Lorimar-Telepictures

The merger of Lorimar-Telepictures was announced on October 7, 1985, by Merv Adelson.^[1][2] On February 19, 1986, the merger was complete.^[3] Lee Rich, one of the other founders of Lorimar, sold his shares in 1986 and left the company.

In 1987, Lorimar-Telepictures decided to launch separate divisions with brand logos, which are Lorimar Television for network television production, Lorimar Syndication for broadcast and off-net syndication, and Lorimar International for television distribution, with Lorimar-Telepictures being the parent company of the groups. Both had used Lorimar as operating names starting on January 19, 1987.^[4] It is reported that Robert Rosenbaum was named vice president of production at the Lorimar Television unit.^[5] Also that year, it faced a $21.7 million loss from the studio.^[6]

In June 1988, Warner Communications merged with Lorimar-Telepictures after buying the company.^[7]

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Note: All series listed here are now owned and distributed by Warner Bros. Television Studios with a few exceptions.

Lorimar-Telepictures also distributed most of the pre-1990 DIC Entertainment and Saban Entertainment series in international markets; most of the DIC series are currently distributed by WildBrain, and most of the Saban series are currently distributed by Disney–ABC Domestic Television, as well as some of the Universal Pictures films that Lorimar distributed are currently distributed by NBCUniversal Syndication Studios via its Universal Television division.

Notes

1. [1]

   Currently distributed by Shout! Factory under license from Alien Productions in United States.
2. [2]

   WB's rights to the series reverted to Premavision in 2003.
3. [3]

   Currently distributed by Paul Brownstein Productions/tvclassics.com.
4. [4]

   WB's rights to the series later reverted to its original creators.

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Lorimar-Telepictures also held ownership interests in several television stations via predecessor Telepictures, mostly based in smaller markets and Puerto Rico.^[8] The company made a failed $1 billion offer in 1985 for Multimedia, Inc., which owned eight television stations and fifteen radio stations.^[9] On May 21, 1986, Lorimar-Telepictures agreed to purchase from private equity firm KKR WTVJ (channel 4) in Miami, along with Storer Communications stations WAGA-TV in Atlanta, WITI in Milwaukee, WJBK in Detroit, WJW-TV in Cleveland, WSBK-TV in Boston and KCST in San Diego, in a $1.85 billion group deal.^[10] WTVJ, including the studio building and surrounding land, was itself sold for $405 million.^[11] Also included was Storer's program production company, advertising sales division and Washington news bureau.^[12] Lorimar-Telepictures also made purchase offers for WPGH-TV in Pittsburgh and WTTV in Bloomington–Indianapolis.^[13]

By October 22, 1986, Lorimar-Telepictures requested to exclude WTVJ from the Storer deal^[14] after learning that CBS, of which WTVJ was affiliated with, inquired with the owners of WCIX (channel 6) about a purchase, putting the valuation of WTVJ in peril and ultimately collapsing the entire deal.^[15] Other financial market analysts argued that Lorimar grossly overpaid for WTVJ, as the $405 million price was nearly 21 times WTVJ's cash flow (typical station purchase prices were 10 to 14 times cash flow)^[16] and made it difficult to cover interest serviced on $2 billion in high-yield bonds.^[17][18] KKR sold WTVJ to NBC in January 1987,^[19] ultimately initiating a complicated six-station affiliation swap in Miami and West Palm Beach, Florida, on January 1, 1989.^[20] The Storer stations were also sold to George N. Gillett Jr. in 1987.^[21]

The purchase offer for WTTV failed to close, with the station instead being sold to Capitol Broadcasting Company. WPGH-TV, which was successfully purchased by Lorimar, was sold to Renaissance Broadcasting in 1987 and, eventually, to current owners Sinclair Broadcast Group in 1990.^[22][23] KCPM, KSPR and KMID were sold to Goltrin Communications in 1988.^[24]