Multimedia Entertainment, Inc. (formerly Avco Program Sales) was an American television production/distribution company originally formed in 1968.

History

The firm was launched as Avco Program Sales in 1968 as a television production/distribution company owned by the

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

-based Avco Corporation. Another company called Avco Embassy Television (which was sold to Norman Lear and

Jerry Perenchio Andrew Jerrold Perenchio (December 20, 1930 – May 23, 2017) was an American billionaire businessman and philanthropist. He was at one time the chairman and chief executive officer of Univision. Early life Perenchio was the grandson of Italian ...

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 ''The Phil Donahue Show'', also known as ''Donahue'', is an American television talk show hosted by Phil Donahue that ran for 26 years on national television. Its run was preceded by three years of local broadcast on WLWD in Dayton, Ohio, and i ...

'' in 1970. 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 WLWT (channel 5) is a television station in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Hearst Television. The station's studios are located on Young Street, and its transmitter is located on Chickasaw Street, both in the ...

in Cincinnati, Avco's flagship station, and initially based its syndication division there. 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''. Multimedia also received an agreement with Jim Owens Productions to distribute country-based programs. The company later used Multimedia's

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

flagship station

KSDK KSDK (channel 5) is a television station in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Tegna Inc. The station's studios are located on Market Street in Downtown St. Louis, and its transmitter is located in Shrewsbury, ...

as launching pad for '' The Sally Jessy Raphael Show'' in 1983, and WLWT as the original base for ''

The Jerry Springer Show ''Jerry Springer'' is an American scripted syndicated tabloid talk show that aired from September 30, 1991 to July 26, 2018. Produced and hosted by its namesake, Jerry Springer, it aired for 27 seasons and nearly 5,000 episodes. The television ...

'' in 1991. Multimedia Entertainment also created short-lived TV vehicles for conservative talk radio hosts

Rush Limbaugh Rush Hudson Limbaugh III ( ; January 12, 1951 – February 17, 2021) was an American conservative political commentator who was the host of '' The Rush Limbaugh Show'', which first aired in 1984 and was nationally syndicated on AM and FM r ...

and

Dennis Prager Dennis Mark Prager (; born August 2, 1948) is an American conservative radio talk show host and writer. He is the host of the nationally syndicated radio talk show ''The Dennis Prager Show''. In 2009, he co-founded PragerU, which creates five- ...

. During this period, Bob Turner, New York Congressman, 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. 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. Neil Russell was then served as president of the studio several months later. 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 Universal Television LLC (abbreviated as UTV) is an American television production company that is a subsidiary of Universal Studio Group, a division of Comcast's NBCUniversal. It serves as the network television production arm of NBC; a prede ...

in 1996 and a year later it was folded into Universal Television Enterprises in February. In 1998, Universal Television including the USA Networks were sold to

Barry Diller Barry Charles Diller (born February 2, 1942) is an American businessman. He is Chairman and Senior Executive of IAC and Expedia Group and founded the Fox Broadcasting Company and USA Broadcasting. Diller was inducted into the Television Hall o ...

and became part of

Studios USA Universal Television LLC (abbreviated as UTV) is an American television production company that is a subsidiary of Universal Studio Group, a division of Comcast's NBCUniversal. It serves as the network television production arm of NBC; a predece ...

. The rights to the Multimedia Entertainment name were retained by Gannett, and were transferred to

Tegna Tegna Inc. (stylized in all caps as TEGNA) is an American publicly traded broadcast, digital media and marketing services company headquartered in Tysons Corner, Virginia. It was created on June 29, 2015, when the Gannett Company split into t ...

after Gannett split into two companies in 2015; it is now used for the Tegna subsidiary that holds the license for

WGRZ WGRZ (channel 2) is a television station in Buffalo, New York, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Tegna Inc. The station's studios are located on Delaware Avenue in downtown Buffalo, and its transmitter is located on Warner Hill ...

in Buffalo, New York (which Gannett had acquired in a swap for WLWT in 1997, shortly after the Multimedia acquisition), while KARE, KPNX,

KUSA Kusa or KUSA may refer to: * Kusa, Russia, a town in Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia * Kusa, Latvia, a village in Madona District, Latvia * Kusa, Oklahoma, United States * Kusa, indigenous name of Beles River (in Gumuz language) * Kusa, Afghanistan ...

, KTVD,

WTLV WTLV (channel 12) is a television station in Jacksonville, Florida, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside Orange Park–licensed ABC affiliate WJXX (channel 25). Both stations share studios on East Adams Stre ...

, and WJXX operate as Multimedia Holdings Corporation. Tegna, Multimedia's successor, re-entered the syndication business in 2017 with the series '' Daily Blast Live'' and '' Sister Circle''.

Syndicated programs

This is a listing of programs which were either produced or distributed by Multimedia Entertainment: * ''

Almost Live! ''Almost Live!'' was a local sketch comedy television show in Seattle, Washington, USA, produced and broadcast by NBC affiliate KING-TV from 1984 to 1999. A re-packaged version of the show also aired on Comedy Central from 1992 to 1993, and epis ...

'' (late 1990s) * '' Crook & Chase'' (1996-1997) * '' The Pat Bullard Show'' (1996-1997) * '' The Phil Donahue Show / Donahue'' (1970–1996) * '' Rush Limbaugh: The Television Show'' (1992–1996) * '' The Dennis Prager Show'' (1994–1995) * '' The Sally Jessy Raphael Show / Sally'' (1983–1997) * ''

Big Break ''Big Break'' is a British television game show, created by Roger Medcalf, Mike Kemp and Terry Mardell, presented by comedian Jim Davidson and snooker commentator John Virgo, and broadcast on BBC One between 1991 and 2002. Inspired by ITV's '' ...

(1990-1991) * ''

'' (1991–1997) * '' Sweethearts'' (1988–1989) * '' The $100,000 Pyramid'' (1991, season 2) * ''Young People's Specials'' (1984–1985)

References

External links

Avco Embassy TelevisionMultimedia Entertainment
{{Authority control Television production companies of the United States Defunct film and television production companies of the United States Entertainment companies established in 1968 Mass media companies established in 1968 Mass media companies disestablished in 1997 Universal Television Former Gannett subsidiaries American companies established in 1968 American companies disestablished in 1997

History

Syndicated programs

See also

References

External links