November 18, 2000, Disney accepted the sale and was closed on November 25, 2000, officially making DIC re-independent and reinstating the international distribution rights to their catalogue following the reopening of DIC's international sales offices. On September 25, 2000, it was announced that Andy Heyward announced he would fully re-purchase DIC from Disney through Bain Capital Partners. Outside the United States, DIC shows would also air on international Disney networks and blocks due to BVIT's worldwide distribution rights to DIC's post-1990 catalog. When Toon Disney launched in 1998, various DIC Entertainment shows aired on the channel. Out of all the films planned, only Genius was completed and aired.
In 1998, the deal extended for another two years, with planned films based on the animated series Where On Earth Is Carmen Sandiego?, anime series Sailor Moon and two original projects - Beardstown Ladies and a Disney Channel Original Movie called Genius in the works. The division signed a first-look deal with Walt Disney Pictures in the same year and through this deal, two films were put into development - an feature film called Meet the Deedles and a live action adaptation of Inspector Gadget. DIC retained distribution and marketing to their own franchises in North America, while internationally, with ABC Distribution Company being folded into Buena Vista International Television, the latter became DIC Entertainment’s new international distributor.ĭIC launched a film division titled DIC Films in 1996, which would produce live action films.
As with the Capital Cities/ABC ownership, DIC continued their operations independently as a separate subsidiary through Disney. The purchase was closed in January 1996 and so DIC’s ownership transitioned the The Walt Disney Company. In August 1995, The Walt Disney Company announced they would acquire Capital Cities/ABC for $19 billion.
Internationally in all other regions, ABC Distribution Company handled the international distribution of DIC's programmes then-on. Capital Cities/ABC owned a 95% majority stake in the venture, while Heyward owned the remaining 5%.ĭIC were allowed to continue producing programmes independently as well as allowing to market their own programmes on their own, alongside distribution in North America. In 1994, DIC and Capital Cities/ABC later formed another Delaware limited partnership called DIC Productions, L.P., which owned the production/distribution venture of animated and live-action programming for the children's television and video markets.
DIC Animation City was supposed to remain as an independent company but was subsequently folded a year later, making the limited partnership fully owned by Capital Cities/ABC. DIC's founder Andy Heyward retained a small ownership stake in the limited partnership. in order to control DIC's production library and provide material for Capital Cities/ABC to distribute in the international market. On July 26, 1993, DIC Animation City formed a Delaware limited partnership with Capital Cities/ABC Video Enterprises, Inc. The Home Video deal was not completely exclusive, as DIC continued on releasing some of their shows through other Home Video distributors as well. signed an North American home video deal with Buena Vista Home Video on July 12, 1993, allowing the creation of a video label which would eventually be called DIC Toon-Time Video. 3 Shows/movies produced during Disney ownershipĭIC‘s first business with Disney was then their parent company DIC Animation City, Inc.
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