Ownership
When the Associated Communications Corporation was broken up after losing control of the ATV franchise (it became Central Independent Television when ACC was forced to divest itself of 49% of the company), the rights to the ITC archive were acquired by Polygram, and subsequently by Carlton Television and Granada International.
Today, the underlying rights are owned by ITV Global Entertainment Ltd., although Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer now owns theatrical distribution rights. MGM also owns U.S. distribution rights to Without a Clue via their acquisition of that film's original distributor Orion Pictures. Home video distribution in North America to a majority of the ITC library is handled by Lionsgate under license from ITV.
However, there are few exceptions to the theatrical library. One ITC production, The Dark Crystal, is now owned by The Jim Henson Company, with theatrical distribution rights handled by Universal Pictures (the film's original distributor). Two other films, The Muppet Movie and The Great Muppet Caper, have full rights owned by The Muppets Studio, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, with Walt Disney Pictures serving as distributor. Some rights to The Return of the Pink Panther are now held by Universal's Focus Features division in partnership with ITV, although original distributor United Artists still owns the copyright, and as of 2008, domestic theatrical, television, and internet distribution through MGM—most of these rights are the result of the latter studio's distribution rights to the ITC film output. The Evil That Men Do is now fully owned by TriStar Pictures via Sony Pictures Entertainment.
As for ITC's television output, Carlton (and later Granada and now ITV) released some of these shows on DVD both in Europe and North America. There were however a few exceptions: The Adventures of Robin Hood and the other swashbuckling adventure series of the late 1950s and early 1960s were released on DVD by Network Video, as was Strange Report.
Many of the cult drama shows from the 1960s and 1970s have since been released by Network as limited edition box sets, the most recent being Interpol Calling (as of November 2010). The rights to The Muppet Show, however, are held by Disney, with North American and UK home video rights controlled by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment.
Read more about this topic: ITC Entertainment
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