Debmar-Mercury
 | |
| Industry | Television syndication |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2006 |
| Headquarters | |
| Parent | Lionsgate |
| Website | debmarmercury |
Debmar-Mercury is a television syndication company that is a wholly owned subsidiary of Lionsgate.
History
Debmar-Mercury was formed from a merger of Debmar Studios and Mercury Entertainment in 2006. On July 12, 2006, Lions Gate Entertainment expanded into television distribution and acquired Debmar-Mercury.[1][2] In November 2006, the company was awarded the syndication rights to Family Feud and industry rumors suggest that the company could also syndicate some classic Goodson-Todman shows.[3] Its logo and mascot is a jaguar jumping out of a filmstrip. On January 11, 2007, 20th Television picked up ad-sales for Debmar-Mercury series in syndication.[4][5]
The 10-90 Model
Debmar-Mercury is known for pioneering a unique syndication model, known as the "10-90" approach, where the syndicator sells the program to a cable station for a 10-episode test run. If those 10 episodes achieve acceptable ratings, the show would be renewed for an additional 90 episodes. This allows the show to have a profitable life in off-network syndication, in which 100 episodes is considered the desired number for a show to begin entering daily reruns.[6] This unique broadcast syndication model for television was used with the TBS and OWN cable television networks for multiple sitcoms created by the multihyphenate Tyler Perry,[7] and for multiple series with the FX cable television network, featuring the likes of actors Charlie Sheen[8] and Kelsey Grammer and comedians Martin Lawrence, Kevin James[9] and George Lopez.[10]
So far, three shows have failed to reach the ratings threshold for a 90-episode: Comedy Central's Big Lake[11] (2010), which was produced by Funny or Die co-creators Will Ferrell and Adam McKay,[12] and the 2014 FX sitcoms Saint George and Partners.
Partial list of series
This is the list of series distributed by Debmar-Mercury. Aside the Lionsgate libraries and the Revolution Studios film library, Debmar-Mercury distributes from the following:
Note: Some shows denoted with an asterisk (*) are distributed in conjunction with 20th Television for ad-sales.
- ALF (1986-1990) (produced by Alien Productions. Debmar-Mercury syndicated the series in 2006)
- South Park (1997–present) (Syndicated the series since 2005)*[13]
- Family Feud (1999–present) (produced by FremantleMedia North America and Feudin' Productions (1999-2010) and by Wanderlust Productions (2010–present). Syndicated the series since 2007)*
- American Chopper (2003-2010)
- Deadliest Catch (2005–present)
- Tyler Perry's House of Payne (produced by Tyler Perry Studios) (2006-2012) on TBS*
- The Wendy Williams Show (2008–present)*
- Trivial Pursuit: America Plays (2008-2009)*
- Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns (2008-2011) (produced by Tyler Perry Studios on TBS) (co-distributed by Turner Television with ad-sales by Disney-ABC Domestic Television)
- Are We There Yet? (2010-2012) on TBS*
- The Jeremy Kyle Show (2011-2013)*
- Anger Management (2012–2014)*
- Celebrity Name Game (2014–present) (produced by FremantleMedia North America, CBS Television Studios, and Entertain the Brutes)*
- Tosh.0 (2009–present) on Comedy Central*
See also
References
- ^ Lionsgate Expands Into Television Syndication Business, Acquires Debmar-Mercury
- ^ Film studio Lionsgate acquires television distributor
- ^ Jim Benson. "Fremantle Awards Family Feud to Debmar-Mercury".
- ^ "TV News Check" 20th Century TV to handle ad sales of both Debmar-Mercury shows for 2007 season. tvnewscheck.com Retrieved on March 13, 2012
- ^ Elizabeth Guider "Variety" 'Dead Zone' headed to syndication variety.com January 11, 2007, Retrieved on January 29, 2013
- ^ Variety
- ^ Deadline.com
- ^ Deadline.com
- ^ Vulture.com
- ^ Deadline.com
- ^ Variety
- ^ Vulture.com
- ^ Eonline.com