MTM Enterprises

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MTM Enterprises, Inc.
Corporation
Industry Television production
Fate Folded into 20th Century Fox Television
Founded 1969
Defunct 1998
Key people
 Mary Tyler Moore
Grant Tinker
Parent TVS Entertainment (1988-1992)
International Family Entertainment (1992-1997)
News Corporation (1997-1998)
Divisions MTM Television Distribution
MTM International
MTM Home Video

MTM Enterprises (later known as MTM Enterprises, Inc.) was an American independent production company established in 1969 by Mary Tyler Moore and her then-husband Grant Tinker to produce The Mary Tyler Moore Show for CBS. The name for the production company was drawn from Moore's initials.[1]

MTM produced a number of successful television programs during the 1970s and 1980s. Its recognizable logo, shown briefly at the end of their programs, was a meowing Mimsie the Cat in a pose reminiscent of the MGM Lion. There have been many different variants of this logo.

All of MTM's shows are now owned by 21st Century Fox through subsidiary 20th Century Fox Television.

History

For many years MTM, with CBS, co-owned the CBS Studio Center in Studio City, California, where a majority of their programs were filmed and videotaped. Most of MTM's series aired on CBS.

MTM Enterprises acquired Jim Victory Television in 1986, taking the MTM library with it.[citation needed] Victory was later reincorporated as MTM Television Distribution, which was folded into 20th Television after News Corporation bought MTM.

Tinker oversaw MTM's operation until leaving the company in 1981 and becoming chairman of NBC. Lawyers backing NBC's then-owner RCA convinced Tinker to sell his remaining shares of MTM. Tinker later regretted leaving MTM, believing that the company started to decline without him.[2]

After being an independent production company for many years, MTM was sold in 1988 to UK broadcaster TVS Entertainment for $320 million.[2]

After losing its franchise to broadcast on the ITV network, A number of American companies were interested in acquiring TVS, with Pat Robertson's International Family Entertainment Making the first offer.[3] A small number of shareholders, including Julian Tregar, rejected the offer from IFE. In November, TCW Capital made a counter bid,[4] but pulled out a few weeks later after reviewing the accounts of TVS.[5] IFE increased its offer to £45.3M, but continued to be opposed by Julian Tregar who blocked the deal on technical grounds, as they alleged that the offer was too low.[6][7] IFE finally revised and increased the offer to appease the remaining shareholders,[8][9] on 23 January 1993 IFC offer of £56.5M was finally accepted,[10] with the deal being completed on 1 February 1993.

IFE along with MTM was sold to Fox Family Worldwide in 1997. MTM ceased operations in 1998 and its library assets were folded into 20th Century Fox Television.

MTM Enterprises also included a record label, MTM Records - distributed by Capitol Records - which was in existence from 1984 to 1988.[11]

Programs

MTM's productions included:

In addition to the above shows, MTM has distributed programs such as:

Films

CBS connection

MTM programs appeared almost exclusively on CBS until the early 1980s, when Grant Tinker assumed the additional role of president of NBC. Soon, NBC picked up a number of MTM shows, and Tinker stepped down as head of MTM to avoid a conflict of interest. His intention was to leave NBC after 5 years (in 1986) and return to MTM, taking over the reins from interim MTM president Arthur Price. However, Price fired many of the key players in the company's ranks, and by 1986 they had few shows left on the schedules (Hill Street Blues, St. Elsewhere and Remington Steele were all nearing the ends of their runs, leaving Newhart as the sole entrant on the schedule). There was also a record label in the 1980s featuring the logo on the label. No major mainstream artists recorded for this label; however, Judy Rodman and country girl group, The Girls Next Door, did have a few minor hits on the country charts in the mid-1980s.

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Carter, Bill. "THE MEDIA BUSINESS; Tinker Looks Beyond 'USA Today on TV'". The New York Times (November 27, 1989)
  3. ↑ COMPANY NEWS; Pat Robertson Buys Parent Of MTM for $68.5 Million. The New York Times (September 23, 1992).
  4. ↑ Second potential bidder for TVS. By our Deputy City Editor.The Times (London, England), Wednesday, 4 November 1992.
  5. ↑ Evangelist may be sole runner for TVS. Martin Waller. The Times, Thursday, 26 November 1992
  6. ↑ Evangelist may be sole runner for TVS. Martin Waller.The Times, Thursday, 26 November 1992
  7. ↑ TVS bid opposed. The Times, Friday, 11 December 1992;
  8. ↑ Evangelist to lift TVS offer. By our Deputy City Editor. The Times, Saturday, 9 January 1993
  9. ↑ TVS dissidents try for a better offer. Martin Waller, The Times (London, England), Wednesday, 6 January 1993
  10. ↑ Robertson wins TVS. The Times, Saturday, 23 January 1993;
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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