Initially, it distributed the back library of Paramount Television and the post-1960 shows by Desilu, and several first-run syndicated shows. Originally, the company (like other sister companies sharing the Paramount name) was owned by
Gulf+Western, which was reincorporated as Paramount Communications in 1989. In 1987, it entered into an agreement with
Tribune Entertainment Company whereby Paramount would distribute
Geraldo, with Tribune producing. In 1989, both Tribune and Paramount worked again on
The Joan Rivers Show, Paramount distributing the program and Tribune producing the series. Also that year, Paramount Domestic Television made its first foray into late-night television with the debut of
The Arsenio Hall Show, hosted by
Arsenio Hall himself. In 1990, Tribune and Paramount parted ways, with Tribune handling sales of the show in-house. In 1990,
Maury Povich signed with Paramount to develop a daily talk show; his show debuted in 1991 and was distributed by Paramount until 1998, when
Studios USA assumed those responsibilities. After Paramount was sold to
Viacom in 1994, it absorbed the distribution functions of
Viacom Enterprises the next year. Viacom had distributed the classic
CBS library which included the pre-1960 Desilu library, alongside series from
Viacom Productions and
Carsey-Werner Productions library (Paramount lost the rights to the latter library in late 1994 when Carsey-Werner formed its own in-house distribution unit). PDT also gained syndication rights to series from
MTV Networks with the Viacom merger, though these have rarely been seen in syndication. Shortly after
The Arsenio Hall Show was cancelled following the acquisition of Viacom, Paramount began distributing and producing MTV's
The Jon Stewart Show for the syndication market. In 1987,
Coca-Cola Telecommunications teamed up with Paramount Domestic Television (PDT), and
Orbis Communications to form International Advertising Sales, which handled advertising of such programs produced by PDT, Orbis and
Coca-Cola Telecommunications, including future programming for
Merv Griffin Enterprises.
MCA Television and Paramount Domestic Television (PDT) had formed Premier Advertiser Sales, a joint venture created for the sale of advertising for their existing syndicated programs in September 1989. As a possible outgrowth of this sales joint venture, MCA and Paramount began plans for a new network,
Premier Program Service. In 1999, Viacom acquired several other television production firms such as Spelling Entertainment Group (which owned
Spelling Television,
Worldvision Enterprises,
Republic Pictures Television, and
Big Ticket Entertainment) and
Rysher Entertainment (or at least its library). As a result, the size of Paramount's television library more than tripled, giving PDT a slew of new series to distribute, and included was the distribution rights to
Judge Judy and
Judge Joe Brown. In 2002, it struck a deal with
HDNet to distribute content that was meant to be short for
HDTV. After Viacom split into two companies – one called
Viacom and the other
CBS Corporation – Paramount's television operations became part of CBS Corporation. As a result, Paramount Domestic Television became
CBS Paramount Domestic Television. That was in turn merged with
King World Productions in 2007 to become
CBS Television Distribution (CTD). However, because
National Amusements retained majority control of both CBS and the new Viacom, CBS programs (including those under the original Paramount Television name) are still distributed by
Paramount Home Entertainment; starting in 2005, they have been released through
CBS DVD/Blu-ray. However, some former Paramount programs, such as
Entertainment Tonight, then moved from being produced at the Paramount lot to CBS facilities. Currently, syndication rights to Paramount's theatrical film library lie with
Trifecta Entertainment & Media. ==List of first-run syndicated series from Paramount Domestic Television==