Time Life Television

Time Life Television was a division of Time Life Films and was the television production and distribution arm of Time Inc. With CBS, they led a partnership to export their shows overseas.

Time Life Television
TypeBroadcast
Syndication
IndustryEntertainment
Founded1968 (1968)
FounderTime Inc.
Defunct1981 (1981)
Headquarters
New York City, New York
,
U.S.
Area served
International
Products
OwnerTime Inc. (1968-81)
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. (1981)
ParentTime-Life Films (Time-Life, Inc.)
Columbia Pictures Television
DivisionsHome Box Office, Inc.

Broadcasting

Time Life also owned several radio and TV stations in the United States beginning in the 1950s through to 1983.

By 1970, Time decided to sell its broadcasting operations and to concentrate in cable development. Eventually Time Life joined Sterling Manhattan Cable, owned by Charles Dolan and launched Home Box Office, which eventually became the largest premium television service in the United States. (Due to an early financial loss, Dolan eventually sold his stake of HBO to Time Inc. Time merged with Warner Communications, Inc. in 1989, as HBO became part of Time Warner (now WarnerMedia).)

Time-Life's television stations were sold to McGraw-Hill in 1972 following FCC approval.[1] Those stations included the following:

Except for WOOD-TV, the E. W. Scripps Company owns the former Time-Life television stations today, following a 2011 deal enabling Scripps to acquire McGraw-Hill's television operations. WOOD-TV is owned today by Nexstar Media Group.

Except for KERO-TV, each of these television stations also had AM and FM radio operations; when most of its television stations were sold to McGraw-Hill in 1972, FCC regulations at the time required Time-Life to sell its radio stations to different parties. (KERO's then-owners sold off its radio station in 1955, years before Time-Life acquired KERO-TV.)

International operations

Time Life was also a financial backer for commercial TV broadcasting outside the United States, mostly in Middle and South America. With a joint venture between CBS and Goar Mestre they backed Proartel in Argentina, PROVENTEL in Venezuela (now VTV) and Panamericana Televisión in Peru. In Brazil, they backed Rede Globo, owned by the Marinho family.

Time Life's investments in the United States, Middle and South America in the 1950s and 1960s were largely unsuccessful, due to the stations' owners unhappy with their agreements. The only exception was TV Globo in Brazil, owned by the Marinho family, which was financially backed by Time Life until 1970.

Television Syndication

Time Life Television was most notable as the U.S. distributor of television programming produced by the BBC, including Doctor Who and Monty Python's Flying Circus. Time-Life's deal with the BBC expired on April 30, 1981. The U.S. rights to Monty Python's Flying Circus would be transferred to Devillier Donegan Enterprises (in a deal that followed the Monty Python troupe gaining ownership of the series months before), while the rest of BBC's output would be spun off to Lionheart Television, a distributor that would later be absorbed by BBC Worldwide.

Non-BBC-related programming distributed or produced by Time Life Television, including most of the Talent Associates library, would later be transferred to HBO; these programs today would be owned by HBO Entertainment and Warner Bros. Pictures Distribution, both units of WarnerMedia.

References
  1. "McGraw-Hill's $69 million purchase of five Time-Life TV stations is approved by FCC." Broadcasting, March 13, 1972, pg. 192.
  2. "Six stations being sold for nearly $15 million." Broadcasting - Telecasting, March 8, 1954, pp. 27-28.
  3. "Time Inc. gets Bitner properties, pays $15,750,000 for 3 TVs, 3 AMs." Broadcasting – Telecasting, December 24, 1956, pg. 7.
  4. "Time Inc. buy gets green light." Broadcasting – Telecasting, April 22, 1957, pg. 56.
  5. https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Station-Albums/Time-Life-Broadcast-32,000-Hours-a-Year.pdf
  6. "Transcontinent sale: last of its kind?" Broadcasting, February 24, 1964, pp. 27–28.
  7. "KOGO-AM-FM-TV to Time-Life." Broadcasting, December 4, 1961, pg. 5.
  8. "FCC okays $13 million in sales." Broadcasting, March 26, 1962, pg. 140.
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