Metromedia Producers Corporation

Metromedia Producers Corporation
Founded	1968
Dissolved	March 6, 1986 (folded into 20th Century Fox Television)
President	John Kluge
Notable Works	My Favorite Martian Dusty's Trail Too Close for Comfort

Metromedia Producers Corporation (MPC) was an American television production and distribution company.

History

MPC was founded in 1968, under the ownership of Metromedia, after being spun off from Wolper Productions. During its years of operation, it was a prominent program supplier for the American television networks and syndication. Among its more popular programs were The Merv Griffin Show, the original version of Jeopardy!, My Favorite Martian, Star Search and Too Close for Comfort.

Metromedia announced the sale of its television stations (which Metromedia's owner, John Kluge, had purchased from the now-defunct DuMont Television Network's founder, Dr. Allen B. DuMont, in 1958) and MPC on May 6, 1985 to News Corporation. The transactions became official on March 6, 1986, after which MPC's operations were absorbed into 20th Century Fox Television (now the current version of 20th Television).

While The Walt Disney Company's TV distribution unit, Disney-ABC Domestic Television (which absorbed the distribution duties of the former 20th Television on August 10, 2020), holds the distribution rights to a majority of the MPC catalogue, there are a few exceptions:

• Shows produced by Aaron Spelling through his Spelling-Goldberg Productions company, which were distributed internationally by MPC and later by 20th Century Fox TV, are now syndicated worldwide by Sony Pictures Television (whose predecessor, Columbia Pictures Television, distributed the shows in the United States)
• CBS Media Ventures owns the rights to That Girl, Star Search, Strike Force, the original Jeopardy! (co-distributed with SPT), Vega$, B.A.D. Cats and Dynasty (which was distributed by 20th Television until November 2006, when CMV predecessor CBS Paramount Domestic Television picked up the show)
• Groovie Goolies, Mayberry RFD, Truth or Consequences and Thicke of the Night are currently distributed by Warner Bros. Television
• My Favorite Martian and its animated sequel My Favorite Martians are currently syndicated by the Peter Rodgers Organization
• Crusader Rabbit was acquired by Classic Media and is now under the ownership of NBCUniversal, with its DreamWorks Classics division handling syndication
• Dusty's Trail is in the public domain due to its copyrights lapsing without renewal

External link

• Metromedia Producers Corporation projects on IMDb