MTM Enterprises

MTM Enterprises, Inc.
Corporation
Industry Television and Film production
Fate Merged with Fox Family Worldwide
Successor Fox Family Worldwide (Television)
20th Century Fox Television (Television)
20th Century Fox (Film)
Founded 1969 (1969)
Defunct 1998 (1998)
Key people
 Mary Tyler Moore
Grant Tinker
Parent Independent (1969–1988)
TVS Entertainment (1988–1992)
International Family Entertainment (1992–1997)
News Corporation (1997–1998)
Divisions MTM Television Distribution
MTM International
MTM Home Video
MTM Records

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 famous logo featured an orange cat named Mimsie (who was borrowed from a local shelter and then owned by one of the MTM staff, not by Moore and Tinker) inside a circle surrounded by gold ribbons, parodying how Leo the Lion features in the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer logo. 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.

The founders died within two months of each other, with Grant Tinker on November 28, 2016, followed by Mary Tyler Moore on January 25, 2017.

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. Victory was the distributor of most of MTM's programming in the syndication market (exceptions included The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Bob Newhart Show, both originally distributed by Viacom Enterprises). 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]

In 1988, MTM was sold to UK broadcaster TVS Entertainment for $320 million.[2]

After TVS lost its franchise to broadcast on the ITV network, a number of American companies were interested in acquiring it, 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 bid,[4] but withdrew it 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, alleging that the offer was too low.[6][7] IFE finally increased the offer to appease the remaining shareholders,[8][9] and on January 23, 1993 their offer of £56.5M was finally accepted,[10] the deal being completed on February 1, 1993.

IFE along with MTM was sold to Fox Family Worldwide, a joint venture of News Corporation and Saban Entertainment, in 1997.[11][12] Its library assets were folded into 20th Century Fox Television even after Fox Family Worldwide was sold to The Walt Disney Company in 2001.[13]

MTM Enterprises also included a record label, MTM Records — distributed by Capitol Records — which was in existence from 1984 to 1988.[14]

Mimsie, who was used as the main logo for MTM, died in 1988 at the age of 20. During the credits of the final episode of St. Elsewhere, Mimsie is shown in the logo on life support with an EKG monitor detecting its heart until the end, when a flatline is heard.[15]

Television

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).

References

  1. ↑ "MOORE, MARY TYLER - The Museum of Broadcast Communications". Museum.tv. 1995-11-26. Retrieved 2011-03-21.
  2. 1 2 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. ↑ Peers, Martin; Richmond, Ray; Levin, Gary (June 12, 1997). "Family affair for Fox Kids". Variety. Retrieved 2009-08-14.
  12. ↑ Hofmeister, Sallie (July 17, 1997). "News Corp. Taps Fox Kids' Exec". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved January 13, 2016.
  13. ↑ "NBC To Reboot ‘Remington Steele’ As Comedy With Ruben Fleischer". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 16 January 2016.
  14. ↑ Kingsbury, Paul (2004). The Encyclopedia of Country Music. Sourcebooks, Inc. p. 359. ISBN 9780195176087. Retrieved 2009-07-31.
  15. ↑ "Goodnight, Mimsie :(". YouTube. Retrieved 2016-11-10.
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