On March 25, 1986,
Ted Turner and his
Turner Broadcasting System purchased
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) from
Kirk Kerkorian for $1.5 billion, and renamed it
MGM Entertainment Company, Inc. However, due to concerns in the financial community over the debt-load of his companies, on August 26, 1986, he was forced to sell the MGM name, all of
United Artists, and the MGM
Culver City studio lot back to Kerkorian for approximately $300 million after months of ownership. But in order to still go about his plans to broadcast the MGM/UA assets as "originals" on his
TBS and upcoming
TNT channels, Turner struck a deal with Kerkorian; Turner kept the studio's film, television and cartoon library as well as a small portion of the United Artists library, forming
Turner Entertainment Company during the exchange. The company was headed by
Roger Mayer, who was a former executive of MGM, and formed a development division with the intention of making movies and television shows. The library also included most of the pre-1950
Warner Bros. library (including all color
Looney Tunes and
Merrie Melodies cartoons released before August 1948), the
Fleischer Studios/
Famous Studios Popeye cartoons originally released by
Paramount Pictures, the US/Canadian/Latin American/Australian distribution rights to the
RKO Radio Pictures library (not including any films produced by
Walt Disney and
Samuel Goldwyn), and most of the ''
Gilligan's Island'' television franchise (not counting the television movie sequels owned by other companies), all of which were owned by United Artists. In order to save funds, Turner instituted a policy that they would pass on making sequels to now-Turner-owned properties in favor of
colorization of old black-and-white movies. On December 2, 1987, Turner Entertainment had entered into an agreement with American Film Technologies to computer-colorize three films from the MGM library that were originally in black-and-white:
Boom Town,
They Were Expendable and
Catered Affair, and Turner would have the option to have AFT colorize additional 22 films and has a second option for another 24 films by 1992. On December 10, 1987, Turner acquired the worldwide licensing rights to 800 of RKO's films from its then-parent company
Wesray Capital Corporation. On October 3, 1988, Turner Broadcasting System launched the
TNT network. This was followed by the April 14, 1994 launch of
Turner Classic Movies, which airs films from the Turner Entertainment libraries (among others) uncut and without commercial interruptions or colorization. In doing so, Turner has played a major part in
film preservation and restoration. By broadcasting such classic films as
King Kong,
The Wizard of Oz,
Gone with the Wind,
Citizen Kane,
Casablanca,
Meet Me in St. Louis, ''
Singin' in the Rain and the original The Jazz Singer'', on numerous Turner affiliated cable channels, as well as in showing them in revival movie houses and home video worldwide, Turner introduced a new generation to these films. On November 29, 1989, Turner made another attempt to buy MGM/UA, but the deal failed, and they formed
Turner Pictures and
Turner Pictures Worldwide instead. On October 29, 1991, Turner acquired
Hanna-Barbera Productions and most of the pre-1991
Ruby-Spears Productions library from
Great American Broadcasting for $320 million. Shortly after the acquisition, on October 1, 1992, Turner Broadcasting System launched
Cartoon Network, and later
Boomerang, to serve as the primary broadcaster of its vast animation library. On August 17, 1993, Turner purchased
Castle Rock Entertainment and
New Line Cinema for over $650 million. Turner Entertainment self-distributed much of its library for the first decade of its existence, but on October 10, 1996, Turner Broadcasting System merged with Time Warner, with the latter doing a large integration of its distribution functions into Warner Bros. As a result, Turner Entertainment is now an in-name-only subsidiary of Warner Bros., serving merely as a copyright holder for a portion of their library. Hanna-Barbera's current purpose as the in-name only unit of
Warner Bros. Animation is to serve as the copyright holder for its creations such as
The Flintstones,
Scooby-Doo and
Yogi Bear while Warner Bros. handles sales and merchandising. ==Divisions==