Time Life Television


Time Life Television was a division of Time Life Films and was the television production and distribution arm of Time Inc. With CBS, they led a partnership to export their shows overseas.

Broadcasting

Time Life also owned several radio and TV stations in the United States beginning in the 1950s through to 1983.
By 1970, Time decided to sell its broadasting operations and to concentrate in cable development. Eventually Time Life joined Sterling Manhattan Cable, owned by Charles Dolan and launched Home Box Office, which eventually became the largest premium television service in the United States.
Time-Life's television stations were sold to McGraw-Hill in 1972 following FCC approval. Those stations included the following:
Except for WOOD-TV, the E. W. Scripps Company owns the former Time-Life television stations today, following a 2011 deal enabling Scripps to acquire McGraw-Hill's television operations. WOOD-TV is owned today by Nexstar Media Group.
Except for KERO-TV, each of these television stations also had AM and FM radio operations; when most of its television stations were sold to McGraw-Hill in 1972, FCC regulations at the time required Time-Life to sell its radio stations to different parties.

International operations

Time Life was also a financial backer for commercial TV broadcasting outside the United States, mostly in Middle and South America. With a joint venture between CBS and Goar Mestre they backed in Argentina, PROVENTEL in Venezuela and Panamericana Televisión in Peru. In Brazil, they backed Rede Globo, owned by the Marinho family.
Time Life's investments in the United States, Middle and South America in the 1950s and 1960s were largely unsuccessful, due to the stations' owners unhappy with their agreements. The only exception was TV Globo in Brazil, owned by the Marinho family, which was financially backed by Time Life until 1970.

Television Syndication

Time Life Television was most notable as the U.S. distributor of television programming produced by the BBC, including Doctor Who and Monty Python's Flying Circus. Time-Life's deal with the BBC expired on April 30, 1981. The U.S. rights to Monty Python's Flying Circus would be transferred to Devillier Donegan Enterprises, while the rest of BBC's output would be spun off to Lionheart Television, a distributor that would later be absorbed by BBC Worldwide.
Non-BBC-related programming distributed or produced by Time Life Television, including most of the Talent Associates library, would later be transferred to HBO; these programs today would be owned by HBO Entertainment and Warner Bros. Pictures Distribution, both units of WarnerMedia.