Episode 985
Rysher Entertainment
Tue, 2020-Jan-14 01:09 UTC
Length - 4:16
Direct Link
Welcome to random Wiki of the Day where we read the summary of a random Wikipedia page every day.
The random article for Tuesday, 14 January 2020 is Rysher Entertainment.
Rysher Entertainment was the owner of television and film programming content, primarily distributed around the world by CBS Television Distribution and Paramount Pictures. The company has its roots in Bing Crosby Productions ("BCP"). Its namesake, actor-singer Bing Crosby, founded BCP in 1949, and was best known for producing the sitcom Hogan's Heroes and the medical drama Ben Casey – in succeeding years, BCP was acquired by Cox Broadcasting.
In 1993, Cox acquired Rysher Entertainment. Rysher, founded in April 1991 by Keith Samples, had been established as an independently owned company whose original sole product had been the distribution of NBC's series Saved By The Bell (at the time, NBC was unable to distribute its series in syndication due to fin-syn rules). In 1993, and later distribution of another NBC series California Dreams in 1994, Rysher merged with Al Masini's Television Program Enterprises to form Rysher TPE, its alternate name used from 1993 to 1994. Through Rysher TPE, they produced and distributed shows such as Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous (renamed Lifestyles with Robin Leach and Shari Belafonte for its final season) and Star Search. Later, they produced and distributed George & Alana, which ran for one season in 1995. The company would later branch out into theatrical films, and in the span of three years had produced over two dozen feature films.
In May 1995, Rysher entered into a five-film domestic distribution arrangement with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The company then shut down its theatrical film unit in July 1997 due to under-performing box office sales. In 1998, Rysher made a pact with HBO to distribute some of their shows outside of the U. S., including Arli$$, Oz and Sex and the City. The company was shut down in 1999 after Viacom entered an agreement with Cox Enterprises that would allow Paramount Pictures and its television unit to handle distribution rights. Rysher's library, today is incorporated into the libraries of CBS Television Distribution (for TV programs) and Paramount Pictures (for films, with the exception of The Opposite of Sex), which includes television and feature film classics such as Hogan's Heroes (whose partial rights are held by CBS), Ben Casey, and Walking Tall, as well as more recent programs and films including Nash Bridges (which was continued by Paramount Network Television after Rysher closed), Highlander: The Series, Kingpin and Big Night. In December 2019, Viacom and CBS remerged into a single entity under the name ViacomCBS, which reunited the distribution rights to the Rysher Entertainment library.
Rysher's assets were later acquired by 2929 Entertainment in 2001, then in 2006 they were bought by Qualia Capital, LLC. and were merged with Gaylord Films and Pandora Entertainment. The combined entity became known as Qualia Libraries Co. and the Rysher name now serves as a limited partnership. In 2011, Qualia Libraries Co. was acquired by affiliates of Vine Alternative Investments which were integrated into Lakeshore Entertainment in 2015. Vine acquired Lakeshore's library and international sales operations in 2019.
This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 01:09 UTC on Tuesday, 14 January 2020.
For the full current version of the article, see Rysher Entertainment on Wikipedia.
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This has been Amy. Thank you for listening to random Wiki of the Day.
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