Sony Pictures Television International/Summary

Logo descriptions by Shadeed A. Kelly and Eric S.

Logo captures by Shadeed A. Kelly, Eric S., and Mr.Logo Editions by Shadeed A. Kelly, Eric S., and V of Doom Video captures courtesy of JohnnyL80 and LogicSmash

Background : Sony Pictures Television International was the international television distribution arm of Sony Pictures Entertainment, renamed from Columbia TriStar International Television on September 16, 2002. On April 1, 2009, SPT, SPTI, Embassy Row, Starling, and the other SPT companies were combined under one roof under the "SPT" brand, so SPTI currently runs as in-name-only.

===1st Logo (2002-2003)===

Nicknames : “Shining Bars”, "The Bars of Boredom", "SPE Bars", "Sony Bars", "The Sony Parallelogram", "Lightbeam in Parallelogram", "Lightbeam in Striped Parallelogram"

Logo : This is the same logo from Sony Pictures Television. However, everything has been shifted up a little to place the word “INTERNATIONAL ” under the word “TELEVISION ” way under the Sony Pictures logo and the line. There are 11 bars. The words stacked features:

SONY  PICTURES TELEVISION INTERNATIONAL

With Sony Pictures’ logo at the top.

FX/SFX : Same as the Sony Pictures Television logo, except with "INTERNATIONAL" underneath "TELEVISION."

Music/Sounds : Same as the standard Sony Pictures Television logo.

Availability : Extremely rare in America. It was shown in 2002 on the early 1st season episodes of Men in Black: The Series on Nickelodeon's short-lived action block SLAM!, but it has since been replaced with the standard Sony logo. Otherwise, it can be seen worldwide.

===2nd Logo (In-credit logo) (2002- )===

Nicknames: "The Shining Bars Print logo", "SPE Bars II", "Sony Bars II", "Print SPE Bars", "Print Sony Bars", "SPE Multi-lined Tilted Parallelogram II", "The Sony Parallelogram II", "Print Lightbeam in Parallelogram", "Print Lightbeam in Striped Parallelogram"

Logo: Just an in-credit logo saying "Produced by", "Produced by [name of the company] and", or "Produced in association with", and then the Sony Pictures Television International logo. Other series have only the SPTI in-credit logo, depending on the country and its native language.

FX/SFX: None or the scrolling of the credits.

Music/Sounds: The ending theme from any show.

Availability: Rare outside the U.S. Still retained on international adaptations of classic Sony shows, such as The Nanny, Mad About You, Married with Children, and I Dream of Jeannie. Also seen on Los Simuladores (translated as Simulators). Other shows would carry this like Dragons' Den on the now-defunct Fox Reality Channel. This logo can be seen scrolling in the end credits of Les Z'amours (the French version of The Newlywed Game).

Editor's Note: Next to Artisan Entertainment, this could very well be considered among the cheapest logos of ALL TIME. It just looks like they took the picture from their website and applied it there!

===3rd Logo (2nd official logo) (July 2003-Late 2009)===

Nicknames : “Swirling Bars”, “Filmstrip Bars”, "Sony Cylinder", "SPE Bars III", "Sony Bars III", "Swirling SPE Bars", "Swirling Sony Bars", "The Sony Parallelogram III", "Lightbeam in Parallelogram II", "Lightbeam in Striped Parallelogram II", "From Cylinder to Parallelogram", "Swirling Helix"

Logo : On a black BG, we have the Sony Pictures striped parallelogram logo swirling and zooming back at the same time in 3-D. At the bottom of the swirling bars has the name “SONY PICTURES TELEVISION INTERNATIONAL ” zooming-in slowly from the shadows. There is a blue (sometimes purple) spotlight that is spinning at the bottom and shining on the logo that is also following the animation of the Sony Pictures logo until it stops.

Variant : In 2005, a narrower version was introduced.

FX/SFX : The bars swirling and moving back, the names zooming in, and the spotlight spinning. This is clean animation that holds up well today.

Music/Sounds : An ascending, zoom-like synthesizer effect. The same effect was used at one point in The Fairly OddParents episode "Crash Nebula".

Music/Sounds Variants :


 * In 2006, a longer version of the SPTI theme was introduced.
 * There are two shorter versions of the theme. The first is the 2nd half of the logo, and the other is an edited version that cuts off at the end with the sound of an echo.
 * Reruns of Astro Boy and several 2002-2004 episodes by Jackie Chan Adventures as well as an episode of Bewitched plastered the SPT logo, keeping the theme intact.
 * On one episode of The Nanny it used the 1993 TriStar Television theme.
 * A high tone variant exists.
 * Some international prints of Starsky and Hutch episodes have a PAL pitched 1993 CPT theme.
 * On the Russian DVD of Call Me Clause, it used the shortened CTTD theme. Most prints, including SKY airings, had the correct theme.

Availability : Uncommon. This logo is retained on season 5 of Good Times on TV One. It was also seen on Dawson's Creek on The N (now Teen Nick) and early Designing Women episodes on TV Land. This logo was also seen across the globe and some Sony films sometimes seen on the Starz/Encore networks and several The Three Stooges 5-minute "minisode" (courtesy of The Minisode Network) shorts on IFC. However, recent international prints instead use the standard SPT logo, replacing this and the in-credit ones. It can be found on Shout! Factory's release of season 4 of Barney Miller (both as part of the 2011 complete series set and the 2014 individual release), replacing the Four D Productions logo on all but two episodes from that season. Surprisingly, this appears on TBS' print of Saving Silverman.

Editor's Note : This is nowhere near as hated as its domestic counterpart, thanks to its cool animation and music.