leonard h. goldenson (december 7, 1905 – december 27, 1999) was an american broadcasting executive. hired to reorganize united paramount theatres, paramount's theater chain, he became president of the chain after the 1948 united states v. paramount pictures decree forced the major studios to give up their theaters and united paramount theatres was spun off.
in 1953 he merged united paramount theatres with the american broadcasting company, buying the then-struggling network from edward j. noble for $25 million. he became founding president of the merged american broadcasting-paramount theatres and led abc until 1986. the group created the ampar record corporation in 1955 and was rebadged as the american broadcasting company in 1968.
programming that went on the air under his tenure included:
1954 — abc signed a deal with walt disney on march 29, and "walt disney's disneyland" premiered on the network on october 27.
1955 — "warner bros. presents" began on abc, the first series made by warner bros.; the western "cheyenne" spun out of it.
1961 — "abc's wide world of sports" premiered on april 29 with jim mckay as host.
1969 — "the abc movie of the week", a strand of 90-minute films made for television, premiered on september 23 with "seven in darkness".
1977 — "roots", based on alex haley's 1976 novel, aired on abc over eight consecutive nights, from january 23 to 30.
in 1986 he was instrumental in the sale of abc to capital cities communications, at the time the largest non-oil merger in history.
related profiles; Barry Diller, Dick Cavett, Movie Studios
sources; wikipedia: leonard h. goldenson, wikipedia: disney anthology television series, wikipedia: warner bros. presents, wikipedia: wide world of sports, wikipedia: roots (1977 miniseries), wikipedia: abc movie of the week
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