Defunct American television production company
Multimedia Entertainment, Inc.
(formerly
Avco Broadcasting Corporation Syndicated Division
,
Avco Program Sales
,
Multimedia Program Sales
and
Multimedia Program Productions
) was an American television production/distribution company originally formed in 1968.
History
[
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]
The firm was launched, first as Avco Broadcasting Corporation Syndicated Division, and later in 1972 as Avco Program Sales in 1968 as a television production/distribution company owned by the
Cincinnati
-based
Avco Corporation
. Another company called Avco Embassy Television (which was sold to
Norman Lear
and
Jerry Perenchio
in 1982 and folded into
Embassy Telecommunications
) was originally responsible for television distribution of the
Embassy Pictures
film library. In addition, Avco Program Sales concentrated on its own in-house productions. One of its first programs was
The Phil Donahue Show
, which was launched nationally in 1970. Avco Embassy is the original syndicator of the
Phil Donahue Show
, before the formation of Avco Program Sales in 1972.
[1]
In 1971, Avco Broadcasting Corporation's syndicated unit teamed up with cartoon producer
Hanna-Barbera Productions
to launch two holiday specials for Thanksgiving and Christmas by 1972.
[2]
The following year, by 1973, Avco Broadcasting and
Meredith Corporation
teamed up to produce nine family-oriented television specials for syndication (including the Meredith and Avco stations) by way of its Avco Program Sales division.
[3]
In 1976,
Multimedia, Inc.
, a
Greenville, South Carolina
-based newspaper publisher and broadcaster, purchased the production and syndication rights to
The Phil Donahue Show
and the regionally distributed
Bob Braun Show
from Avco, which was breaking up its media interests. Multimedia also acquired
WLWT
in Cincinnati, Avco's flagship station, and initially based its syndication division there. The division was first named as Multimedia Program Sales,
[4]
then as Multimedia Program Productions in 1977,
[5]
before landing on its Multimedia Entertainment name in 1983.
[6]
For the next two decades Multimedia Entertainment specialized in
audience-participation daytime talk shows
with
Donahue
as its flagship program.
In 1981, Multimedia acquired Show Biz Inc., syndicator of country music television programs such as
Pop! Goes the Country
.
[7]
Multimedia also received an agreement with Jim Owens Productions to distribute country-based programs.
[8]
The company later used Multimedia's
St. Louis
station
KSDK
as launching pad for
The Sally Jessy Raphael Show
in 1983, and WLWT as the original base for
The Jerry Springer Show
in 1991. Multimedia Entertainment also created short-lived TV vehicles for conservative talk radio hosts
Rush Limbaugh
and
Dennis Prager
. During this period
Bob Turner
, a veteran media executive who would later serve as a
U.S. congressional representative from New York
, served as the company's CEO.
On September 17, 1991, Multimedia acquired assets of
Carolco
's television distribution unit Orbis Communications. Included were first-run syndication rights to
The Joker's Wild
and
John Davidson
's hosted version of
The $100,000 Pyramid
and TV movies.
[9]
The Carolco Television Productions unit has been became Multimedia Television Productions, which was later known as Multimedia Motion Pictures, and
Robert Turner
has joined the studio as president.
[10]
Neil Russell was then served as president of the studio several months later.
[11]
Multimedia Entertainment was included in the sale of Multimedia to the
Gannett Company
in 1995. Gannett then sold its production/syndication arm to
Universal Television
in 1996 and a year later it was folded into
Universal Television Enterprises
in February.
[12]
In 1998, Universal Television including the USA Networks were sold to
Barry Diller
and became part of
Studios USA
.
The rights to the Multimedia Entertainment name were retained by Gannett, and were transferred to
Tegna
after Gannett split into two companies in 2015; it is now used for the Tegna subsidiary that holds the license for
WGRZ
in Buffalo, New York (which Gannett had acquired in a swap for WLWT in 1997, shortly after the Multimedia acquisition), while
KARE
,
KPNX
,
KUSA
,
KTVD
,
WTLV
, and
WJXX
operate as Multimedia Holdings Corporation.
[
citation needed
]
Tegna, Multimedia's successor, re-entered the syndication business in 2017 with the series
Daily Blast Live
and
Sister Circle
.
Syndicated programs
[
edit
]
This is a listing of programs which were either produced or distributed by Multimedia Entertainment:
Films
[
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]
- Good Old Boy: A Delta Boyhood (a.k.a. The River Pirates) (1988)
- Murder Between Friends
(filmed 1993, first broadcast January 10, 1994)
See also
[
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]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Program notes"
(PDF)
.
Broadcasting
. August 25, 1969. p. 46
. Retrieved
October 10,
2023
.
- ^
"Program notes"
(PDF)
.
Broadcasting
. February 15, 1971. p. 47
. Retrieved
October 10,
2023
.
- ^
"Joint ventures"
(PDF)
.
Broadcasting
. January 8, 1973. p. 31
. Retrieved
October 10,
2023
.
- ^
"TV programmers"
(PDF)
.
Broadcasting
. March 15, 1976. p. 78
. Retrieved
October 10,
2023
.
- ^
"Fates & Fortunes"
(PDF)
.
Broadcasting
. April 4, 1977. p. 88
. Retrieved
October 10,
2023
.
- ^
"Multimedia Program Productions is now Multimedia Entertainment"
(PDF)
.
Broadcasting
. October 24, 1983. p. 47
. Retrieved
October 10,
2023
.
- ^
"The Tennessean from Nashville, Tennessee on April 17, 1981 · Page 11"
.
Newspapers.com
. 17 April 1981
. Retrieved
2019-02-02
.
- ^
"Monitor"
(PDF)
.
Broadcasting
. 1981-02-16
. Retrieved
2021-10-01
.
- ^
"AP News Archive"
Multimedia Buys Television Programming Assets
apnewsarchive.com, Retrieved on October 19, 2013
- ^
"Multimedia movement"
(PDF)
.
Broadcasting
. 1991-04-22
. Retrieved
2021-11-15
.
- ^
"Russell to head Multimedia long-form shop"
(PDF)
.
Broadcasting
. 1991-10-28
. Retrieved
2021-11-15
.
- ^
Miller, Nick. "Gannett Sells Talk Shows"
,
The Cincinnati Post
, November 25, 1996.
- ^
"The Dennis Prager Show"
. Retrieved
19 April
2018
– via www.imdb.com.
- ^
"My First Swedish Bombshell"
. 28 November 1984
. Retrieved
19 April
2018
– via www.imdb.com.
External links
[
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]