Hollywood and Television in the 1950s: The Roots of Diversification

THE FILM AND BROADCASTING INDUSTRIES have shared a “symbiotic relationship” since the 1920s, with the major Hollywood companies attempting to develop and control television as a new distribution outlet. In the 1950s, the film companies produced programming for much of the prime-time TV schedule, and they also experimented with alternatives to broadcast television. By the end of the 1950s diversification was well under way—the Hollywood film companies were becoming media companies.