MTM Films

MTM Films is a British-American "mini-major" film studio, and the fourth-largest mini-major (after Lionsgate, Miramax, and The Weinstein Company). The studio was formed in 1979 as "MTM Enterprises Film Corporation"; the British division was formed as a seperate company called "TVS Films" in 1983 and was merged into the MTM film company in 1989 to form MTM Films.

History
In 1979, MTM Enterprises Film Corporation was created as a subsidiary of MTM Enterprises. In 1983, British ITV franchise Television South (or TVS) created a subsidiary for film production and distribution, called "TVS Films". In 1988, TVS acquired MTM. A year later, MTM Enterprises Film Corporation was merged with TVS Films to form MTM Films. In 1990, TVS lost the ITV franchise auction for the South of England to Meridian Broadcasting. TVS ceased broadcasting on the last day of 1992; Meridian started broadcasting on New Year's Day 1993. On February 1, 1993, Pat Robertson's International Family Entertainment (or IFE) acquired TVS (including MTM). Robertson was a televangelist and Christian fundamentalist, and he merged his existing 700 Club Film Corporation (a small Christian film studio) into MTM Films. In 1997, Pat Robertson sold IFE to Fox Family Worldwide (a joint venture of 20th Century Fox and Saban). The MTM Films studio was sold directly to Saban, who intregated Saban Pictures (which owned the US rights to many Japanese films) into it, creating "MTM-Saban Films International". However, the opening logo still said "MTM Films". In 2001, Haim Saban sold Saban Entertainment to Disney. Disney did not want MTM Films, but they did agree to sell some of their less profitable film companies (including Touchstone Pictures and Hollywood Pictures) to Saban in return. This formed "MTM-Touchstone Films International d/b/a MTM Films". Disney also sold their Touchstone Television division to Saban, who used it to revive MTM Television. In 2010, Haim Saban formed Saban Brands, which includes MTM Films and MTM Television; he used it to buy back the rights to Power Rangers from Disney. Most TV series produced or distributed by Saban Brands only mention it in the copyright notice, and use MTM Television's cat logo as a vanity plate. In 2012, Saban acquired most of 4Kids' assets, merging them into MTM Television and/or MTM Films. In 2016, MTM Television acquired Litton Entertainment, and announced plans to discontinue the Litton Saturday-morning blocks and put Litton's shows in syndication under the "MTM Television Distribution" name. Also in 2016, Hearst Television acquired 50% of MTM Films and MTM Television from Saban. In 2017, Hearst and Saban announced a plan to merge into "MTM Ventures International" by 2019.