In 1969, MTM Enterprises was organized by both
Mary Tyler Moore and
Grant Tinker, and hired
James L. Brooks and
Allan Burns to create her sitcom,
The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Brooks' show
Room 222 has even been credited by the
Television Academy Foundation for breaking the "new narrative ground" which developed MTM Enterprises' "major sitcom factories of the 1970s." In 1976, MTM teamed up with
Metromedia Producers Corporation to start a variety show, a first for first-run syndication. Earlier that year, the company had hired Bud Rifkin to launch a syndicated division. In 1977,
Ed. Weinberger, James L. Brooks,
David Davis, Allan Burns, and
Stan Daniels left MTM Enterprises for
Paramount Pictures and started the
John Charles Walters Company. Tinker oversaw MTM's operation until leaving the company. In 1981, Tinker became the chairman of
NBC. Lawyers backing NBC's then-owner
RCA convinced Tinker to sell his remaining shares of MTM. Moore and Arthur Price, her business manager and company vice president, bought Tinker's shares; Price subsequently was elevated to president. Tinker later regretted leaving MTM, believing that the company started to decline without him. In 1988, MTM was sold to UK broadcaster and independent station for the South and South East of England
TVS Entertainment for $320 million. A year afterwards, MTM Television Distribution began producing its own programming for the first-run syndication market. After TVS
lost its franchise to broadcast on the
ITV network to
Meridian Broadcasting, a number of American companies (and to a lesser extent, Meridian) were interested in acquiring MTM, with
Pat Robertson's
International Family Entertainment making the first offer. A small number of shareholders, including Julian Tregar, rejected the offer from IFE. In November, TCW Capital made a bid, but withdrew it a few weeks later after reviewing the accounts of TVS. IFE increased its offer to £45.3 million, but continued to be opposed by Julian Tregar, who blocked the deal on technical grounds, alleging that the offer was too low. IFE finally increased the offer to appease the remaining shareholders, and on January 23, 1993, their offer of £56.5 million was finally accepted. The deal went into effect on February 1, 1993 (the month after Meridian began its first broadcast). In 1995, Michael Ogiens, formerly running CBS, as well as his production company Ogiens/Kane Company, joined MTM to serve as president of the company in hopes that MTM would be restored to its independent production glory. The following year, Josh Kane, fellow partner of the Ogiens/Kane Company joined MTM as vice president for the East Coast offices. In 1997, MTM hit layoffs at the syndication unit after the cancellation of the show
The Cape. In 1997, International Family Entertainment was sold to
News Corporation, and folded into its subsidiary
Fox Kids Worldwide, eventually renamed to Fox Family Worldwide (a joint venture between Fox and
Saban Entertainment). MTM's library assets however, were transferred over to
20th Television who retained them, even after Fox Family Worldwide was sold to
The Walt Disney Company in 2001. Until then,
The Pretender and
Good News were the last surviving shows to be produced by MTM, as 20th Century Fox Television inherited both shows in 1997 (when News Corporation purchased MTM) and 1998 (when MTM ceased operations) respectively. MTM's library became property of Disney following its
acquisition of 20th Century Fox in 2019. Disney holds the rights of most of MTM's shows. MTM Enterprises also included a
record label,
MTM Records — distributed by
Capitol Records — which was in existence from 1984 to 1988. ==Filmography==