2016-04-03..
  9. ^ "Sale of NBC Films completes exodus of networks from syndication" (PDF). Broadcasting. 1973-02-12. Retrieved 2021-08-25.
  10. ^ "NTA Scratches Nostalgia Pact, Getting Into Own Homevid Retail Setup". Variety. 1983-05-18. p. 34.
  11. ^ Elliot, Mark. Cary Grant: a biography. (p. 366) Three Rivers Press, New York. ISBN 0-307-20983-0.
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