ELP Communications
former American television production company

ELP Communications (formerly known as T.A.T. Communications Company, Embassy Television, Embassy Telecommunications, and Embassy Communications) was an American television production company founded in 1974 by Norman Lear and Jerry Perenchio.
History
Beginning
ELP Communications was originally formed in 1974 as T.A.T. Communications Company when Norman Lear joined up with former talent agent Jerry Perenchio, a year before Bud Yorkin ended his partnership with Lear. "T.A.T." stood for the Yiddish phrase "Tuchus Affen Tisch" (תּחת אויפֿן טיש), which meant "Putting one's ass on the table."
The first sitcom to be produced by T.A.T. Communications was The Jeffersons, which was spun off from the sitcom All in the Family in 1975. The company made its syndicated project with Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman through Rhodes Productions (a division of Filmways), only for the latter to withdraw support in order to get Norman Lear to launch its own syndicated unit.
Acquisition of Avco Embassy and rename
Television producer Norman Lear and his business partner Jerry Perenchio bought Avco Embassy Pictures Corporation in January 1982 and decided to drop the name "Avco" from the name to bring back the Embassy Pictures name, and T.A.T. Communications Co. was thus renamed Embassy Communications, Inc.
The television division was renamed as Embassy Television, a division name for his shows produced by the former T.A.T. Communications such as The Jeffersons, One Day at a Time, and The Facts of Life. More shows were produced by Embassy Television such as the first two under the name: Square Pegs and Silver Spoons. The latter show ran five seasons, while the former ran one but developed a cult following. Who's the Boss?
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “ELP Communications” as former American television production company. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the arts & letters register because the source frames it as former American television production company. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5323317. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1974, 1975 and 1982.
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This entry incorporates text from “ELP Communications” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.