Dick Clark Productions, LLC (DCP, stylized in lowercase as dick clark productions or dcp) is an American multinational television production company founded by radio and TV host

Dick Clark Richard Wagstaff Clark (November 30, 1929April 18, 2012) was an American television and radio personality and television producer who hosted ''American Bandstand'' from 1956 to 1989. He also hosted five incarnations of the Pyramid (game show), ...

. The studio primarily produces award shows and other music entertainment programs, including the

Golden Globe Awards The Golden Globe Awards are awards presented for excellence in both international film and television. It is an annual Awards ceremony, award ceremony held since 1944 to honor artists and professionals and their work. The ceremony is normally ...

(owned outright by DCP since 2023),

Academy of Country Music Awards The Academy of Country Music Awards, also known as the ACM Awards, were first held in 1966, honoring the industry's accomplishments during the previous year. It was the first country music awards program held by a major organization. The academy ...

, the DCP-created

American Music Awards The American Music Awards (AMAs) is an annual American music awards show produced by Dick Clark Productions since 1974. Nominees are selected on commercial performance such as sales and airplay. Winners are determined by a poll of the public and ...

, the

Billboard Music Award The ''Billboard'' Music Awards are honors given out annually by ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'', a publication covering the music business and a Billboard charts, music popularity chart. The ''Billboard'' Music Awards show has been held annu ...

s (presented by co-owned music magazine ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

''), '' Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve'', and '' So You Think You Can Dance'' (with

19 Entertainment 19 Entertainment Inc. is a producer of entertainment properties for television with a focus on music owned by Sony Pictures Television through its nonfiction division. Founded by Simon Fuller in London in 1985, the company co-produced '' Pop Ido ...

). Some of its earlier productions, such as ''

American Bandstand ''American Bandstand'' (AB) is an American Music television, music performance and dance television series that aired in various iterations from 1952 to 1989. It was hosted by Dick Clark who also served as the program's Television producer, pr ...

'', ''New Year's Rockin' Eve'', and '' TV's Bloopers & Practical Jokes'' (initially with Carson Entertainment), were hosted by Clark himself. The company was sold to a group led by Daniel Snyder in 2007 for $150 million. In September 2012, it was sold again to

Guggenheim Partners Guggenheim Partners, Inc is a global investment and advisory financial services firm that engages in investment banking, asset management, capital markets services, and insurance services. Guggenheim has c. 2,000 employees. The firm has offices ...

, Mandalay Entertainment and Mosaic Media Investment Partners for $350 million. Guggenheim's stake was later spun out to former president Todd Boehly. In 2016, Chinese conglomerate

Wanda Group Wanda Group (), or the Dalian Wanda Group (), is a Chinese multinational corporation, multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in Dalian, Liaoning, and headquartered in Beijing. The conglomerate's core businesses are a priva ...

announced its intent to acquire DCP, but the deal was thrown out in early 2017 due to regulatory issues. The company then became a part of MRC (initially Valence Media) after Boehly's entertainment and media assets merged with the studio. Valence as a whole rebranded as MRC in 2020, with DCP being part of the MRC Live & Alternative division. In September 2021, MRC discontinued the Dick Clark Productions branding, and folded all of its productions under the MRC Live & Alternative branding going forward. In August 2022, the merger was unwound, with Eldridge re-gaining control of the studio and reinstating the Dick Clark Productions name. In January 2023, DCP was subsequently acquired by a joint venture of

Penske Media Corporation Penske Media Corporation (PMC ) is an American mass media, publishing, and information services company based in Los Angeles and New York City. It publishes more than 20 digital and print brands, including '' Variety'', ''Rolling Stone'', ''Wom ...

and Eldridge Industries known as Penske Media Eldridge.

History

The Dick Clark radio show began syndication in the late 1950s as part of MARS Broadcasting. The name and lower-case stylization of Dick Clark Productions dates back to, at latest, 1964, when Dick Clark's public relations manager, Henry Rogers of Rogers & Cowan, suggested naming his production company after himself, so he could be more visible following ''American Bandstand''s move to Hollywood. Later, Clark rented a building on the Sunset Strip, in an area among visible, legendary clubs and landmarks. As Clark recounted in his 1976 book, '' Rock, Roll and Remember'': "I hung up a very modest sign in lowercase print — ''dick clark productions'' — and started producing." In the 1970s, it operated a subsidiary Dick Clark Teleshows, to produce, most notably, the first ''

'', ''Sorority '62'', and the 90-minute special ''200 Years of American Music''. Between the 1970s and 1980s, Dick Clark Productions owned a cinema production company, Dick Clark Cinema Productions, to produce telemovies and feature films. In 1983, Daniel Paulson was appointed vice president of the division. In 1983, a company owned by Clark and his wife were among multiple applicants to acquire WRKS-FM in New York City. Also, in 1985, Clark operated a home video division, Dick Clark Video, to handle videocassettes, with Vestron Video handling distribution of the titles, most notably ''

''. In 1987, Dick Clark Productions had signed a five-year deal with the

to produce the telecasts from the next five years. Dick Clark Productions went public on

NASDAQ The Nasdaq Stock Market (; National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the U.S. by volume, and ranked second on the list ...

in 1986. It was taken private in 2002 by an investment group that included Mosaic Media Group and the Caisse. Mandalay Entertainment bought DCP's stake in 2004. On June 19, 2007, Dick Clark Productions was sold to Daniel Snyder, owner of the then-

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East ...

, and former chairman of

Six Flags Six Flags Entertainment Corporation is an American amusement park company headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States. It was formed on July 2, 2024, following a merger between longtime rivals Cedar Fair and the former Six Flags ...

, for $175 million. After Clark's death on April 18, 2012, Snyder commented that he was proud when he purchased Dick Clark Productions, adding that Clark was "in every sense of the word, a giant". Until 2012, Dick Clark Productions was majority owned by Red Zone Capital Management, a Daniel Snyder-controlled private equity firm, with a 40 percent stake held by

. The week of June 13, 2012, Red Zone confirmed a possible sale of the company, and that investment bank Raine Group had been tapped to determine possible suitors. Rumored suitors included CORE Media Group, whose

produced ''So You Think You Can Dance'' with DCP, and Ryan Seacrest Productions, whose namesake founder worked with and was mentored by Dick Clark. On September 4, 2012, Red Zone Capital Management reached an agreement to sell Dick Clark Productions to a group partnership headed by

, Mandalay Entertainment, and Mosaic Media Investment Partners for approximately $350 million. In December 2012, reports by several baseball insiders indicated that the

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

(also owned by Guggenheim Partners) were in talks with Dick Clark Productions to potentially form a

regional sports network A regional sports network (RSN) in the United States and Canada is a television channel that presents sports programming to a local media market or geographical region. Such channels often focus on one or a few teams who currently play in Major L ...

for the team once its contract with Fox Sports West concluded. The Dodgers instead partnered with

Time Warner Cable Time Warner Cable Enterprises LLC was an American cable television company. Before it was acquired by Charter Communications on May 18, 2016, it was ranked the second largest cable company in the United States by revenue behind only Comcast, o ...

to launch Time Warner Cable SportsNet LA. On October 2, 2013, Dick Clark Productions established a joint venture with Israeli broadcaster Keshet known as Keshet DCP, which would develop adaptations of its unscripted formats for the U.S. market; its first production would be an American version of its talent show '' Rising Star'', which was ordered to series by ABC the following month. In 2014, DCP took over production of the

Billboard Music Awards The ''Billboard'' Music Awards are honors given out annually by '' Billboard'', a publication covering the music business and a music popularity chart. The ''Billboard'' Music Awards show has been held annually since 1990, with the exception of ...

, an awards show presented by Guggengeim-owned ''

'' magazine. In July 2014, DCP settled a lawsuit with the

Hollywood Foreign Press Association The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) was a nonprofit organization of journalists and photographers who reported on the American entertainment industry for predominantly foreign media markets. It is best known for founding and conduc ...

over its contracts with NBC to broadcast the Golden Globe Awards. On December 17, 2015, in response to losses across Guggenheim Partners, the company announced that it would spin out its media properties, including Dick Clark Productions, to a group led by its former president Todd Boehly. '' Variety'' reported that CEO Allen Shapiro was "likely to be a key player in the spinoff, given his experience in running entertainment firms". Boehly's stake is represented by

Eldridge Industries Eldridge Industries, LLC is an American holding company headquartered in Miami, with offices in New York City, Greenwich, Connecticut, London, and Beverly Hills. Eldridge Industries makes investments in various industries including insurance, as ...

. In September 2016, it was reported that the Chinese conglomerate

(which owns

AMC Theatres AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. (doing business as AMC Theatres, originally an abbreviation for American Multi-Cinema; often referred to simply as AMC) is an American movie theater chain founded in Kansas City, Missouri, and now headquartered ...

and

Legendary Entertainment Legendary Entertainment, LLC (also known as Legendary Pictures or simply Legendary) is an American mass media and film production company based in Burbank, California, founded by Thomas Tull. The company has often collaborated with the major stu ...

) was in talks to acquire Dick Clark Productions. This was confirmed on November 4, 2016, when Wanda Group announced the purchase for $1 billion. On February 20, 2017, ''

Bloomberg News Bloomberg News (originally Bloomberg Business News) is an international news agency headquartered in New York City and a division of Bloomberg L.P. Content produced by Bloomberg News is disseminated through Bloomberg Terminals, Bloomberg T ...

'' reported that the sale was facing regulatory issues in China. On March 10, 2017, an Eldridge Industries spokesperson stated that the sale had been scrapped. DCP received $50 million from Wanda Group in

breakup A relationship breakup, breakup, or break-up is the ending of a Interpersonal relationship, relationship. The act is commonly termed "dumping omeone in slang when it is initiated by one partner. The term is less likely to be applied to a ma ...

and extension fees. The studio later sold Chinese rights to the Golden Globes and ''New Year's Rockin' Eve'' to

STX Entertainment STX Entertainment is an American independent entertainment and media company. Founded in March 2014 by film producer Robert Simonds and TPG Growth managing partner Bill McGlashan, the studio produces film, television, and digital media projec ...

. On February 1, 2018, DCP merged with

Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly larg ...

Media Group and Media Rights Capital to form

Valence Media Valence or valency may refer to: Science *Valence (chemistry), a measure of an element's combining power with other atoms *Valence electron, electrons in the outer shell of an atom's energy levels *Valence quarks, those quarks within a hadron th ...

. Mike Mahan was appointed CEO of DCP. In November 2019, the company's COO and CFO Amy Thurlow became president of Dick Clark Productions, with Mike Mahan expected to become a vice chairman in 2020. In July 2020, Valence was rebranded as MRC, with Dick Clark Productions operating as a label of its non-scripted division MRC Live & Alternative. Thurlow stepped down from DCP in June 2021. In September 2021, the Dick Clark Productions name was discontinued, with all of its productions now falling under the MRC Live & Alternative banner. In August 2022, Eldridge and MRC's co-CEOs Modi Wiczyk and Asif Satchu agreed to divide the company's assets, effectively undoing the 2018 deal that created Valence Media. Among other assets, Eldridge re-acquired the MRC Live & Alternative division and announced it would restore the Dick Clark Productions name to the unit. In January 2023, DCP was subsequently acquired by a joint venture of

and Eldridge Industries known as Penske Media Eldridge: Adam Stotsky stepped down as president of the company following the transaction, and at least 16 employees were laid off. The deal expands on an existing relationship between the companies, under which PMC operates ''Billboard'' and ''The Hollywood Reporter''. On June 12, 2023, DCP acquired the assets and intellectual property of the Golden Globe Awards from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, as part of a transition to a for-profit entity undertaken by Boehly.

References

External links

* {{Eldridge Industries 1957 establishments in California American companies established in 1957 Companies based in Santa Monica, California Entertainment companies based in California Mass media companies established in 1957 Television production companies of the United States Dick Clark Privately held companies based in California 1980s initial public offerings 2002 mergers and acquisitions 2007 mergers and acquisitions 2012 mergers and acquisitions 2018 mergers and acquisitions Companies formerly listed on the Nasdaq Penske Media Corporation