Billionaire Saban in Talks to Buy Muppet Makers

[Luke]

MICKY HAS NOT MISSED OUT ON THE MUPPETS

What you guys and of course Jim Hill in his new article have failed to consider is that Saban is one single person and does not have a large media company behind him anymore with all the facilities that gives. It is totally true that he wants Kirchmedia and would love (though it's not essential) to have the Muppets cheap as a little side deal. In fact the person who has come up with this deal as you probably have read is Thomas Haffa - ex head of EMTV and great friend of Saban and also the people behind Kirchmedia.

Nobody has clicked onto why Saban wants the Muppets, and the simple reason is HE doesn't want them at all. He knows Disney wants them but they aren't prepared to pay $300 Million to own them. So whats he going to do ? Well he's going to try and get the Muppets at the cheap price and then go and license them to Disney at a profit. That means Disney will be making and carrying the shows, making the theme park rides, licensing the merchandise, distributing the movies and home videos, and making the majority of management decisions. Saban would still own the company and the Disney board would be happy because they weren't commiting to actually buying the company at a time when it isn't in their business interests to actually do that but for all intents and purposes we would have "Disney's Muppets".

Of course this might not happen, Saban could end up with the company and run it very much like EMTV taking a fairly hands-off attitude, he could license the Muppets to another media company, and i would imagine this whole leak is (as Jamie hinted) an effort by the people managing the sale to gee up other bidders who might be interested at the lower price because the people inside the Henson Company i expect would prefer not to be rented out like a DVD but it would seem like the sale will go through in late November if no other solution is found.

 

[tomahawk]

Re: My response to a Saban Buyout....

Originally posted by Drtooth
NOOO!!! NO!!! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

PLEASE!!! ANYONE BUT THEM!! ANY ONE!!! EVEN VIACOM!!! NOT THEM FOR THE LOVE OF CRAP!!!! SOMEONE PLEASE HELP US!!!! THE MUPPETS ARE GOING TO TV HECK!!! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!!!!!!


huff puff... man do I feel better

for the love of crap?

 

[EmmyMik]

Originally posted by Buck-Beaver
Does this mean you, Steve, Dave et al have to wear the spandex jumpsuits too?

I can think of a certain girl around here who would like to see Bill Baretta in one!!!

Bill Barretta in spandex?

**faints**

 

[danielromens]

Well I looked at the imdb and all I have to say is.

sweet friggin god.

Low brow entertainment man. I do think think people are overreacting, but man this guy is a bonafide moron in what he produces, come on Camp Candy. Yikes.

I still don't agree with Disney either. Another thing we need to look at is the fact that whoever gets them needs to help out and get them a better team of writers. The hands off approach isn't going to do Henson any good if the people who are making these things don't do a better job. We always blame the heads of the companies, producers, marketing, but we never hit on the fact that in some eras the muppets just haven't been that funny.

No matter who gets them needs to put together a better creative team for Henson. People who don't have hackneyed formulaic ideas, who don't deliver tired predictable jokes, and who can cater to a wider audience than just kids. It's what made Henson a genius in the first place.

 

[danielromens]

You know I'm thinking here and maybe Saban is a better choice. He has no characters to call his own anymore. Power Rangers got sold off didn't they? And Rangers and Digimon were everywhere. The guy can market his wheres and both were quite popular. I don't think that's bad at all really. And why not let him throw a bunch of money Henson's way. I can almost guarantee we'd see the return of Farscape. That checkbook is what the company needs to do what it wants the way it wants.
think about it. He finally has a team of his own to make shows. Yeah the money goes into his pocket, but at least we have someone who can fund just about anything.

 

[ZootandDingo]

Speaking of the IMDb, their Studio Brief news column mentioned the Saban offer. In the report, they say that EMTV is "reportedly" also negotiating with Disney and Warner.

They didn't list a source confirming the other two suitors, but they usually don't mix rumors with straight news stories.

 

[beaker]

>>>Nobody has clicked onto why Saban wants the Muppets, and the simple reason is HE doesn't want them at all. He knows Disney wants them but they aren't prepared to pay $300 Million to own them. So whats he going to do ? Well he's going to try and get the Muppets at the cheap price and then go and license them to Disney at a profit. That means Disney will be making and carrying the shows, making the theme park rides, licensing the merchandise, distributing the movies and home videos, and making the majority of management decisions. Saban would still own the company and the Disney board would be happy because they weren't commiting to actually buying the company at a time when it isn't in their business interests to actually do that but for all intents and purposes we would have "Disney's Muppets".<<<

The scenario Luke points out is something we hadnt thought of. Imagine, Disney wielding power from behind a puppet government...a puppet for the puppets!

 

[radionate]

Originally posted by beaker
>>>. I since found out
that Saban is only interested in buying Henson because Haffa has told him
that the Disney board don't want to buy Henson outright but would
rent/license them from Saban at a high price. Thats why there have been no
stories about Disney bidding for JHC, apparently they are in on it.<<<

The scenario Luke points out is something we hadnt thought of. Imagine, Disney wielding power from behind a puppet government...a puppet for the puppets!

Cory,

I'm not trying to be ugly, but have you considered acutally clicking the little quote button when you are quoting someone instead of paraphrasing what they say. Its more valid that way, we will know exactly who you are quoting, and you aren't as likely to bend what people have said as you did above. I didn't see Luke making this comment anywhere on the thread. NOWHERE did he say that Disney were in on this. (unless I'm just blind)

 

[Luke]

Originally posted by danielromens
That checkbook is what the company needs to do what it wants the way it wants. think about it. He finally has a team of his own to make shows. Yeah the money goes into his pocket, but at least we have someone who can fund just about anything.

It's actually very unlikely he'd just do this all on his own, especially if he'll be getting Kirch too, although it's still likely he could end up with Kirch and not Henson. Much more likely he'd find a partner or license the company. He may have the chequebook but he doesn't have some of the other resources and know how that the bigger media companies have. Someone like Disney or Warners might be a lot more restricitive about what they let Henson do and spend, but they'd have distribution, licensing, promotion and facilities immediately in place and the Muppets would get it all for free.

I do believe there are other bidders, but you are likely looking at other smaller companies and maybe Fox/News Corp (who don't exactly get on with Saban). I really think Saban would get a well known partner or license the company at profit and it could also be argued that Saban owning the company might affect the longevity of the Fox TV show deal.

 

[kansasteen14]

I think Luke's scenario sounds GREAT! I would have loved Disney to buy them though,especially for that Swedish Chef resturant.