Company who own the rights to Anderson's Productions?

[Kristian T]

Hello people,

Out of curiosity does anyone know which company owns the rights to the Gerry Anderson productions. I thought all the franchise was sold to 'Carlton' but I may be wrong. Does anyone know? Thanks

[Simon Morris]

Well, if you're talking about the old ITC shows, it's 'ITV Global Entertainment' (or that's what they were called last week; every time there is a merger/takeoever they change the title to something else...)

Carlton was the predecessor as far as I recall.

[phelings]

Hello people,

Out of curiosity does anyone know which company owns the rights to the Gerry Anderson productions. I thought all the franchise was sold to 'Carlton' but I may be wrong. Does anyone know? Thanks

Over the years Gerrys series were produced for different companies.
Early ones were made for Granada but from Supercar up to Space 1999 they were made for ITC .
At the time of production ITC was a subsidiary of ATV but when ATV was rejigged into Central in 1982 ITC became a separate entity all by itself and it took the ATV library with it.

Between 1982 and the late 90's ITC was bought and sold a few times .
I can't remember the exact specifics but at one point it was owned by Polygram , who had previously licenced product from ITC to release on video.

But in the late 90's when Carlton was looking for product to show on it's digital channels part of their buying spree was to purchase ITC from Polygram (I think they still owned it then) so the ITC shows effectively returned home when Carlton owned them.
Shortly after that Carlton and Granada merged to form one large ITV company so all those Anderson shows all ended up with the same owner which was Granada as the Carlton brand was dumped.
I'm sure Lew Grade was turning in his grave.

IIRC Space Police is owned by Mentorn although I'm pretty sure somebody else now owns them.

Although LWT were involved in Terrahawks I'm not sure if they own it outright.

And of course Granada own New Captain Scarlet.

Journey to the Far Side of the Sun is owned by Universal and the 2 Tbirds movies are owned by MGM

[Kristian T]

Thank you for the help that is in a lot more depth than I wanted but it has helped! I just received the book 'Supermarionation: A history of the Future' by Stephen La Riviere it probably has it all in there. Can't wait to read it it looks fantastic.

[Technodelic]

Although LWT were involved in Terrahawks I'm not sure if they own it outright.

I believe at the time Revelation released the DVDs the parent company owning the rights were Southern Star, although whether that situation is the same now, I couldn't say.

[Stuart Drummond]

Terrahawks are still apparently owned by Southern Star, which seems to have links to Australian television, however Southern Star International is now part of the Endemol conglomeration (are you keeping up?) about which details can be found here:

http://www.endemolworldwidedistribution.com/catalogues/home.aspx

The kids catalogue indicates Terrahawks is still on its books for TV and video rights internationally except UK and Europe. Not sure if the UK DVDs from a couple of years back are still on general release without checking.

Shame they couldn't have found a decent photo to promote the series within the catalogue though instead of a badly cropped painting... our Mike Jones would have done a much better job!!

[agbs6]

I recently got the complete series for a bargain on Amazon. It's gone up a bit but still under £20...
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Terrahawks-Complete-DVD-Jeremy-Hitchen/dp/B00029RE1W

[AquaMarine13]

Over the years Gerrys series were produced for different companies.
Early ones were made for Granada but from Supercar up to Space 1999 they were made for ITC .
At the time of production ITC was a subsidiary of ATV but when ATV was rejigged into Central in 1982 ITC became a separate entity all by itself and it took the ATV library with it.

Between 1982 and the late 90's ITC was bought and sold a few times .
I can't remember the exact specifics but at one point it was owned by Polygram , who had previously licenced product from ITC to release on video.

But in the late 90's when Carlton was looking for product to show on it's digital channels part of their buying spree was to purchase ITC from Polygram (I think they still owned it then) so the ITC shows effectively returned home when Carlton owned them.
Shortly after that Carlton and Granada merged to form one large ITV company so all those Anderson shows all ended up with the same owner which was Granada as the Carlton brand was dumped.
I'm sure Lew Grade was turning in his grave.

IIRC Space Police is owned by Mentorn although I'm pretty sure somebody else now owns them.

Although LWT were involved in Terrahawks I'm not sure if they own it outright.

And of course Granada own New Captain Scarlet.

Journey to the Far Side of the Sun is owned by Universal and the 2 Tbirds movies are owned by MGM

Blimey! I'm barely keeping up! So who do you think will own the rights to the new Thunderbirds series when it is produced? Let's hope ITV don't get hold of it or we'll have a repeat of the "Ministry of Muppets" treatment.

[phelings]

I can't think of any reason why Granada/ITV won't own the new Thunderbirds tv show.

I don't know the background to the deal but if was too expensive for ITV to make it alone they would perhaps get investment from a US company who would own the US rights as part of the deal although home video / On Demand would be separate and not usually a permanent right.

When Space 1999 was made ITC had money from Italys Rai network for Year One which was why they were able to influence the show slightly and forced them to use Italian actors in some episodes.

AFAIK the new Thunderbirds is all CGI so the huge costs of studios , models etc will not be a problem .

If it was live action that would be a different matter.

Big budget cinema versions will usually be owned by one of the big boys as I doubt ITV would be able to cover the budget necessary to make a theatrical film of that scale which would go way beyond the budget of films like Billy Elliot that were co-financed by the BBC

[Simon Morris]

I can't think of any reason why Granada/ITV won't own the new Thunderbirds tv show.



Indeed - they still hold the rights, and you can bet your bottom dollar they won't be relinquishing them any time soon either.

I haven't really kept up to date on this, but does anyone know what kind of 'deal' has been done over this supposed new series? ITV were very cagey a few weeks back when Gerry made his announcement. I know that talking about these things when negotiations are taking place is always a bad thing, but Gerry seemed to be saying it was all a done deal. ITV's statement was very non-committal on the other hand.

Perhaps I've missed more developments in the meantime, but I really do wonder....

[mrthunder]

I think you're right to wonder...

[Chrisof]

Who owns the rights to zero x?. MGM, Granada, The comic reprint company?

[Mark42]

I think you're right to wonder...

Its been a fair number of weeks now since the announcement and not one more news fact has emerged. No talk of how its to be done, where the studio will be based, or people involved or signed up.
You would have thought something would have leaked out by now if the project was the real deal.

[Hiram K Hackenbacker]

Its been a fair number of weeks now since the announcement and not one more news fact has emerged. No talk of how its to be done, where the studio will be based, or people involved or signed up.
You would have thought something would have leaked out by now if the project was the real deal.

Gerry wouldn't have made the announcement if it wasn't for real. He's always been careful about that sort of thing in the past, especially concerning Thunderbirds. The lack of information is probably because there isn't much to know yet, combined with air-tight security. Give it a few months.

[Simon Morris]

Gerry wouldn't have made the announcement if it wasn't for real. He's always been careful about that sort of thing in the past, especially concerning Thunderbirds. The lack of information is probably because there isn't much to know yet, combined with air-tight security. Give it a few months.

I'd have to disagree - he has made similar announcements in the past. There's no doubting the announcement of a new series combined with the release - at the same time - of various postage stamp releases provided splendid publicity (for both series and stamps).

If it's all still dependent on negotiations and security, he shouldn't have said anything at that point. Which is why ITV were more circumspect in their own comments (unless they too believe progress isn't as extensive as originally suggested!)

But of course, you could well be right. I hope so. But....

[Simon Morris]

Its been a fair number of weeks now since the announcement and not one more news fact has emerged. No talk of how its to be done, where the studio will be based, or people involved or signed up.
You would have thought something would have leaked out by now if the project was the real deal.


That's exactly why I am a little sceptical myself!

[Hiram K Hackenbacker]

I'd have to disagree - he has made similar announcements in the past.

Has he ever previously appeared live on the news saying that it's official that he's making a new series of Thunderbirds?

[Simon Morris]

Has he ever previously appeared live on the news saying that it's official that he's making a new series of Thunderbirds?

Indeed he hasn't. But he's certainly announced it in other places :D

Like I said - I hope you're right.

[Hiram K Hackenbacker]

Indeed he hasn't. But he's certainly announced it in other places :D

Like I said - I hope you're right.

Hehe, I hope so too :)

Of course, it is possbile that it won't happen, I just feel that things really haven't got moving yet. Even if they have started, I don't see the series airing until at least late 2012, more likely autumn (fall) 2013.

[mrthunder]

Sometimes, out of sheer frustration and, dare I say, desperation, you throw caution to the wind and try a tactic which you hope might force someone else's hand...

[Simon Morris]

Sometimes, out of sheer frustration and, dare I say, desperation, you throw caution to the wind and try a tactic which you hope might force someone else's hand...


Wouldn't surprise me. The 'new series' announcement, together with the first day stamp covers, unquestionably did result in the sort of publicity that money just can't buy.

And then Gerry has some sort of medical treatment (was it an arm injury or something? I remember someone here posted something like that) and as a result there's no one that seems able to answer any more questions. It's as if everything has stalled.

The other thing that genuinely concerns me is whether Gerry would be up to the stresses and strains of producing a new series (if that is what his role would be). I mean, if a new series ever came off, it could give him a new lease of life - but I'm far more concerned that it would do just the opposite.

[phelings]

I recall Gerry announcing Five Star Five and Space Police .
The former never got off the ground and the latter took a decade to appear.

I'm not sure why ITV would be interested in a new Thunderbirds anyway.

They clearly don't hold the originals in much esteem and were completely clueless when it came to exploiting the potential of the new Captain Scarlet series.

If they do spend millions on a new show it will probably premier on the CITV channel knowing them

[Simon Morris]

I'm not sure why ITV would be interested in a new Thunderbirds anyway.




That's kind of what I was thinking, really.

I think ITV see it as a saleable property inasmuch as if someone leases the rights for a new series or merchandise, or even a rescreening of old episodes, it's money coming in to ITV. And boy, do they need the income.

Would ITV be involved in actually producing the show?

I can't see it being very likely unless they were specifically looking at making a series which they could market worldwide. As you say, they didn't really bother that much with NCS, did they? And I'm not sure they'd risk the production costs either. Far better to lease the rights to an independent producer to do it and if it fails it's the producer's problem.

It could be argued that ITV wants to make the series for a new children's audience. Well, to that argument I'd contend that ITV has effectively abandoned original children's programming anyway (CITV itself probably wouldn't exist if ITV were allowed to have a gambling channel or shopping channel or 24 hr Simon Cowell/Cheryl Cole channel and they needed the bandwidth that CITV occupies....). So I'd doubt ITV would do that.