Lexington Broadcast Services Company

The Lexington Broadcast Services Company (first known as Lexington Broadcast Services and later known as LBS Communications) was a television production and syndication company formed on November 15, 1976, by advertising pioneer Henry Siegel. Advertising Age 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][2]

LBS Communications, Inc.

The noodle logo of LBS
Type	Subsidiary
Industry	Television syndication
Founded	November 15, 1976 (1976-11-15)
Defunct	1992 (1992)
Fate	Acquired by All American Communications
Successor	All American Communications Television (1992–1997) Pearson Television (1997–2001) Fremantle North America (2001–present)
Headquarters	New York City, New York, United States
Parent	All American Communications (1991–1992)

It was originally a unit of Grey Advertising, in order to develop products that was marketed into syndication. One of the first products that was made were Not for Women Only, which was produced by WNBC-TV in New York City, and Hot Fudge, which was produced by then-ABC O&O WXYZ-TV in Detroit.[3] Siegel was moved from Grey Advertising's president in order to become head of Lexington Broadcast Services Company.[4] In 1977, it launched its first breakout hit for the company, Sha Na Na, for syndication, on advertising on a barter basis.[5]

In 1982, it entered into a partnership with Columbia Pictures Television to bring the ABC drama Family to off-net syndication starting in the fall of 1983, with LBS handling distribution under license from Columbia Pictures, which was sold onto a barter basis.[6][7] The success of Family led the formation of the Colex Enterprises joint venture (as mentioned below).[8] In 1986, it launched a syndicated block with DIC Entertainment and Mattel, Kideo TV.[9][10]

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,[8] in addition to the 1991 syndicated re-launch of Baywatch. The company was also known for handling Elia Kazan's films that he directed from 1945 to 1976, and syndicating selected Bob Hope-produced movies that reverted to him after their initial release.

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. As a result, the company ended up having to sell between 80 and 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 Fremantle. As of today, most of LBS' library is owned by Fremantle North America with some exceptions.