Ziv Television Programs

Ziv Television Programs, Inc., was an American production company that specialized in productions for first-run television syndication in the 1950s.

History

The company was founded by Frederick Ziv in 1948 and was a subsidiary of his successful radio syndication business, which had begun in 1937. The company produced recorded programs and sold them directly to local television stations. The television syndication service proved lucrative during the late 1940s and early 1950s. Local television stations wanted to fill their schedules during hours outside of "prime time". By 1955, Ziv was producing more than 250 half-hour TV episodes a year.[1]

Ziv expanded beyond the United States, establishing four European subsidiaries in the fall of 1954. The company's first sale in Europe was Mr. District Attorney, bought by Radio Diffusion Francaise, with Ziv International of France overseeing dubbing of episodes into French. The trade publication Variety reported in February 1955 that Ziv's overall international budget had been increased to $2 million, which meant that its international activities "will operate at a loss for some time".[3]

Needing more space to accommodate increasing production, in December 1954 Ziv purchased 92 percent of American National Studios in Hollywood. The trade publication Billboard said that the six-acre purchase was reported to have exceeded $2 million. It had more than double the space of Ziv's previous facility.[4]

As the Big Three television networks began offering programs outside of prime time, Ziv's popularity and business began to decline. The market for first-run syndicated television programming began to dwindle, and the company, to attempt to save its business, began to produce programs which aired over the networks in 1956. In 1960, the company was purchased by United Artists and merged with their television unit to become Ziv-United Artists, but two years later, the name changed back to United Artists Television after the TV studio phased out Ziv Television Programs' operations.[1][5] In 1962, shortly before the name change, Ziv-UA tried a hand in changing its focus on independent television producers.[6]

Today, most of the rights to Ziv's TV shows are distributed by MGM Television and SFM Entertainment, while some of them have fallen into the public domain.

ZIV International, on the other hand, was established as an unrelated production company and distributor of Americanized anime shows in the 1970s and 1980s. This company was linked to this former organization only by the similarity of its name.

Selected list of shows produced or distributed

• Acapulco ZIV-UA, 1961, starring Ralph Taeger & James Coburn (a brief reworking of Klondike)
• Bat Masterson ZIV-UA, 1958–1961, starring Gene Barry
• Bold Venture ZIV, 1959–1960, starring Dane Clark and Joan Marshall (adapted from Ziv's 1950–1952 radio program starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall)
• Boston Blackie ZIV, 1951–1953, starring Kent Taylor (adapted from Ziv's earlier radio version)
• Dial 999 ZIV, 1958–1959, starring Robert Beatty (this was a co-production with Britain's ABC, not to be confused with the US ABC). Episodes and cast details can be viewed at ctva.biz/UK/dial999.htm
• Dr. Christian ZIV, 1956–1957, starring MacDonald Carey (a "sequel" to the original 1937–1954 radio series starring Jean Hersholt)
• Easy Aces, ZIV, 1949–1950, starring Goodman Ace and

External links

• Encyclopedia of Television
• Ziv Television Records are part of the United Artists Records at the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research. Use a Basic Search for the term ZIV.
• Sea Hunt Trivia Guide, ZIV Television Programs from The Scuba Guy