MTM Enterprises - History

History

For many years MTM, with CBS, co-owned the CBS Studio Center in Studio City, California, where a majority of their programs were filmed and videotaped. In turn, most of MTM's series aired on CBS.

MTM Enterprises acquired Jim Victory Television from Viacom Enterprises in 1980 taking the MTM library with it. Victory was later reincorporated as MTM Television Distribution, which in turn was folded into 20th Television after News Corporation bought MTM.

Tinker overlooked MTM's operation until leaving the company in 1981 and becoming chairman of NBC. Lawyers backing NBC's then-owner RCA convinced Tinker to sell his remaining shares of MTM. Tinker later regretted leaving MTM, believing that the company started to decline without him.

After being an independent production company for many years, MTM was sold in 1988 to British production company TVS Entertainment for $320 million. TVS was in turn acquired by Pat Robertson's International Family Entertainment in late 1992. IFE along with MTM was sold to Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation in 1996. MTM ceased operations and was folded into 20th Century Fox Television on August 15, 1998 when The Family Channel became Fox Family. The library of non-MTM shows was subsequently sold on to form part of ABC Family's archive.

MTM Enterprises also included a record label, MTM Records, which was in existence from 1984 to 1988.