Logo description by Jason Jones, James Fabiano, Matt Williams, Ryan Mead, and Michael Bode Logo captures by Eric S., Shadeed A. Kelly, V of Doom, and JoeCool85 Editions by Shadeed A. Kelly Video captures courtesy of JohnnyL80 and JoeCool85
Background: Coca-Cola Telecommunications was a short-lived television distribution arm of Columbia Pictures Television, that was established on November 24, 1986 under the Coca-Cola Company, the former owner of Columbia Pictures, that was responsible for first-run syndicated programming. It was also a merger between CPT's first-run division and "The Television Program Source". In January 1987, it formed a production division. On December 31, 1987, Coca-Cola Telecommunications closed its doors and it was folded into the reorganized Columbia Pictures Television Distribution (now "Sony Pictures Television") after Coke spun-off its entertainment business and sold it to Tri-Star Pictures, Inc. and was renamed as "Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc." (now "Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc.") and merged the theatrical banners on December 21, 1987. As of today, Sony Pictures Television distributes Punky Brewster in the United States, while NBCUniversal Television Distribution own the show and handles global rights. SPE also owns The Real Ghostbusters, Dinosaucers, and Dennis the Menace: Dinosaur Hunter, while Sylvanian Families is owned by DHX Media.
(1987-88)[]
Nicknames: "The Coke Box", "The Coke Swirl", "The Coca-Cola Box"
Logo: On a black background is a red box with the Coca-Cola "Dynamic Ribbon" in it outlined in black (the space under it is decorated with horizontal black lines). Under that is:
Coca-Cola
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
A unit of Coca-Cola TELEVISION
Variant: There is a variant of this logo with the text Exclusive Distributor below. It's also videotaped.
FX/SFX: Just the logo fading.
Music/Sounds: A light synthesized 6-note tune that sounds somewhat similar to the flute solo at the start of "Sledgehammer" by Peter Gabriel.
Music/Sounds Variant: On the Action Max Blue Thunder game, it uses the end theme.
Availability: Very rare, as this logo was short lived.
- Originally seen on 1987 episodes of The Real Ghostbusters, season 3 of Punky Brewster, and Dinosaucers, among other shows.
- It was also seen on the TV movie incarnation of Dennis the Menace (a.k.a. Dennis the Menace: Dinosaur Hunter), but it and the LBS logo are plastered by the SPT logo on recent prints; however, the "Coca Cola Telecommunications Presents" text at the beginning was intact (on AT&T's now defunct streaming service Screen Pack, the opening text was deleted). It is preserved on the Vidmark Entertainment VHS and Laserdisc releases, however.
- The logo was plastered on USA and Fox Family Channel reruns of The Real Ghostbusters, as well as the more recent Sony and Time-Life DVD releases, though it was spotted on Canadian Teletoon Retro airings of two episodes, "Ain't NASA-sarily So" and "Doctor, Doctor."
- Columbia reportedly put the 1988 and 1989 CPT logos at the end of Punky Brewster reruns when they were more common, but it was plastered by the 1993 CPTD or 1996 CTTD logos on the Family Channel reruns and it hasn't been aired since.
- More recently, the logo was spotted on a bonus Sylvanian Families episode (after a 1990 "Kid in Bed" plaster!) on the now out of print UAV/Sterling Care Bears DVD To the Rescue, and on the special Meet Julie on DiC's KEWL Cartoons website (now defunct, but it could still be accessed through Feedage.com until KEWL Cartoons shut down completely).
- As for the "Exclusive Distributor" variant, it's extremely rare, and was only seen on reruns of Punky Brewster and a few older reruns of The Real Ghostbusters; it is intact on current prints of season 3 of the former followed by the current NBCUniversal Television Distribution logo (however, Shout! Factory's DVD plasters it with the 2004 NBCUTD logo). This logo has also turned up on at least one local rerun episode of Hardcastle and McCormick, following both the Stephen J. Cannell Productions and the 1987 LBS Distribution logos.
- Recently, it was retained on DHX Media Retro's YouTube print of Starcom: The U.S. Space Force, after the Cookie Jar logo, and it might have also appeared on Mill Creek's DVD release.
- It is also at the end of the Blue Thunder game for the infamous Action Max console.
Editor's Note: This is a very soothing logo. It's a favorite to many, despite its rarity. This also briefly replaced the Colex logo on shows distributed from them.