The
Paramount Television Network (
PTN) was a venture by American film corporation
Paramount Pictures to organize a
television network in the late 1940s. The company built television stations
KTLA in Los Angeles and
WBKB in Chicago; it also invested
US$400,000 in the
DuMont Television Network, which operated stations
WABD in New York City,
WTTG in Washington, D.C., and
WDTV in Pittsburgh. Escalating disputes between Paramount and DuMont concerning breaches of contract, company control, and network competition erupted regularly between 1940 and 1956, and culminated in the dismantling of the DuMont Network. Television historian Timothy White called the clash between the two companies "one of the most unfortunate and dramatic episodes in the early history of the television industry."