Henson talking to Disney and Viacom for potential partnership deals

[Phillip Chapman]

Here are the details...

http://www.muppetcentral.com/news/2003/111903.shtml

Let us know what you think.

[Fozzie Bear]

Hmmm...I don't mind a partnership--just not ownership or take-overs.

[Aaron]

i think this is a good idea

[BoyRaisin2]

Cool with me, baby. :D

[Chilly Down]

I'm with Kev. As long as it's not a buyout, I'm cool with it. I don't want the same people who mismanaged Disney's feature animation department to be in charge of the Muppets. However, Columbia TriStar hasn't been all that great for the Muppets. They need someone with a big marketing reach, and Disney and Viacom are both capable of that.

So...we'll see.

Thanks for posting this, Phil!

[BoyRaisin2]

Dang, not only film and home video distribution, but also TV AND merchandising? Looks like the only thing Disney and Viacom are not trying to do is BUY the company!

[sarah_yzma]

yeah, I think that would be good! just look what a partnership did to Pixar!

[King Prawn]

yeah, I think that would be good! just look what a partnership did to Pixar!

Excellent point Sarah

[beaker]

We got a hint at this plan from brian henson himself:
"Reflecting the success of (Rivkin's) efforts to date, we are now in advanced discussions with a number of prospective strategic partners, and we expect to announce the culmination of those efforts in the very near future," Brian Henson said.

It's a great move, as now that JHC owns JHC I say spread the muppet world order tentacles!

[Fozzie Bear]

But, JHC needs to maintain the ownership and control at least in the higher percentage. We know Disney does create overkill lots of the time.

Maybe Viacom can get the older shows re-syndicated better??

[Luke]

Kev, I don't think they mean 'partnership' as in giving up any percentage of the company but in having relationships with other companies to do deals in specific areas. Hopefully big names like these handling things like distribution and backing production projects will mean the Hensons have the muscle to get some great programming out there again while still remaining in control and keeping the brand and characters "safe". I guess we'll see what happens - at least they are talking to people and people want to talk to them.

[BoyRaisin2]

Once again, I hand it to Phil for making five long sentences look like five long sentences. ;)

[Erine81981]

But, JHC needs to maintain the ownership and control at least in the higher percentage. We know Disney does create overkill lots of the time.

Maybe Viacom can get the older shows re-syndicated better??


Hope they can. :) I would love to see some syndicated muppet stuff shown. Just hope they can do it.

[Bean Bunny]

The plus side to having a partnership with Disney or Viacom, is that they could air their old shows on Viacom's TV Land, Nick, Spike TV, or Disney's Disney Channel, A&E, ABC Family, and Playhouse Disney. Both Disney and Viacom have theme parks to advertise. Disney and Viacom both have wide distrubtion for films. I think that if a pathership goes through Disney would co-fund a film with Henson, kind of like a Muppet Christmas Carol and Treasure Island.

[dwayne1115]

wow this is great news i am hoping they make a deal with disny for a few reasons. one they would more then likly but Dinosors and Muppets tonight on DVD but im kind of hoping that they dont do a show fr ABC i just dont really like ABC. Pluse i also think if they went to viacom things would go well for them to. But one thing i wonder is why not go to Warner Bros. Lisa Henson did a wonderfull job over there im sure they would give them a good deal. But i still love what sony has done for the muppets i think they have helped us out alot with gettting the muppets out there a little not much dont down them to much just think about it the next time you watch your favorit muppet movie or show on a DVD think about that. i also think that they might want to try MGM the compony has already been working with them and it has been sucsesful. AVMMC was good i enjoied seeing the Muppets back in the theater and i havent seen Good Boys but from what i have read it is doing wel money wise so why not use MGM who knows. This is great to hear some good newes frome JHC i knew things would start looking up for the muppets. But dont count your tadpools before they hach :) but i think things are going great.

[Gusworld]

The ongoing problem I've always perceived with pairing up with Disney (whether as an owner, co-financer, distribution partner or whatever) is that it really reinforces that misguided impression that the Muppets are purely a 'kiddie' property. This severely limits what Henson can do creatively with the characters.

Admittedly, this is a problem even without Disney involvement -- witness all the ridiculous complaints about how having Scooter cage-dancing in VMMC wasn't appropriate for a 'family' company like the Muppets. But Disney has spent so much time promoting itself as a family brand (and is so often targeted by conservatives when companies even peripherally associated with it are seen as going against that trend) that it does tend to further inflame the issue and feed the misconception.

This wouldn't be a problem with Viacom, of course, since they distribute all sorts of material across the board.

Nonetheless, any distribution partner is going to have to be an improvement on EM.TV, you'd think!

Cheers
Gus

[Luke]

im kind of hoping that they dont do a show fr ABC i just dont really like ABC.

They are doing stuff for ABC. That doesn't mean they can't do distribution or production deals with others though.

[Fozzie Bear]

The Muppets Wizard of Oz, directed by Kirk Thatcher, will be for ABC.

[BoyRaisin2]

Once again, I hand it to Phil for making five long sentences look like five long sentences. ;)

Just a correction: For making five long sentences look like five long paragraphs I mean.

Henson is a "family" company that makes a lot of "kiddie" stuff. With the classic Muppets, who aren't purely preschool characters, just DON'T put them on some Playhouse Disney show, assuming Disney were to get the deal (which somehow I don't expect). Maybe TMS reruns, but if they want to fill in their preschool entertainment block, do it with the non-Kermit/Piggy/Pepe gang.

Unless they want to do some spinoff show Gonzo has a son who's trying to be hip but still has some of his father's weird tendencies.

[Antrobus]

Hi,

I'm a Farscape lurker and drop by once in awhile to see what the news about JHC is over here. As many of you may (or may not) know it has been announced to the SaveFarscape campaign (from an unknown but reliable source within the show's ranks) that there is a 4 hour miniseries that will begin filming in Dec. in Sydney. Henson has not officially announced it yet, but its been in the news, so I'm not really leaking anything.

My question to Phil is if he thinks that the Henson's interest in working with Viacom is good news for Farscape. The SciFi Channel loses the rerun rights to Farscape in 2005 and the ownership of the 4 seasons reverts back to Henson.

We've (SaveFarscape.com) been led to believe that if the miniseries does well, that more seasons might be produced. However, we don't know who will be airing the mini. If a deal comes through with Viacom, will it end up on Spike TV or A&E? Any thoughts?

[Chilly Down]

This wouldn't be a problem with Viacom, of course, since they distribute all sorts of material across the board.


But if Viacom deals with Henson, they'll most likely slot them in their Nick Jr. programming, thinking they're on the same level with Fairly Oddparents or something. When TMS aired on Nick in the early 90's, that was where they were slotted.

[Phillip Chapman]

Originally Nick showed TMS at both 6:30 pm CST/7:30 pm EST (it's original syndication time) and also at either 9:00 or 9:30 CST in the mornings. For awhile TMS and Muppet Babies were paired together in the mornings as the Muppet Hour. Nick also showed "Muppet Matinee" on the weekends which was just many of the one-hour Henson specials.

[Aaron]

those were the days

[Luke]

Unless they want to do some spinoff show Gonzo has a son who's trying to be hip but still has some of his father's weird tendencies.

*Imagines room full of Henson writers scribbling over their notepads thinking - Jeez, Kenny guessed our idea !*

;)

[BoyRaisin2]

LOL.

The weird thing is, years ago Nickelodeon and (The) Disney Channel were THE places for Muppet productions and fit well with everything else on the channels. Of course in the past few years, Nick and Disney Channel have changed dramatically. So it'd be interesting to see where any Muppet show could fit in into their non-preschool schedules.

[Amazing Mumford]

The plus side to having a partnership with Disney or Viacom, is that they could air their old shows on Viacom's TV Land, Nick, Spike TV, or Disney's Disney Channel, A&E, ABC Family, and Playhouse Disney.

Good point. The Muppet Show would fit in perfectly on TV Land. TMS doesn't appeal as much to the audience that Disney, ABC Family, and Nick seem to be after. Nick at Nite is skewed towards newer (late 80s-early 90s) shows. So, I think TV Land (or perhaps A&E) might be the best location. Of course, they could show it on any channel and we'd still watch it.

Also, both companies have lots of clout in the cable TV industry, so maybe working with them is the first step to some sort of Henson-based channel someday...

[Bean Bunny]

I could see the Muppets working on A&E (Disney) or TV Land (Viacom).

[sarah_yzma]

I really think any deal would work, as long as it is strictly a sort of a financial backing sort of deal....(although what I felt is best has never happened, and maybe that's for the better!)

[Crazy Harry]

as long as it is strictly a sort of a financial backing sort of deal.
"Give us lots of money and we'll make shows and movies that don't suck."

[dwayne1115]

ok so there is going to be a muppet wizerd of oz good and it no ABC humm this might work. i hope this is not reall chessy though.

[BoyRaisin2]

Yeah, it seems that the "new Jim Henson Company" approach is to just CREATE and not finance or distribute their own stuff. Of course they've done that with their movies, but does this mean all the stuff Henson makes from now on, including the TV shows, will be OWNED by other companies? Because "distribute" is basically another word for "own." Not that that's a bad thing of course, just as long as Henson has creative control.

But it'd be nice if Disney got the deal, just for the slim CHANCE they'd release Muppets@WDW on VHS or DVD.

[blackurth]

just one question......does this mean that disney may finally re-re-release the muppet movie soundtrack(and possibly fraggle rock music) on compact disc?the muppet movie,great muppet caper,muppets take manhattan.

[Chilly Down]

"Distribute" and "own" aren't the same thing, actually. George Lucas owns the Star Wars movies; 20th Century Fox only distributes them. I guess ITC (Lord Grade's company) only distributed TMS, since the rights reverted back to Henson in the late '80s/early '90s.

As long as the Muppets remain somewhat profitable, though, I expect Disney will want to hold on to the productions that they distribute. Even after the classic Muppet movie trilogy became distributed under Columbia TriStar, Disney held on to MCC and MTI. That's not so bad, as long as the product's out there. It's a dream of mine to one day have a boxed set of ALL the Muppet movies released by one distributor...but if it doesn't happen, I suppose I'll survive. ;)

As for the Muppet movie soundtracks, who knows? Anything can happen. Some of the songs were included on the 25th anniversary CD. At any rate, I bet you can find the soundtracks really cheap on eBay right now. (And someone can correct me if I don't know what I'm talking about here.)

[Ryan]

just one question......does this mean that disney may finally re-re-release the muppet movie soundtrack(and possibly fraggle rock music) on compact disc?the muppet movie,great muppet caper,muppets take manhattan.
I'm not an expert in the area, but I'm pretty sure BMG KIDZ released them originally, which was not a division of Disney. So, no, I doubt they would re-release them. Again, there's other people here who are more informed in this type of stuff than I am, however.

[Luke]

Rumor was a while back that Rhino were considering other CD releases.

[BoyRaisin2]

"Distribute" and "own" aren't the same thing, actually. George Lucas owns the Star Wars movies; 20th Century Fox only distributes them. I guess ITC (Lord Grade's company) only distributed TMS, since the rights reverted back to Henson in the late '80s/early '90s.

Good point, I guess it's what kind of deal you have. Compare the Fox/Lucas arrangement to, say, Disney and Pixar. I know the Pixar people would like to have a deal like that.

[Elasaid]

:concern:
It was a sad day when I went to go buy Cheerios and I found that I could get a free DVD copy of The Muppets Take Manhatten.

With the Henson family buying back the company and the potential for partnerships my only hope is that the company I had hoped to work for when I was a kid will find itself again and get back some of that old spark.

[Fozzie Bear]

I always said that the JHC needs to study what they did to become successful, and for the most part copy that with a modern twist to keep it updated. They seem to stray a bit in their writings, etc.

[ScrapsFlippy]

This is a very good sign - If JHC is talking to distributors it means that they have some projects in the works and are looking for some capitol to get rolling. :) It's a very common practice for a production company to "pre-sell" a product (tv show, movie, etc.) to a distributor and use the advance funds to start the ball rolling.

Most likely JHC would retain the rights to these new productions, but the distribution rights would belong to Viacom or Disney for a certain number of years.

So in other words, Disney or Viacom would not "own" the product. Just the right to distribute it. Both companies are going great-guns packaging and distributing their own productions, and as someone stated earlier in this thread, they have beaucoup distribution avenues (cable tv, network tv, dvd, publishing, theme parks, etc.)

Let's just hope that whoever inks a deal with JHC recognizes the creative potential they're funding and gives our Muppety friends free rein to do that voodoo that they do so well.

-- Mssr. Scraps

[ryhoyarbie]

I always said that the JHC needs to study what they did to become successful, and for the most part copy that with a modern twist to keep it updated. They seem to stray a bit in their writings, etc.

i think that would also help the henson's with their plan. it's kind of like life from my view point, where i look at the things that either were successful or not and what it took to be successful at something.

but who know's, maybe they have and they know that although they bought the company back, now they need a big name to help distribute things that people will buy.

ryan

[Fozzie Bear]

I don't forsee anything going on with Disney until the oust of Eisner happens. Which would be a good thing.

[The Storyteller]

I would like to see The Jim Hension Company partner with MGM/UA. That one movie they did for NBC was great! :excited:

[Fozzie Bear]

I agree that VMX was a great film; it was good to hear from our old Muppet friends again, and see everyone back at The Muppets Theater!!

BTW: Welcome to MC, Storyteller!!

[Buck-Beaver]

Luke's mention of Rhino is interesting. They're not the biggest player around, but they've done an excellent job marketing a lot of genre and cult properties like MST3k. They're becoming bigger and bigger every year. Landing a deal with the Muppets would be a huge coup for them and as a smaller outfit - like Palisades - they'd have a huge incentive to really promote the Muppets and push the products.

[Beebers]

2/11/04

Check out today's news at www.foxnews.com.

Comcast/Disney.

[Fozzie Bear]

I take it you meant this article here:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,111079,00.html

Comcast Makes Hostile Bid for Disney
Wednesday, February 11, 2004



NEW YORK — In a stunning move, cable TV giant Comcast Corp. (CMCSA) proposed early Wednesday to buy Walt Disney Co., (DIS) the iconic entertainment powerhouse, for stock valued at about $54 billion. It said Disney chief Michael Eisner had rebuffed its request for talks.

The nation's biggest cable systems operator said it would also assume $11.9 billion in Disney debt.

Comcast's proposal was made even as Eisner was fending off criticism from former board members Roy E. Disney (search), the nephew of founder Walt Disney, and Stanley E. Gold (search) about his performance and lack of a succession plan as Disney's chief executive.

Comcast said Eisner declined earlier this week to discuss a possible merger.

"This is a unique opportunity for all shareholders of Comcast and Disney to create a new leader of the entertainment and communications industry," said Comcast president and chief executive Brian L. Roberts said in a statement.

Calls to Disney representatives Zenia Mucha, Michelle Bergman and John Spelich were not immediately returned early Wednesday. Michael Citrick, spokesman for Roy Disney and Gold, said they had no immediate comment.

Comcast also released a letter sent to Eisner indicating that Eisner had personally rejected Roberts' offer to enter into discussions about a merger earlier in the week.

The letter from Roberts called Eisner's response "unfortunate," adding, "Given this, the only way for us to proceed is to make a public proposal directly to you and your board."

Under the merger, Comcast said it would issue 0.78 of a share of its stock for each Disney share, and Disney shareholders would retain 42 percent of the combined company. The deal would give Disney shareholders a premium of more than $5 billion, based on Tuesday closing stock prices.

Philadelphia-based Comcast merged with AT&T Broadband last November, and the company noted that merger in its sales pitch Wednesday.

"Our management team has a proven track record of successful integration of our merger partners," Roberts said.

Comcast has more than 21 million total cable television subscribers in 35 states and the District of Columbia. In October, the company reported net income of $3.18 billion and stronger-than-expected demand for premium services, including high-speed Internet access. It has not yet released its results for the most recent quarter.

Last year, Roy Disney and Gold had called on Eisner to resign, saying he was to blame for a tumbling stock price, embarrassing management missteps and a focus on short-term profits over the company's core mission.

But others credit Eisner with turning a sleepy theme park company and also-ran movie studio into a major media conglomerate.

[BoyRaisin2]

And CNBC said Comcast was reaching out to Pixar (whatever that means). I wish I could see the news conference on their website, but it ain't working for me.