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 (which had been sold to Trans-Atlantic Entertainment, consisting of ex-New World employees) 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 (not to be confused with the interchangeable but separate company Saban International Paris). 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. Also that year, Saban started Saban Video, with distribution being handled by
Hi-Tops Video. In 1990, Saban entered into a partnership with video game publisher
Acclaim Entertainment and syndicator
Bohbot Entertainment to develop the program
Video Power. 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 (running until 1997) 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, 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 December 1994, Saban launched a partnership/joint venture with
UPN (then owned by
Paramount and
Chris-Craft Industries) 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 collaboration between
Funimation,
Ocean Group and Saban), 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 (formerly a Fox Kids show) 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 (owned by
News Corporation) 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 (produced by the Marvel related-
New World Animation) 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 (which ended in late 1997) and
Big Bad Beetleborgs and
Spider-Man: The Animated Series (which both ended in early 1998). 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 (renamed BVS Entertainment) in 2001, Marvel by the end of 2009 and 20th Century Fox in 2019.
Sale to The Walt Disney Company On July 23, 2001, it was announced that the group would be sold to The Walt Disney Company as part of the sale of Fox Family Worldwide/Fox Kids Worldwide (which Disney renamed
ABC Family Worldwide) by Haim Saban and
News Corporation, and on October 24, 2001, the sale was completed with Saban Entertainment, Inc. rebranding as BVS (Buena Vista Studios) Entertainment, Inc. on November 29, 2001. The final program fully produced and distributed by Saban Entertainment and Saban International N.V. was
Power Rangers Time Force, which ran throughout 2001, however,
Power Rangers Wild Force was the final series created and pre-produced by Saban as MMPR Productions, the producer of the
Power Rangers series from 1993 to 2001. Following Disney's acquisition of Saban, its subsidiaries were also rebranded, with Saban International N.V. becoming BVS International N.V. and Saban International Services, Inc. becoming BVS International Services, Inc. Saban's 49.6% stake of Saban International Paris was purchased along with
Fox Family Worldwide after Saban stepped down from the studio and the studio was rebranded as "SIP Animation" in October 2002, as the studio was not allowed to use the "Saban" brand after its take-over. Saban's distribution branch was folded into
Buena Vista Television on May 1, 2002. A week prior,
Fox Kids Europe announced that Buena Vista International Television would take over distribution services of Saban's children's library from Saban International on the same day. The strategy remained the same with Fox Kids Europe continuing to handle all television rights in Europe and the Middle East with Buena Vista handling servicing, while Saban content not under FKE would be handled exclusively by Buena Vista for all territories including rights outside of Europe and the Middle East. Saban's European licensing subsidiary based in the United Kingdom, Saban Consumer Products Europe, which had been integrated within
Fox Kids Europe since the end of 2000, was renamed as Active Licensing Europe on April 13, 2003, and eventually Jetix Consumer Products on May 4, 2004.
Legacy Prior to the sale, Disney was only involved with one title produced by Saban Entertainment and its extensions.
Susie Q, commissioned by Disney on behalf of
Super RTL and
Disney Channel, was produced by Saban's adult label Libra Pictures and was released in 1996. Disney would gain the
Susie Q copyrights following its purchase of Saban in 2001. Including the shows produced after the sale,
Susie Q is the only BVS Entertainment property to be directly Disney-branded among the other BVS properties. Following the completion of the sale, Disney shut down Saban Entertainment's animation unit, but animation production continued at SIP Animation, which BVS held a minority stake in at the time. In this period, all shows produced and owned by BVS Entertainment (which did not receive its own logo) and SIP Animation were distributed by
Buena Vista International Television and ended with their logos. The portion of Saban that handled ADR production and post-production services for anime's English-language
dubbing was renamed by ABC Family Worldwide as "Sensation Animation" on September 9, 2002; and remained as such so Disney could continue dubbing
Digimon (the second half of
Digimon Tamers and
Digimon Frontier) episodes. Once production ended in July 2003, Sensation Animation was closed and folded into
Walt Disney Television Animation. Disney would later go on to dub the four remainder
Digimon films,
Revenge of Diaboromon (DA02),
Battle of Adventurers (DT),
Runaway Locomon (DT) and
Island of the Lost Digimon (DF) in 2005 and the fifth TV season,
Digimon Data Squad in 2007, but this time, the dubbing was handled by post-production studio
Studiopolis. The majority of the past voice actors returned with a lack of some voice actors such as
Joshua Seth. After BVS Entertainment continued production of the
Power Rangers franchise throughout the 2000s, Haim Saban founded
Saban Capital Group and Saban Brands in 2010 and bought back
Power Rangers and related properties from Disney. Saban Brands produced programs such as
Power Rangers seasons starting with
Power Rangers Samurai and
Glitter Force. Saban Brands closed in 2018, with many of its assets being acquired by
Hasbro. ABC Family produced a third film in Saban's
Au Pair film series,
Au Pair 3: Adventure in Paradise, in 2009, featuring Haim Saban's stepdaughter
Heidi Saban again in the leading role. Disney would not produce any more new projects based on pre-existing BVS properties until ''
X-Men '97'' in 2024. The show's title was a reference to the year
X-Men: The Animated Series ended, and it featured much of the same cast and crew. Disney served very little other than to hold copyrights for existing Saban properties. The company only existed legally after its last production,
Power Rangers RPM, in 2009. Disney took little action other than merging the company's subsidiaries, such as Teen Dream Productions, Interprod Inc., Laurel Way Productions, and SIP Animation into BVS Entertainment. Most BVS Entertainment properties have not been exploited by Disney since the late 2000s. == Subsidiaries and divisions ==