Lexington Broadcast Services Company

LBS Communications, Inc.

Industry	Television syndication
Fate	Acquired by All American Communications
Successor	All American Communications Television (1992-1997) Pearson Television (1997-2001) FremantleMedia North America (2001-present)
Founded	1976
Defunct	May 18, 1992
Headquarters	TBA
Parent	All American Communications (1991-1992)

The Lexington Broadcast Services Company (first known as Lexington Broadcast Services and later known as LBS Communications) was a television production and syndication company founded in 1976 by advertising pioneer Henry Siegel. Advertising Age magazine wrote of Siegel as "the man who built Lexington Broadcast Services into the nation's largest barter syndicator, and thus defined that segment of the TV ad business."^[1]

The company was known for distributing programs from DIC Entertainment and Columbia Pictures Television (including select material from Columbia subsidiary/label Screen Gems), by way of its Colex Enterprises joint venture with Columbia,^[2] in addition to the 1991 syndicated re-launch of Baywatch.

Around the time that the joint venture with Columbia Pictures Entertainment ended in 1988, LBS began to lose money, and in December 1991, LBS filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and had to sell 80 to 85 percent of its assets to its Baywatch distributor partner the Scotti Brothers' All American Television. In 1997, All American was sold to Pearson plc, and was re-branded as Pearson Television. Pearson Television later merged with CLT-UFA to form RTL Group and Pearson Television was renamed to FremantleMedia. As of today most of LBS' library is owned by FremantleMedia with some exceptions.

TV programs

• The Ropers (after distributed by D.L. Taffner Syndications Sales 1979–1980)
• Three's a Crowd (after distributed by D.L. Taffner Syndications Sales 1984–1985)
• Too Close for Comfort (after distributed by D.L. Taffner Syndications Sales 1980–1986)
• 21 Jump Street (distribution only)
• Alcoa Theatre ¹⁷
• American Bandstand (distribution from 1987–1988)
• Baywatch
• Casey Jones ⁶
• Charles In Charge
• Coming Up Rosie
• Doctor Snuggles
• Family ²²
• Family Feud (Ray Combs-hosted syndicated version from 1988–1991)
• Fantasy Island ¹⁸
• Father Knows Best ⁹
• Goodyear Theatre ¹⁵
• Hart to Hart ⁸
• Hazel ⁵
• Heathcliff (in association with DIC Entertainment)
• Hee Haw (1971 to the mid-1980s), plus its spinoff, Hee Haw Honeys
• The Magic of Herself the Elf
• Hot Fudge Show
• Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n Wrestling (in association with DIC Entertainment and WWE)
• Inspector Gadget (in association with DIC Entertainment)
• Manhunt ²¹
• M.A.S.K. (in association with DIC Entertainment)
• Monchichis
• Naked City ¹⁰
• Pole Position (in association with DIC Entertainment)
• Police Academy ¹
• Popples (in association with DIC Entertainment)
• Punky Brewster (in association with NBC Productions; Sony Pictures Television handles domestic syndication, while NBCUniversal Television Distribution handles international syndication. Shout! Factory has DVD rights)
• Rainbow Brite (in association with DIC Entertainment)
• RollerGames
• The Rookies ²⁰
• Route 66 ¹¹
• Salvage 1 ⁷
• Sha Na Na ¹²
• Superfriends (distribution only)²
• Stand Up and Cheer
• Starsky and Hutch ²³
• Tales from the Darkside ²⁴
• The Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin (in association with DIC Entertainment and Atkinson Film-Arts)
• The Care Bears (in association with DIC Entertainment)
• The Donna Reed Show ¹⁴
• The Fantastic Journey ¹³
• The Get Along Gang (in association with DIC Entertainment)
• The New Adventures of He-Man
• The New Gidget³
• The Monkees ⁴
• What's Happening!! ¹⁶
• What's Happening Now!! ³

Films

• Heathcliff: The Movie (1986)
• Care Bears Movie II: A New Generation (1986)
• Peter and Paul (1981) (in association with NBCUniversal Television Distribution)
• Bonanza: The Next Generation (1988)

Notes

1. Produced by Ruby-Spears Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television (owners of the Police Academy franchise); rights have since reverted to Warner's television syndication unit.

2. Produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. in association with DC Comics (owners of the Super Friends property); rights have since reverted to H-B successor/DC owner Warner Bros.' television syndication unit.

3. Distributed during the original run by Colex. Sony Pictures Television (as successor to Columbia Pictures Television) now has sole distribution rights.

4. SPT has domestic and worldwide syndication rights due to prior contractual agreements; the ancillary rights to the series are now with Rhino Entertainment.

5. Produced originally by Screen Gems, later syndicated by Colex from 1984-1988. Sony Pictures Television now holds the distribution rights, along with Sony Pictures Home Entertainment for DVD releases

References

External links

• Lexington Broadcast Services Company at the Internet Movie Database (as LBS Communications, Inc.)