Private company

Colex Enterprises

Logo: Unknown author Unknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons3

Defunct joint venture between Columbia Pictures Television and LBS Communications

Colex Enterprises was a joint venture between Columbia Pictures Television and LBS Communications, Inc., active from January 1984 to December 1987. The venture's name is a portmanteau of the two companies' names, Columbia and Lexington (derived from LBS's initials/original name, Lexington Broadcast Services).2 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

1984Founded1
  • Industrybroadcast syndication1

Colex Enterprises was a joint venture between Columbia Pictures Television and LBS Communications, Inc., active from January 1984 to December 1987. The venture's name is a portmanteau of the two companies' names, Columbia and Lexington (derived from LBS's initials/original name, Lexington Broadcast Services).2

The story

In December 1982, Columbia Pictures Television agreed to license domestic distribution rights to the television series Family to LBS. Family was subsequently added to Colex's roster when the venture was officially formed as an entity, and the first new series added to Colex's roster was Gidget. The venture was designed to handle syndication of various properties, mostly on behalf of CPT, on an advertiser-supported barter basis and a cash basis.

Initially, the billing for this entity was "A joint venture of Columbia Pictures Television and LBS Communications Inc." In 1985, this was temporarily changed to "A joint venture of LBS Communications Inc. and Columbia Pictures Television," only to revert to the previous billing within a few months.

Colex formed a squad of package monikers in November 1985:

Colex First-Run - new material

Colex Premiere Movies - various movies such as eleven post-1947 Bob Hope theatrical films (collectively "Hope Diamonds") and telemovies such as Family Reunion and The Best Place to Be

The Colex Collection (a.k.a. Colex Off-Net) - newer off-network material with proven appeal

The Colex 3-Pack - miniseries

The Colex Classics - various classic series

Read the full text

A year later, a duo of rearrangements with the package monikers occurred:

Colex Premiere Movies was renamed to Colex Films.

Family was moved to The Colex Classics from Colex Off-Net, while Ghost Story/Circle of Fear was moved to the latter from the former.

By the beginning of 1987, following the formation of Coca-Cola Telecommunications (from a merger between sister joint venture The Television Program Source and CPT's first-run syndication unit), the billing for this entity was changed to "A joint venture of LBS Communications Inc. and Columbia Pictures Television, in association with Coca-Cola Telecommunications." Colex was eventually dissolved shortly before Coca-Cola sold its entertainment business to Tri-Star Pictures, which it partially owned at the time, in turn leading to the formation of Columbia Pictures Entertainment, over a week before Coca-Cola Telecommunications was dissolved.

The name remains a trademark of Sony Pictures Television.

From Wikipedia’s article on Colex Enterprises, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4

Timeline

  1. 1984Founded Founded1

Sources

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