On This Day: March 20 1985 The Coca-Cola Company Purchased Tandem Productions and Embassy Television for 485 Million Dollars

  • Author Author Pete
  • Publish date Published Published
  • Reading time 1 min read

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On This Day: March 20 1985 The Coca-Cola Company Purchased Tandem Productions and Embassy Television for 485 Million Dollars
On this day March 20 1985 The Coca-Cola Company made a major move into the entertainment industry by purchasing Tandem Productions and Embassy Television for 485 million dollars. The acquisition gave Coca-Cola control over some of the most popular television shows of the time including hits like The Jeffersons Diff’rent Strokes and Who’s the Boss.

This deal was part of Coca-Cola’s strategy to expand beyond the beverage industry and strengthen its presence in media. Embassy Television later became part of Columbia Pictures Television which Coca-Cola also owned at the time before selling it to Sony in 1989.

Fun fact: The Coca-Cola Company owned Columbia Pictures during the 1980s and played a role in financing major films like Ghostbusters and The Karate Kid.

Trivia question: What was the name of the legendary television producer who co-founded Tandem Productions and was behind classic shows like All in the Family?
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