New World Pictures (1970–1987)

Founded on July 8, 1970, New World Pictures, Ltd. was co-founded by B-movie director Roger Corman and his brother Gene, following their departure from American International Pictures (AIP).^[2] As the last remaining national low-budget film distributor at the time, New World quickly became one of the most successful independent companies in the nation. ^{[citation needed]} Corman hoped to continue AIP's formula at New World, making low-budget films by new talent and distributing them internationally. However, it started out with only ten domestic offices, and one each in Canada and the United Kingdom; its films were distributed regionally by other companies.^[3]

New World initially made exploitation films such as The Student Nurses and other small-scale productions. Corman helped launch the filmmaking careers of Jonathan Demme (Caged Heat, Crazy Mama), Jonathan Kaplan (White Line Fever), Ron Howard (Grand Theft Auto), Paul Bartel (Death Race 2000) and Joe Dante (Piranha), all of whom made some of their early films as interns for the company.^[3] New World also released foreign films from acclaimed directors such as Ingmar Bergman (Cries and Whispers, Autumn Sonata), Federico Fellini (Amarcord) and Akira Kurosawa (Dersu Uzala). The distribution of such films was conceived by Corman in an effort to disassociate New World as an exhibitor of exploitation films.^[3]

In 1983, Corman sold New World to Larry Kupin, Harry E. Sloan and Larry A. Thompson for $16.5 million; the three new owners decided to take the company public. Corman retained the film library, while New World acquired home video rights to the releases. In 1984, Robert Rehme – who formerly served as chief executive officer of Avco Embassy Pictures and Universal Pictures and had previously worked for New World as its vice president of sales in the 1970s – returned to the company as its new CEO. Later that year Thompson left the company to form his own firm.^[4] On February 21, 1984, New World Pictures added 3 new pictures in order to expect to produce a minimum of 14 releases per year, and had plans to start their own regional network.^[5]

In 1984, the company created three new divisions: New World International, which would handle distribution of New World's productions outside the United States; New World Television, a production unit focusing on television programs (the first television programs produced by the unit were the soap opera Santa Barbara and the made-for-TV movie Playing With Fire); and New World Video, which would handle home video distribution of films produced mainly by New World Pictures. It would eventually see success of its video division in its first few months of its operation.^[6]

In May 1986, New World acquired post-production facility Lions Gate Studios for $4.4 million. That November the company acquired the Marvel Entertainment Group (MEG), the corporate parent of Marvel Comics from the liquidated Cadence Industries.^[7][8]

New World Entertainment (1987–1992)

In 1987, New World acquired independent film studio Highgate Pictures and educational film company Learning Corporation of America.^[9] By this time New World Pictures changed its name to New World Entertainment to better reflect its range of subsidiaries besides the film studio, including its purchase of Marvel Comics, and partner Harry Sloan said that the name change would have the revised banner "more accurately reflects the business the company is in".^[10] Also that year New World almost purchased two toy companies, Kenner Parker Toys and Mattel, but both planned acquisitions never materialized (although Tonka would acquire Kenner in 1987).

Around this time, New World faced a major financial slump and the company began restructuring itself. This began with the sale of Marvel Entertainment Group to Andrews Group (run by financier Ronald Perelman) on January 6, 1989; Marvel Productions was excluded from the sale.^[11] The bulk of its film and home video holdings were sold in January 1990 to Trans-Atlantic Pictures, a newly formed production company founded by a consortium of former New World executives (Trans-Atlantic was sold to Lakeshore Entertainment in 1996).^[12] Highgate Pictures and Learning Corporation of America were shut down in 1990.^{[citation needed]} On October 7, 1991, New World sold much of its "network" television assets to Sony Pictures Entertainment, who used these assets to relaunch TriStar Television.^[13][14] Some television programs produced by New World such as Santa Barbara and The Wonder Years would remain in production by the company until their cancellations in 1993; New World would not return to producing programs for the major broadcast television networks until early 1995.

New World Communications (1992–1997)

On February 17, 1993, Perelman purchased SCI Television from George Gillett,^[15] acquiring the company's seven television stations: CBS affiliates WAGA-TV (channel 5) in Atlanta, WJBK-TV (channel 2) in Detroit, WJW-TV (channel 8) in Cleveland, WITI-TV (channel 6) in Milwaukee and WTVT (channel 13) in Tampa; NBC affiliate KNSD (channel 39) in San Diego; and independent station WSBK-TV (channel 38) in Boston. SCI had undergone several corporate restructurings following its 1987 purchase by Gillett Communications from Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (which, in turn, had acquired the stations' former parent Storer Communications in 1985). Earlier in the decade, the group – then known as GCI Broadcast Services, Inc. – had restructured after defaulting on some of its financing agreements. Eventually, the renamed, SCI ran into severe financial problems and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in late 1992. SCI was folded into New World, following the completion of its purchase of the group by Perelman in the summer of 1993.^{[16][17][18][19]}

In 1993, New World Entertainment purchased ownership stakes in syndication distributor Genesis Entertainment through Four Star Television and made a direct purchase of infomercial production company, Guthy-Renker.^[20][15][21] With the asset expansion, the company changed its name to New World Communications.^[22]

The company expanded its broadcasting holdings in May 1994 with its purchase of Argyle Television – a company partially related to Argyle Television Holdings II, which merged with Hearst Broadcasting to form Hearst-Argyle Television in 1997 – acquiring its four stations: CBS affiliates KTBC-TV (channel 7) in Austin, Texas, and KDFW-TV (channel 4) in Dallas; NBC affiliate WVTM-TV (channel 13) in Birmingham, Alabama; and ABC affiliate KTVI (channel 2) in St. Louis.^[23] Then, New World acquired four of the six television stations owned by Citicasters: ABC affiliates WBRC-TV (channel 6) in Birmingham and WGHP-TV (channel 8) in High Point, North Carolina; NBC affiliate WDAF-TV (channel 4) in Kansas City, Missouri; and CBS affiliate KSAZ-TV (channel 10) in Phoenix.^[24] Citicasters retained ownership of ABC affiliates WKRC-TV (channel 12) in Cincinnati, Ohio, and WTSP (channel 10) in St. Petersburg, Florida; in the latter case, New World decided against buying WTSP, as WTVT had the higher viewership of the two stations and market-wide signal coverage (WTSP's analog signal did not adequately cover southern sections of the Tampa–St. Petersburg market, as its transmitter was short-spaced to avoid interfering with the signal of Miami ABC affiliate WPLG, as both stations broadcast on VHF channel 10; because of this reason, ABC has long maintained a secondary Tampa affiliate in Sarasota-based WWSB).

The concurrent purchases of WBRC and WGHP posed issues as, at the time, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) only allowed a single company to own a maximum of 12 television stations nationwide (the Argyle and Citicasters purchases, combined with the seven stations it earlier acquired from SCI Television, would have given New World a total of 15 stations) and in the case of Birmingham, New World could not keep WBRC and WVTM in any event, as the FCC forbade common ownership of two television stations in the same market. As a result, following the completion of the Citicasters station purchases in late March 1995, New World placed WBRC and WGHP in a blind trust and sought buyers for both stations.^[25]

Genesis Entertainment

• Highway to Heaven (1984–1989)
• Sale of the Century (1985–1986)
• The Judge (1986–1993)
• Tales from the Crypt (1989–1996)
• The Grudge Match (1991–1993)
• Emergency Call (1991–1998)
• Infatuation (1992–1994)
• Juvenile Justice (1994–1995)

Storer Broadcasting/Rhodes Productions/Blair Entertainment

• The Littlest Hobo (1963–1965)
• It's Your Bet (1971–1973)
• The Hollywood Squares (1971–1981)
• Wait Till Your Father Gets Home (1972–1974)
• High Rollers (1975–1976)
• Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman (1976–1977)
• Second City Television (1976–1984)
• Let's Make a Deal (1980–1981)
• Pitfall (1981–1982)
• Break the Bank (1985–1986)
• Divorce Court (1985–1992)
• Strike it Rich (1986–1987)
• Fan Club (1987–1988)
• Dracula: The Series (1990–1991)
• Stuntmasters (1991–1992)