Sony Pictures Television International

Background
Sony Pictures Entertainment and TriStar Television president Jon Feltheimer merged its international television arm Columbia Pictures International Television with TriStar Television to become Columbia TriStar International Television in 1992 to distribute all its shows and the Columbia TriStar films around the world, reincorporated as Sony Pictures Television International (now "Sony Pictures Television") on September 16, 2002.

Sony Pictures Television International was the international television distribution arm of Sony Pictures Entertainment, renamed from Columbia TriStar International Television on September 16, 2002. On April 1, 2009, SPT, SPTI, Embassy Row, Starling, and the other SPT companies were combined under one roof under the "SPT" brand, so SPTI currently runs as in-name-only.

1st Logo (1993-1999)
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Nicknames: "CT Boxes", "CGI Boxes"

Logo: Same as the Columbia TriStar Home Video of the time, except “HOME VIDEO” is changed to the stacked words “INTERNATIONAL TELEVISION”.

FX/SFX: Same as the 1993 CTHV logo.

Music/Sounds: Same as the 1993 CTHV logo.

Availability: Extinct. This was most commonly seen on various Three Stooges shorts from Stooge TV on The Family Channel (now Freeform) from 1995-1998. Also seen at the end of a sizzle reel of Headline Chasers.

Editor's Note: None.

2nd Logo (1996-2001)
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Nicknames: "Logos Up-Close", "Lighting Up Screens Around the World", "Side-By-Side Logo"

Logo: On the background of the 1993 Columbia Pictures logo, we see a still shot of the Torch Lady on the left with her cloud behind her and the TriStar Pegasus (in its similar style from the 1993 TriStar Pictures logo), on the right without a cloud. We would see the animation of the TriStar Pegasus unfolding his wings just like the 1993 theatrical logo. Above them panning back says “COLUMBIA TRISTAR INTERNATIONAL TELEVISION” above the Torch Lady and the Pegasus. Below the waist of the Torch Lady underlined says “LIGHTING UP SCREENS”. Below shifted on the right says “AROUND THE” and underneath says “WORLD” in a huge font with the planet Earth rotating, panning back into the rings to represent the letter “O” all in gold and the remaining lettering in Trajan Pro font. The logo appears:

COLUMBIA TRISTAR INTERNATIONAL TELEVISION

LIGHTING UP SCREENS
 * AROUND THE

WO RLD

FX/SFX: The name and globe panning back. Very nice animation.

Music/Sounds: The shortened or the long version of the Columbia TriStar Television Distribution theme.

Availability: Extremely rare. Seen on any Sony series across the globe. The version with the short jingle was recently spotted on some episodes of the show AXN on the Spanish channel TeleXitos.

Editor's Note: None.

3rd Logo (1997-2002)
MD-Hzf-REsY Nicknames: "CT Boxes II", "The Filmstrip", "The C-T Filmstrip"

Logo: It's the same as the 1997 CTHV logo, except the stacked words, "INTERNATIONAL TELEVISION" replaces "HOME VIDEO" and the words "Columbia Tristar" and "International Television" are shown in the middle sliding in slowly from the left and right of the screen respectively as the logo animates. In the middle is a black rounded code-out box with the white word "Columbia" which then changes intro "Tristar". Then the words disappear before the logo forms.

Variants:
 * A stretched 16:9 variant exists on widescreen programs.
 * A Brazilian version exists on the Brazilian version of Married... With Children, titled A Guerra Dos Pintos, in which the text "BRASIL" (which is in a different font), appears below "INTERNATIONAL TELEVISION", making it read "COLUMBIA TRISTAR INTERNATIONAL TELEVISION BRASIL". Also, the words "INTERNATIONAL TELEVISION" are not stacked to make room for "BRASIL" underneath.

FX/SFX: Same as the 1997 CTHV logo.

Music/Sounds: The same Madchester beat from the 1997 CTHV logo.

Availability: Extremely rare.
 * Respectively seen on Men in Black: The Series and Twice in a Lifetime outside the USA.
 * It was also seen on Czech airings of the German show Powder Park, followed by the SPT logo.
 * It was also seen on the UK version of As If.
 * It may have also been spotted on Channel Umptee-3 among other programs.
 * It made a surprise appearance at the end of a Sony Movie Channel broadcast of The Curse of King Tut's Tomb (1980), but the iTunes print doesn't retain it.
 * Also seen on international prints of the Canadian cartoon D'Myna Leagues.

Editor's Note: None.

4th Logo (1997-2000?)


Nicknames: "CT Boxes III", "The Light Blue Outline Boxes", "CT Print Boxes"

Logo: A flash occurs. Then, in a "swirly" black-blue background, a few light blue outline boxes slowly slide in different directions, revealing a white rectangle with dark cyan tinted print boxes of the Columbia and TriStar logos, respectively. Above the white rectangle, the words "COLUMBIA TRISTAR" in white Bank Gothic MD BT font, appears via a flash-like effect. Under the rectangle, "INTERNATIONAL TELEVISION" appears in the same fashion.

FX/SFX: The background, the boxes, and the text.

Music/Sounds: Unknown, probably the same as the last logo. The promos that use this logo usually have the ending theme of the trailer alongside an announcer saying a tagline along the lines of "Available from Columbia TriStar International Television".

Availability: Near extinction. The only known evidence of this logo is from a set of promos at Nxtbook.com, among other logos. One of the trailers which had this logo was Ihaka: Blunt Instrument.

Editor's Note: None.

5th Logo (1998-2001)
Nicknames: "The Metallic Globe", "CT TV Tube"

Logo: The screen flashes quickly, revealing the same background as the 4th logo, with some connected circles spinning, and a CBS Broadcast International-esque Earth globe spinning, both slowly zooming in. The words "COLUMBIA TRISTAR INTERNATIONAL TELEVISION", in a different Bank Gothic typeface, appear at the upper and lower sides of the screen, respectively. Two white lines of light criss-cross to form a TV tube-esque form with the Columbia logo (from the 1993 movie logo, but still) at the left side and the TriStar logo (again, from the 1993 movie logo, but still) at the right side. The lines of light fade out later.

FX/SFX: The background, the connected circles and the globe spinning, the words appearing and the lines of light forming the logo.

Music/Sounds: Same as the last logo.

Availability: Same as the 4th logo.

Editor's Note: Same as the 4th logo.

6th Logo (1999-2001)
Nicknames: "CT Boxes IV", "Zooming Boxes", "CT Print Boxes II", "Stylish CT", "The Parentheses"

Logo: Against a plum purple background, the print Columbia and TriStar boxes filled with pink, and the text:

columbia tristar international television

zoom out, while two pink parentheses facing both sides, criss-cross to fill the boxes with plum purple.

Variants:
 * There is one variant where the parentheses are blinking.
 * There is a variant where the logo is orange. This variant was found with the parentheses blinking, though a version without the blinking may exist.

FX/SFX: The zoom out. The parentheses blinking on the variant.

Music/Sounds: It's probably the same as the CTT logo of the time.

Availability: Same as the 4th and 5th logos. The orange blinking variant was spotted on a promo for Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, and a promo for The Jeffersons.

Editor's Note: None.

7th Logo (2000-2002)
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Nicknames: "CT Boxes V", "Enhanced Sliding Boxes", "International Boxes of Boredom"

Logo: Exactly the same as the 1999 second filmed version of Columbia TriStar Television "Boxes of Boredom" logo except the stacked words "INTERNATIONAL TELEVISION" replaces "TELEVISION" or "DOMESTIC TELEVISION" and the Sony byline is intact.

FX/SFX: Same as Columbia TriStar (Domestic) Television.

Music/Sounds: The same as the 1994 CTT logo theme except played at a noticeable higher pitch (possibly because it aired on TV in a PAL or SECAM-format country, though the same pitch might be seen in NTSC-format countries). In other cases, it used only the closing theme of the show or none, as in the case of season 1 episodes of Sue Thomas' F.B. Eye.

Availability: Extremely rare.
 * It was recently seen on an Irish broadcast of Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot, before the credits; the 2003 Sony Pictures Television International logo appeared after the credits.
 * In the past, it was seen on any Sony shows worldwide.
 * It was also seen on the 2000 version of Tequilla & Bonetti.
 * Retained on French airings of Mysterious Ways.
 * Also seen on season 1 episodes of Sue Thomas' F.B. Eye on Start TV, as well as Hallmark Movies Now, Amazon Video, and Tubi, among other streaming services.

Editor's Note: See the 2nd CTT logo.

1st Logo (2002-2003)


Nicknames: "The Shining Bars", "SPE Parallelogram", "SPE Bars"

Logo: This is the same logo from Sony Pictures Television. However, everything has been shifted up a little to accommodate for the word “INTERNATIONAL” under the word “TELEVISION” way under the Sony Pictures logo and the line. There are 11 bars. The words stacked features:

 SONY  PICTURES   TELEVISION  INTERNATIONAL

with Sony Pictures Entertainment's logo at the top.

Variant: On the Turkish version of Married... with Children (entitled Evli ve Çocuklu), the long version of this is used.

FX/SFX: Same as the Sony Pictures Television logo with the word: “ INTERNATIONAL ” under the word “ TELEVISION ”.

Music/Sounds: Same as the standard Sony Pictures Television logo.

Availability: Extremely rare. It was first shown on the early 1st season episodes of Men in Black: The Series on Nickelodeon's short-lived action program SLAM! in 2002 in America and Fox Kids UK airings of The Real Ghostbusters, but now has been replaced by the standard Sony logo. For others, it’s shown worldwide.

Editor's Note: By and large, it's the same logo as its domestic counterpart, and so it wouldn't fare well amongst the logo community.

2nd Logo (In-credit logo) (2002-)
Nicknames: "The Shining Bars Print logo", "SPE Bars II", "SPE Parallelogram II", "Print SPE Parallelogram"

Logo: Just an in-credit logo saying "Produced by", "Produced by [name of the company] and", or "Produced in association with", and then the Sony Pictures Television International logo, albeit in the white rectangle. Other series have only the SPTI in-credit logo, depending on the country and its native language.

FX/SFX: None or the scrolling of the credits.

Music/Sounds: The ending theme from any show.

Availability: Rare outside the U.S. Still retained on international adaptations of classic Sony shows, such as The Nanny, Mad About You, Married with Children, and I Dream of Jeannie. Also seen on Los Simuladores (translated as Simulators). Other shows would carry this like Dragons' Den on last seen on the now-defunct Fox Reality Channel. This logo can be seen scrolling in the end credits of Les Z'amours (the French version of The Newlywed Game).

Editor's Note: None.

3rd Logo (2nd official logo) (July 2003-Late 2009)
Nicknames: "Swirling Bars", "Filmstrip Bars", "SPE Bars III", "From Cylinder to Parallelogram", "Swirling Helix", "SPE Parallelogram III"

Logo: On a black background, we have a striped cylinder swirling and zooming back at the same time in 3-D. At the bottom of the swirling bars has the name " SONY PICTURES TELEVISION INTERNATIONAL " zooming-in slowly from the shadows. At the end, the cylinder turns into the Sony Pictures logo. There is a blue (sometimes purple ) spotlight that is spinning at the bottom and shining on the logo that is also following the animation of the Sony Pictures logo until it stops.

Variants:


 * In 2005, a widescreen version was introduced. Like the SPT logo, a compressed version of this can also be seen on 4:3 prints.
 * A black-and-white variant exists.

FX/SFX: The bars swirling and moving back, the names zooming in, and the spotlight spinning. This is clean animation that holds up well today.

Music/Sounds: An ascending, zoom/guitar-like synthesizer effect. It's mostly consisting of samples from Spectrasonics' Distorted Reality 1 sample CD.

Music/Sounds Variants:
 * From 2006, a longer version of the SPTI theme was introduced.
 * There are two short music versions of this logo. The first is the 2nd half of the logo, and the other is an edited version that cuts off at the end with the sound of an echo.
 * Reruns of Astro Boy, several 2002-2004 episodes by Jackie Chan Adventures, an episode of Bewitched, international airings of The Boondocks, several episodes on the S3 DVD of Married... With Children and the season finale of Dawson's Creek on the R2 DVD release have this logo with the SPT theme.
 * On one episode of The Nanny on Australian channel Fox Hits (now Fox Comedy), it used the 1993 TriStar Television theme. The same thing would happens on Encore airings of the TV movie Home Invasion (7Mate airings in Australia have the SPT logo with the normal SPT music instead and the credits cut off, a common thing sometimes done by the channel and its sister stations for unknown reasons).
 * A high tone variant was introduced.
 * Some international prints of Starsky and Hutch episodes have a PAL pitched 1993 CPT theme.
 * On the French airing of Young Americans, the Columbia TriStar Television theme is heard.
 * A French dub of Parker Lewis Can't Lose has the 1988 CPT theme.
 * Otherwise, it would be silent or have the closing theme of any TV shows/movies.
 * On the Region 2 DVD of Men In Black: The Series: Volume 1 print of Episode 3, you can hear a snippet of the Columbia Tristar Television theme before the SPTI logo.

Music/Sounds Trivia: The sample used is "Rise Up!" off Spectrasonics' Distorted Reality 1 sample library. At one point in The Fairly OddParents episode "Crash Nebula", you may hear this very sample.

Availability: Fairly common.
 * This logo is retained on season 5 of Good Times on TV One and international airings of Sue Thomas: F.B.Eye.
 * It was last seen on Dawson's Creek on The N (now TeenNick), and early Designing Women episodes last seen on TV Land.
 * This logo was also seen across the globe and some Sony films sometimes seen on the Starz/Encore networks, European networks and several The Three Stooges 5-minute minisode (courtesy of The Minisode Network) shorts on IFC. However, recent international prints has the standard SPT logo, replacing this and the in-credit ones.
 * It can be found on Shout! Factory's release of season 4 of Barney Miller, replacing the Four D Productions logo on all but two episodes from that season.
 * Surprisingly, this appears on TBS' prints of Saving Silverman and The Sweetest Thing, a Sony Movie Channel broadcast of Kings of South Beach (replacing the SPT logo), a TCM airing of Operation Bikini, a ThisTV airing of The Great Escape, a We airing of Ghost World, and old AMC airings of Mary Reilly (as well as a We broadcast), Original Sin, and A View to a Kill.
 * This may or may not be followed by the Sony Pictures Television logo on some recent airings.
 * It can be also seen on a handful episodes of Family Law last seen on Start TV.
 * It was also spotted on certain prints of the Stuart Little animated show.
 * The logo can still be seen on some Sony-owned movies and shows via The Roku Channel or Crackle.
 * Also seen on old FX airings of Daddy Day Care and Are We There Yet?.
 * It also shows up on the live-action version of The Tick on the Mill Creek DVD release.
 * The standard high-toned variant was used to plaster the TriStar Television logo at the end of Australian reruns of The Nanny. Prints found on Stan (an Australian streaming service) have it followed by a regular high-toned Sony Pictures Television logo.
 * The high-tone variant was seen on international broadcasts of Godzilla: The Series, plastering CTT before the credits (an artifact of the show running on Fox Kids in the US, where all logos preceded their split-screen credits).

Editor's Note: Compared to the other SPT logos, this is less hated than its domestic counterpart, thanks to its cool animation and music.