Kermit's Swamp Years News

[Luke]

Who knows whether they wanted to sell out - depends what state the company was in financially i guess. Personally, i think i would have taken that money too - it's far more than the company was actually worth. Henson's were probably laughing before the share price dropped .... then the mass panic to sell, sell, sell set in !

 

[BoyRaisin2]

I'm still confused about how and/or why Henson sold to EM.TV. Did Henson put itself up for sale in mid- or late-1999? People keep saying EM.TV bid twice as much money than other Hollywood studios did. Were Disney, Viacom, etc. in talks with Henson in 1999/2000 or what? I just want to know how Henson ended up at some German company whose subsidiaries I can't even pronounce (except for Junior).

 

[Luke]

EMTV were already a partner of the Henson Companies - they bought a lot of the shows for German distribution.

 

[BoyRaisin2]

Yeah I know, but STILL. Oh, that's brings up something else. I remember reading the article, "The Muppet Show won't belong to EM.TV until 2050." What does that mean? I still don't get it. Could you or someone explain it in laymen's terms?

 

[Luke]

This one was to do with distributing Fraggle Rock and The Muppet Show to German language countries. EMTV bought the shows when they bought the Henson company, but the Henson company had already licensed the German rights to Kirch (i think)up until 2050 and recieved the money. So basically EMTV has to wait until that deal has finished before they can start making money from those rights.

I don't know how this all works now though since Kirch went into liquidation - i haven't kept up with what happened with them.

 

[BoyRaisin2]

Makes sense. Would this mean Disney (or whoever) would have to wait 'til 2050(!) for German rights to these shows or would this not affect them at all?

 

[Luke]

It depends ! If it is Kirch, and they are insolvent - i'm not sure if they can sell on the rights to a new owner or whether they would revert back to Henson if the company went bust. In whatever case, until those rights come back under Henson control then any new parent company would have to wait until they did to do anything with them. So, in a nutshell, probably 2050 - but theres nothing to stop Disney, Time Warner, Viacom etc trying to buy themselves out of the deal !

This is basically the thing - the new owners will still have to take on all of the existing Henson deals be they merchandising or output (so Palisades, Sideshow, Columbia, Fox etc etc) but if they desperately don't want to continue and want to use their own people straight away then they could buy themselves out immediately (at serious cost) but in most cases new parent companies just go along with it until they can safely get out of the deal without paying up, then do their own thing.

 

[frogboy4]

Luke-

How do you feel about the Rivkin angle? I know he's pretty much out of the picture, but if he werren't...

 

[Luke]

Jamie

I like Rivkin as a person, but i don't feel like he has the backing, either financially or in the industry to make a success of the Henson company beyond what it is now. To go beyond this level, JHC needs a parent who can give them facilities, promotion, money etc etc and make them a powerful player. If not, the company will just stay stuck in the void it has been in since Jim's death. The changing times and attitudes of people don't help the brand but the Henson company have made some pretty bad calls over the years as well.

If he actually looked like he could do something for the company rather than just keep it ticking along i would probably be more positive - but if his offer is so weak that he'll only get JHC if nobody else bids or EMTV goes bankrupt then it just isnt worth it - they'll spend all the money they can get on aquiring the company and then have nothing to spend on the brand itself.

 

[frogboy4]

I have heard it said that he doesn't understand there is a 20-something market for the Muppets, but I could be wrong. I hope that isn't true. How could one that loves the Muppets not understand it's core appeal? Disney is a better bet if that is the case.