BVS Entertainment
BVS Entertainment, Inc., formerly known as Saban Productions, Saban International and Saban Entertainment, is a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Company. Founded on April 24, 1980, as a music production company by Haim Saban and Shuki Levy, it slowly transitioned to or gravitated towards television production and distribution, where it is most known for producing and distributing children's programs for Fox Family/ABC Family and defunct channels Fox Kids and Jetix.
The company imported, dubbed and adapted various media formats from Japan such as Maple Town, Noozles, Funky Fables, Samurai Pizza Cats, and the first three Digimon series to North American and international markets over syndication, including both animation and live-action shows. Saban also adapted various tokusatsu shows from Toei Company, including Power Rangers, Big Bad Beetleborgs, VR Troopers, and Masked Rider.
They have also distributed and provided music for television programs produced by outside companies such as The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!, Inspector Gadget and the first two dubbed seasons of Dragon Ball Z.
In the 1990s, Saban also operated the Libra Pictures label which produced programs targeted towards older audiences than Saban's usual kid-friendly output, as well as a syndicated subsidiary Saban Domestic Distribution, whose primarily purpose was to distribute shows for first-run and off-net syndication.
History
The early years
Saban Entertainment was formed on April 24, 1980, as Saban Productions, Inc., which was initially a music production company. In 1981, it formed a longtime relationship with DIC Audiovisuel and DIC Enterprises to create soundtracks for their programs; Saban also composed music for companies like Ruby-Spears Enterprises and Filmation.In 1984, Saban moved into production outright with its first television program Kidd Video, a co-production with DIC Enterprises, and it was picked up by NBC as part of their Saturday morning lineup. The next project Saban produced was Macron 1, an English version of GoShogun featuring pop music, which was picked up for syndication by Orbis Communications for the fall of 1986.
In 1986, Saban Productions bought the foreign rights to the DIC Enterprises library of children's programming from DIC's parent DIC Animation City and then sold the rights to Créativité et Développement shortly afterward, leading to DIC suing Saban for damages before reaching a settlement in 1991. In 1987, DIC expanded its relationship with Saban Productions to co-produce several shows, with Saban handling international distribution. That year, both DIC and Saban Productions collaborated to provide series commitments to 26 episodes of I'm Telling! and 13 episodes of The New Archies for NBC.
On June 10, 1987, Saban Productions expanded to live-action TV and theatrical features with plans for a television film on NBC, an hour-long late-night series for CBS, a first-run strip for syndication, and a theatrical feature film. Several pilots such as Love on Trial, Hidden Rage, Shocking But True were produced but never realized.
In late October 1987, Saban Productions had obtained three independently produced projects as part of its first slate for the NATPE conference. The three strips included Love Court, a collaboration with television syndicator Orbis Communications; All-American Family Challenge, a game show taped at Six Flags; and Alphy's Hollywood Power Party, a teen celebrity dance show; the fourth project would be a network game show version of the board game Uno, which was set for NBC, and was to be produced by Peter Berlin and Rob Fiedler, who joined Saban shortly after Wordplay was cancelled.
In 1988, Saban Productions and Washington-based newspaper columnist Jack Anderson agreed to produce four quarterly specials under the branding American Expose, with then-future Cops creator/producer John Langley and Malcolm Barbour serving as producers. Orbis Communications, who previously syndicated Macron 1, signed on to distribute the programs. Saban International N.V would distribute the same programs and other non-Saban television material, including international sales of DIC programs such as Hey Vern, It's Ernest! prior to a lawsuit in 1990.
By early 1989, Saban formed the Saban/Scherick Productions division for production done with Edgar Scherick, primarily miniseries and made-for-TV films. Around this time, they also began syndicating the film library of New World Pictures to television stations. As the company grew, additional executives were hired to push into new areas like prime time programming. Saban created a division, Saban International N.V., based in both the U.S. and the Netherlands, for the international distribution of its shows. Saban hired Stan Golden from Horizon International TV to head their international distribution arm. Then in August 1989, Tom Palmieri came from MTM Enterprises to become Saban's president. On September 13, the company renamed itself Saban Entertainment, Inc. CLT in Luxembourg had signed a deal with Saban to market TV shows.
In 1990, Saban entered into a partnership with video game publisher Acclaim Entertainment and syndicator Bohbot Entertainment to develop the program Video Power. Also that year, Saban started Saban Video, with distribution being handled by Video Treasures. In 1991, Saban Entertainment struck a home video deal with Prism Entertainment that would allow Saban International the international distribution rights to select films. In 1992, Saban signed a domestic distribution deal with Bohbot Communications to syndicate Saban's Around the World in Eighty Dreams and Saban's Gulliver's Travels as part of its Amazin' Adventures block.
Partnership with Marvel Entertainment Group
In 1992, Saban partnered with the Marvel Entertainment Group to produce an animated series based on Marvel's comic-book heroes the X-Men. Saban obtained the rights in a joint partnership with PolyGram Filmed Entertainment and the Fox Kids Network, becoming Saban's first hit program and the company's first breakthrough, in partnership with another company. The following year, Saban brought another hit to the Fox Kids lineup, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, an adaptation of the Japanese Super Sentai franchise. In 1994 alone, licensed Power Rangers merchandise made Saban over a billion dollars in profits. At distinct times in the 1980s, both Loesch and Saban had attempted adaptations of these shows, but had found themselves repeatedly rejected by other networks.Later on in 1992, Saban formed a syndication subsidiary, Saban Domestic Distribution, and unveiled a $50 million development slate. David Goodman, formerly of Goodman Entertainment Group, served as senior vice president of the company. In 1994, Saban Entertainment launched Libra Pictures in an effort to gear films for older audiences, while the Saban name was used for kid-friendly material, in a similar manner what The Walt Disney Studios and Touchstone Pictures would have to offer. In the same year, Saban signed a deal with A*Vision Entertainment to distribute cassettes under the Saban Home Entertainment and Libra Home Entertainment banners.
In December 1994, Saban launched a partnership/joint venture with UPN to establish the UPN Kids block. The block would eventually premiere on September 10, 1995, with Space Strikers and Teknoman. In 1995, the Saban Interactive unit was established to produce CD-ROM software based on the Power Rangers franchise.
On October 17, 1995, Libra Pictures president Lance Robbins was made Saban's president of motion pictures and television. On November 3, 1995, Saban Entertainment and the Fox Broadcasting Company entered into a partnership where the two companies would create children's programing channels and services, develop and distribute programing and build licensing and merchandising opportunities on a global basis, and help expand Saban programs' reach.
In February 1996, Saban Domestic Distribution launched a Syndicated television block in the United States, entitled "The Saban Network for Kids!". Between 1996 and mid-1997, it included the original North American dub of Dragon Ball Z, a new Saban-produced dub of the Gatchaman anime titled Eagle Riders, two newly produced programmes - Saban's Adventures of Oliver Twist and The Why Why Family, new episodes of Masked Rider and VR Troopers and repeats of Samurai Pizza Cats and Tenko and the Guardians of the Magic. Some of the block's programmes corresponded with FCC mandates, with The Why Why Family being the first FCC-friendly program produced by the company. The shows from the block were mainly syndicated to Fox, UPN and WB affiliate stations, with a small number of independent stations also airing some of the shows. Dragon Ball Z had strong ratings during its first season, which led to Saban airing it in its own hour-long two episode block for its second season, which ran in syndication from late 1997 to mid-1998.
Saban under Fox Family Worldwide
In July 1996, Fox Kids Network secured rights from Marvel Entertainment Group for Captain America, Daredevil and Silver Surfer and additional characters to be developed into four series and 52 episodes over seven years. In the same month, Saban formed a new division, Saban Enterprises International, to handle international licensing, merchandising and promotional activities under president Michael Welter. Oliver Spiner, senior vice president of Saban International, took over operational duties previously handled by Welter. Eric S. Rollman was promoted from senior vice president production to executive vice president of Saban Animation.Also in 1996, Fox Kids Network merged with Saban Entertainment to form Fox Kids Worldwide. Fox Kids Network, distinct from the Fox Kids television block itself, had themselves recently acquired the animation library of Marvel Productions and Marvel Films Animation, with this deal occurring in July 1995. When Haim Saban initially had discussions with News Corporation owner Rupert Murdoch, the latter proposed buying Saban’s company, but Saban preferred a partnership instead. Shortly afterwards, Saban terminated its home video distribution deal with WarnerVision Entertainment and moved to Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment. In December 1996, Saban Domestic Distribution announced that they would launch an additional syndicated block - "X-Men … and More!" in the Fall of 1997, of which the hour-long serials would consist of an episode of X-Men: The Animated Series and other Marvel programmes such as Iron Man and Fantastic Four. Saban also announced that they would produce a revival of Captain Kangaroo for the now-named Saban Kids Network syndication block. During this period, Saban's partnership with UPN continued, despite the Fox merger. Saban and UPN worked together on two original animated programs titled Bureau of Alien Detectors and The Mouse and the Monster, with the shows airing on UPN Kids in 1996-97, and having the rights jointly split between the two entities. In 1996-97, UPN Kids also aired a new animated series based on The Incredible Hulk. Saban provided music for the show during its first season, before becoming a co-producer on it during the second season, following the Fox merger. Saban's Sweet Valley High series, which had previously aired in syndication during its first three seasons, moved to UPN Kids for its fourth and final season in late 1997. Saban also granted UPN Kids the rights to air reruns of former Fox Kids programs in 1998, including X-Men: The Animated Series and Big Bad Beetleborgs and Spider-Man: The Animated Series.
In 1998, Saban Entertainment began exclusively producing programs for Fox Kids and Fox Family, while its syndication unit Saban Domestic Distribution refocused on developing films for syndication outside of Fox channels. The last North American show they produced for a non-Fox entity was the live action comedy Breaker High, which premiered on UPN Kids in late 1997.
Marvel was developing a Captain America animated series with Saban Entertainment for Fox Kids to premiere in fall 1998. However, due to Marvel's bankruptcy, the series was canceled before the premiere.
In the 1990s, Marvel began selling off the film rights to their characters due to their financial issues, with the rights to the X-Men IP going to 20th Century Fox in 1994, who released a live action film in 2000. However, this deal only covered the rights to films and live-action television shows, which allowed an animated series with no involvement from Fox and Saban to air on Kids' WB in 2000. Saban, Marvel and 20th Century Fox would all eventually become parts of The Walt Disney Company; Saban in 2001, Marvel by the end of 2009 and 20th Century Fox in 2019.