The company built television stations KTLA in Los Angeles and WBBM-TV in Chicago; it also invested US$400,000 in the DuMont Television Network, which operated stations WABD (now WNYW) in New York City, WTTG in Washington, D.C., and WDTV (now KDKA-TV) in Pittsburgh.
"[3] The Paramount Television Network aired several programs, including the Emmy Award-winning children's series Time for Beany.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which filed suit against Paramount for anti-trust violations, prevented the studio from acquiring additional television stations.
The spun-off theater chain purchased control of the ABC, and due to legal requirements sold WBKB-TV (now WBBM-TV) to CBS.
By that point, Paramount had largely distanced itself from television, having stopped production of its early shows, closed down its networks, and sold off the stations it owned.
The sale resulted in Paramount Television assuming production of Desilu programs in December of that year.
Throughout that, Paramount started good relations with ABC, allowing it to produce several shows in the 1960s and the 1970s, with The Brady Bunch and The Odd Couple becoming the biggest hits for the studio.
[13] In 1984, former MGM producer Leonard Goldberg joined Paramount to serve as production agreement with the studio via Mandy Films.
In 1990, Paramount had signed Arsenio Hall to a multi-year exclusive production contract for film and television projects, and let his talk show to be renewed through 1994.
The talent were Don Johnson, Kathy Speer and Terry Grossman, Barry Fanaro and Mort Nathan, Danny Bilson and Paul De Meo, Tim O'Donnell, Janet Leahy, John Mankiewicz, Christopher Crowe and Jacob Epstein and Ken Solarz.
The distribution company, Viacom Enterprises (which syndicated the classic CBS library among other shows), was merged into Paramount Domestic Television while the production company, Viacom Productions (known at the time for its co-productions with Fred Silverman and Dean Hargrove), continued as a division of Paramount Television until 2004.
The first major hit from Viacom Productions to debut after becoming a division of Paramount Television was Sabrina the Teenage Witch, based on the Archie Comics of the same name.
Starring Melissa Joan Hart as the title character, the series lasted four seasons on ABC (in contrast to the lack of success from the parent company on the network in this period) and three on The WB between 1996 and 2003.
[23] For the 1997-98 season Paramount Network Television collaborated with Viacom sister MTV Productions, to produce the NBC comedy Jenny, the UPN (then-sister of MTV) comedy Hitz, and the WB drama Three, but none of them got success beyond its first season.
Paramount Television produced the bulk of the series airing on UPN, including the first program ever shown on the network, Star Trek: Voyager.
Most of the new Paramount Television series that debuted on CBS after the merger were not very successful, including Bram & Alice and Out of Practice (starring Happy Days veteran Henry Winkler).
However, four of these series would become hits: JAG spin-off NCIS, Numb3rs, Criminal Minds, and Ghost Whisperer (the latter two were co-productions with Touchstone Television, which later became ABC Studios).
With these transactions, Paramount's involvement in television – at least in name only since 2005 – came to an end after 70 years (when the experimental TV stations that later became KTLA and WBBM were founded).