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Rysher Entertainment, Inc. was an American film and television production company and distributor. It was founded in 1991. In 1993, Rysher was acquired by
Cox Enterprises Cox Enterprises, Inc. is an American private company, privately held global conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, with approximately 55,000 employees and $21 billion in total revenue. Its major ope ...
, and was subsequently closed in 1999. That same year, Viacom entered an agreement with Cox Enterprises for distribution rights to the Rysher library, which currently lie with Viacom's successor
Paramount Global Paramount Global (Trade name, d/b/a Paramount) is an American multinational mass media and entertainment Conglomerate (company), conglomerate controlled by National Amusements and Headquarters, headquartered at One Astor Plaza in Times Square, ...
, specifically its subsidiaries
Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...
and
CBS Media Ventures CBS Media Ventures, Inc. (formerly CBS Paramount Domestic Television and CBS Television Distribution) is the television broadcast syndication arm of CBS Studios, a division of the CBS Entertainment Group, in turn a division of Paramount Global, ...
. Ownership of the company's assets changed hands multiple times over the 2000s before finally being acquired by Vine Alternative Investments in 2011.


History

Keith Samples established the company in April 1991, as an independent company, whose sole product had been the distribution of the series ''
Saved by the Bell ''Saved by the Bell'' is an American television teen sitcom created by Sam Bobrick for NBC. The series premiered, in prime time, on August 20, 1989, a Sunday night. Targeted at kids and teens, ''Saved by the Bell'' was broadcast in the United ...
'' (at the time,
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...
could not distribute it in syndication due to fin-syn rules). Encouraged by the success, it made its second move with their first foray into animation, '' Captain N and the Video Game Masters'', the off-net syndicated version of the
DIC Entertainment DIC Entertainment Corporation (; also known as DIC Audiovisuel, DIC Enterprises, DIC Animation City, DIC Entertainment, L.P., and DIC Productions, sometimes stylized as DİC) was a French American film and television production company that ...
series that also aired on
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...
, '' Captain N: The Game Master''. Also that year, it attempted to merge with film and television production company The Kushner-Locke Company, only for the deal to be aborted. Also that year,
Cox Enterprises Cox Enterprises, Inc. is an American private company, privately held global conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, with approximately 55,000 employees and $21 billion in total revenue. Its major ope ...
was in discussions to purchase the studio and helped them merge with TPE. It was considered that later that year that Gay Rosenthal was inking a deal with the studio to distribute their own projects. The Cox/Rysher merger was finalized, and soon afterwards, Rysher merged with
Al Masini Alfred Michael Masini (January 5, 1930 – November 29, 2010) was an American television producer. Life and career Early life and education Al Masini was born in Jersey City, New Jersey. Raised by his widowed mother, Masini started working after ...
's Television Program Enterprises to form Rysher TPE, its alternate name used from 1993 to 1994, and helped them to syndicate '' California Dreams'', with Keith Samples remaining at the helm. Through it, they produced and distributed shows, such as '' Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous'' (renamed ''Lifestyles with Robin Leach and Shari Belafonte'' for the final season) and '' Star Search''. Later, they produced and distributed '' George & Alana''. The company branched out into feature films, and in the span of three years had produced over two dozen. In late 1993, ''
Beverly Hills 90210 ''Beverly Hills, 90210'' (often referred to as ''90210'') is an American teen drama television series created by Darren Star and produced by Aaron Spelling via his production company Spelling Television. The series ran for 10 seasons on Fo ...
'' star Gabrielle Carteris, through GABCO Productions struck a deal with Rysher TPE for a production/distribution agreement. In May 1995, Rysher entered into a five-film domestic distribution arrangement with
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American Film production, film and television production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered ...
(MGM). The company closed the film unit due to underperforming box-office sales in July 1997. Later that year, in 1997, Papazian-Hrsch Entertainment struck a deal with Rysher to develop their television projects. In 1998, Rysher collaborated with
HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...
to distribute some of the series outside of the United States, including '' Arli$$'', '' Oz'' and ''
Sex and the City ''Sex and the City'' is an American romantic comedy, romantic comedy-drama television series created by Darren Star for HBO, based on Sex and the City (newspaper column), the newspaper column and 1996 book by Candace Bushnell. It premiered in th ...
''. The company was closed in 1999 after Viacom entered an agreement with Cox Enterprises, allowing
Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...
and its television unit to handle distribution rights. The company's library is incorporated into
CBS Media Ventures CBS Media Ventures, Inc. (formerly CBS Paramount Domestic Television and CBS Television Distribution) is the television broadcast syndication arm of CBS Studios, a division of the CBS Entertainment Group, in turn a division of Paramount Global, ...
for television series and Paramount Pictures for films (except ''The Opposite of Sex''). The company's films and series included ''Hogan's Heroes'' (whose partial rights are held by CBS), ''Ben Casey'', '' Walking Tall'', '' Nash Bridges'' (continued by
Paramount Network Television The first incarnation of Paramount Television was operated as the television production division of the American film studio Paramount Pictures, until it changed its name to CBS Paramount Television on January 17, 2006. History Desilu Pro ...
), '' Highlander: The Series'', '' Kingpin'', and '' Big Night''. In 1998, Rysher and CBS Productions jointly purchased the
Ann-Margret Ann-Margret Olsson (born 28 April 1941), credited as Ann-Margret, is a Swedish-American actress and singer with a career spanning seven decades. Her many screen roles include '' Pocketful of Miracles'' (1961), ''State Fair'' (1962), '' Bye Bye B ...
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...
drama ''
Four Corners Four Corners is a region of the Southwestern United States consisting of the southwestern corner of Colorado, southeastern corner of Utah, northeastern corner of Arizona, and northwestern corner of New Mexico. Most of the Four Corners regio ...
'' from
Columbia TriStar Television Columbia TriStar Television, Inc. (abbreviated as CTT) was an American television production and distribution company, which was active from 1994 until its reincorporation as Sony Pictures Television in 2002. It was the third iteration of what ...
. The company's assets were acquired by
2929 Entertainment 2929 Entertainment, LLC. is an American integrated media and entertainment company co-founded by billionaire entrepreneurs Todd Wagner and Mark Cuban. 2929 maintains companies and interests across several industries including entertainment develo ...
in 2001. They were bought by Qualia Capital, LLC. in 2006, and were merged with Gaylord Films and Pandora Entertainment. The combined entity became known as Qualia Libraries Co. and the brand name served as a
limited partnership A limited partnership (LP) is a type of partnership with general partners, who have a right to manage the business, and limited partners, who have no right to manage the business but have only limited liability for its debts. Limited partnership ...
, and now owns the trademark to ''Hogan's Heroes''. In 2011, Qualia Libraries Co. was acquired by affiliates of Vine Alternative Investments. Viacom
merged Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of a company, business organization, or one of their operating units is transferred to or consolidated with another entity. They may happen through direct absorpt ...
with
CBS Corporation CBS Corporation was an American multinational media company with interests primarily in commercial broadcasting, publishing and television production. It was split from Viacom on December 31, 2005, alongside an entirely new Viacom; both ...
, under the name ViacomCBS (now
Paramount Global Paramount Global (Trade name, d/b/a Paramount) is an American multinational mass media and entertainment Conglomerate (company), conglomerate controlled by National Amusements and Headquarters, headquartered at One Astor Plaza in Times Square, ...
), as a single distribution company in December. CBS Media Ventures currently distributes Rysher's television library, while the distribution rights to the film library lie with Paramount Pictures, with
Trifecta Entertainment Trifecta Entertainment & Media is an American entertainment company founded in 2006. The company's founders previously held jobs as executives at MGM Television. Trifecta is primarily a distribution company and also handles advertising sales in ex ...
handling North American broadcast television rights.


Television programs


Feature films


References

{{Authority control 1991 establishments in California 1993 mergers and acquisitions 1999 disestablishments in California 2929 Entertainment holdings American companies established in 1991 American companies disestablished in 1999 Companies based in Santa Monica, California Defunct companies based in Greater Los Angeles Defunct film and television production companies of the United States Entertainment companies based in California Mass media companies established in 1991 Mass media companies disestablished in 1999 Television syndication distributors