Sony Pictures Television International/Summary

Background : Sony Pictures Television International, the international unit of Sony Pictures Television, can be traced back 1982, with the formation of Columbia Pictures International Television. Sony Pictures Entertainment and TriStar Television president Jon Feltheimer renamed CPIT to Columbia TriStar International Television on October 14, 1991 to distribute all its shows and the Columbia TriStar films around the world. It was later reincorporated as Sony Pictures Television International (now "Sony Pictures 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 (1993-1999)
Nicknames: "CT Boxes", "CGI Boxes"

Logo: This logo is just like the 3rd logo of Columbia TriStar Home Video from 1993-2002, except:
 * The cloud box zooms out earlier.
 * The words: “HOME VIDEO ” were changed to the stacked words: “INTERNATIONAL TELEVISION ”, fades in, and is in 2D.

FX/SFX: Same as the 1993 CTHV logo.

Music/Sounds: Same as the 1993 CTHV logo.

Availability: Extinct. This was last seen on a few Three Stooges shorts from Stooge TV on The Family Channel from 1995-98.

===2nd Logo (1996-2001)===

Nicknames: "Logos Up-Close", "Lighting Up Screens Around the World", "Side-By-Side Logo"

Logo: On the background of the 1993 Columbia Pictures logo, we see a still shot of the Torch Lady on the left with her cloud behind her and the TriStar Pegasus (in its similar style from the 1993 TriStar Pictures logo), on the right without a cloud. We would see the animation of the TriStar Pegasus unfolding his wings just like the 1993 theatrical logo. Above them panning back says “COLUMBIA TRISTAR INTERNATIONAL TELEVISION” above the Torch Lady and the Pegasus. Below the waist of the Torch Lady underlined says “LIGHTING UP SCREENS ”. Below shifted on the right says “AROUND THE ” and underneath says “WO RLD ” in a huge font with the planet Earth rotating, panning back into the rings to represent the letter “O ” all in gold and the remaining lettering in Trajan Pro font. The logo appears:

COLUMBIA TRISTAR INTERNATIONAL TELEVISION LIGHTING UP SCREENS  AROUND THE WO RLD

FX/SFX: The name and globe panning back.

Music/Sounds: The shortened or the long version of the Columbia TriStar Television Distribution theme.

Availability: Extremely rare. Seen on any Sony series across the globe. The version with the short jingle was seen on some episodes of AXN on the Spanish channel TeleXitos.

===3rd Logo (1997-2000?)===

Nicknames: "CT Boxes II", "The Filmstrip", "The C-T Filmstrip"

Logo: It's exactly the same as the 1997 CTHV logo, except the stacked text "INTERNATIONAL TELEVISION" replaces "HOME VIDEO" and the words "columbia tristar" and "international television" are shown in the middle sliding in slowly from the left and right of the screen respectively as the logo animates. In the middle is a black rounded code-out box with the white word "columbia" which then changes intro "tristar". Then the words disappear before the logo forms.

Variants:
 * A stretched 16:9 variant exists on widescreen programs.
 * On the Brazilian version of Married... With Children, titled A Guerra Dos Pintos, "BRASIL" (which is in a different font) appears below "INTERNATIONAL TELEVISION."

FX/SFX: Same as the 1997 CTHV logo.

Music/Sounds: The same generic hip hop-like jingle from the 1997 CTHV logo.

Availability: Extremely rare in the USA. Seen on non-USA prints of Men in Black: The Series, German prints of Powder Park (followed by the SPT logo), and the UK version of As If. It may have also been spotted on Channel Umptee-3 among other programs.

===4th Logo (1997-2000?)===

Nicknames: "CT Boxes III", "The Light Blue Outline Boxes", "CT Print Boxes"

Logo: A flash occurs. Then, in a "swirly" black-<span style="color:rgb(0,0,255);font-family:Arial,Verdana,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:normal;">blue background, a few <span style="color:rgb(30,202,232);font-family:Arial,Verdana,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:normal;">light blue outline boxes slowly slide in different directions, revealing a white rectangle with dark cyan tinted print boxes of the Columbia and TriStar logos, respectively. Above the white rectangle, the words "COLUMBIA TRISTAR" in white Bank Gothic MD BT font, appears via a flash-like effect. Under the rectangle, "INTERNATIONAL TELEVISION" appears in the same fashion.

FX/SFX: The background, the boxes, the text.

Music/Sounds: TBA.

Availability: Near extinction. The only known evidence of this logo is from a set of promos at Nxtbook.com, among other logos. One of the trailers which had this logo was Ihaka: Blunt Instrument.

===5th Logo (1998-2001)===

Nicknames: "The Metallic Globe", "CT TV Tube"

Logo: The screen flashes quickly, revealing the same background as the 4th logo, with some connected circles spinning, and a CBS Broadcast International-esque Earth globe spinning, both slowly zooming in. The words "<span style="color:rgb(23,220,227);font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:normal;">COLUMBIA TRISTAR INTERNATIONAL TELEVISION ", in a different Bank Gothic typeface, appear at the upper and lower sides of the screen, respectively. Two white lines of light criss-cross to form a TV tube-esque form with the Columbia logo (from the 1993 movie logo, but still) at the left side and the TriStar logo (again, from the 1993 movie logo, but still) at the right side. The lines of light fade out later.

FX/SFX: The background, the connected circles and the globe spinning, the words appearing and the lines of light forming the logo.

Music/Sounds: TBA.

Availability: Same as the 4th logo.

===6th Logo (1999-2001)===

Nicknames : "CT Boxes IV", "Zooming Boxes", "CT Print Boxes II"

Logo : Against a <span style="color:rgb(185,34,201);font-family:Arial,Verdana,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:normal;">plum purple background, the print Columbia and TriStar boxes filled with pink, and the text:

<p style="text-align:center;">columbia tristar international television

zoom out, while two <span style="color:rgb(252,157,196);font-family:Arial,Verdana,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:normal;">pink parentheses facing both sides, criss-cross to fill the boxes with <span style="color:rgb(185,34,201);font-family:Arial,Verdana,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:normal;">plum purple.

Variants :
 * There is one variant where the parentheses are blinking.
 * On a 2000 Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman promo, a variant exists where the background is orange and the parentheses are red-orange.

FX/SFX : The zoom out. The parentheses blinking on one variant.

Music/Sounds : Probably the same as the CTT logo of the time. The Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman promo variant has the end of the promo music with an announcer (probably Brian Cummings) saying "Only from Columbia TriStar International Television."

Availability : Same as the 4th and 5th logos.

===7th Logo (2001-2002)===

Nicknames : "CT Boxes V", "Enhanced Sliding Boxes"

Logo : Exactly the same as the 1999 second filmed version of the 1995 Columbia TriStar Television "Boxes of Boredom" logo except the stacked words " INTERNATIONAL TELEVISION " replaces " TELEVISION ", " TELEVISION DISTRIBUTION " or " DOMESTIC TELEVISION " and the Sony byline is intact.

FX/SFX : Same as Columbia TriStar Television and Columbia TriStar Domestic Television.

Music/Sounds : The same as the 1994 CTT logo theme except played at a noticeable higher pitch (possibly because it aired on TV in a PAL or SECAM-format country, though the same pitch might be seen in NTSC-format countries). In other cases, it used only the closing theme of the show.

Availability : Extremely rare as in the USA.
 * It was once seen on an Irish broadcast of Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot, before the credits; the 2003 Sony Pictures Television International logo appeared after the credits.
 * In the past, it was seen on any Sony shows worldwide.
 * It was also seen on the 2000 version of Tequilla & Bonetti.
 * Surprisingly, this logo was saved on French airings of the 2000-01 Canadian show Mysterious Ways.

Sony Pictures Television International
===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 : That's exactly the same as the 2002 Sony Pictures Television. However, everything has been shifted up a little to place the word “<span style=" font-family: Times; Arial, sans;font-size:16px;">INTERNATIONAL ” under the word “<span style=" font-family: Times; Arial, sans;font-size:16px;">TELEVISION ” way under the Sony Pictures logo and the line. There are 11 bars. The words stacked features:

<p style="text-align:center;"><span style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Times,TimesNewRoman,serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">SONY <span style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Times,TimesNewRoman,serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;"> PICTURES <span style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Times,TimesNewRoman,serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">TELEVISION <span style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Times,TimesNewRoman,serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:normal;text-align:-webkit-center;">INTERNATIONAL

With Sony Pictures' logo at the top.

Variant : On the Turkish version of Married... with Children (entitled Evli ve Çocuklu), the long version of the original SPT logo is used.

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

Music/Sounds : The 2002 Sony Pictures Television fanfare.

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! in 2002 in America and Fox Kids UK airings of The Real Ghostbusters, but now has been replaced by the standard Sony logo. Makes a surprise apperance on CTV Throwback's print of season 3 episodes of The Naked Truth. For others, it’s shown 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 “<span style=" font-family: Times; Arial, sans;font-size:16px;">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 consists exclusively of the theme's second half, and the other is an edited version that cuts off its ending while applying an echo effect to the last audible portion.
 * Reruns of Astro Boy and several 2002-04 episodes of Jackie Chan Adventures as well as an episode of Bewitched use the SPT theme.
 * 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 2011/14 DVD releases of season 4 of Barney Miller, replacing the Four D Productions logo on all but two episodes from that season. Surprisingly, this appeared on TBS' print of Saving Silverman, as well as on Amazon Prime Video's print of The Sweetest Thing and after a July 25, 2005 Cinemax airing of Something's Gotta Give. On Crackle prints of The Critic, the logo is followed by the 1993 CPT logo.

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