Soul Train Franchise Bought By Intermedia-Backed MadVision; Multiplatform Plans
Don Cornelius, founder of the once-famed music and dance program Soul Train has sold the show to MadVision Entertainment, an LA-based company backed by PE firm InterMedia Partners. The iconic franchise, founded in 1970 by Cornelius, includes the brand and the production rights for the weekly Soul Train series (not in production anymore), along with a catalog of about 1,100 hours of archival footage spanning the show’s long 37-year run.
Soul Train continues to air in syndication today in repeats, and MadVision wants to take the brand on multiple platforms, including broadband and VOD. The founder of MadVision include Kenard Gibbs, the group publisher of Ebony and Jet magazines; Anthony Maddox, who worked as a producer at NBC and ran Sean Combs’s Bad Boy Films; and Peter Griffith, who founded a hip-hop Web portal and worked with Vibe Magazine.
NYT: The “Soul Train” brand has not entered the Internet age. Its website has barely been updated since 2006, when Cornelius stopped producing new episodes. For MadVision, the rights issues will be complicated. The company will have to compensate artists, producers and labels for rebroadcasts of the songs played on the show.
Posted In: Entertainment, Music, Money, M&A & Venture Capital, Mergers & Acquisitions, madvision entertainment, soul train
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Comments (7)
Oct 10, 2008 1:54 AM
Soul train is a cultural icon and needs to continue to be accessable wether you continue production with a new host and call it the new Soul Train Under new management or just play the rerun. Generations old and new and generations to come will and always have loved Soul Train.
I personally would like to ask the new owners MadVision if I could get a copy of Season 9 episode 31 Leon Haywood/L.A.Boppers from Jun 7 1980.
Thanks for listening.
Oct 25, 2008 2:35 AM
I would like to know if Soul train is going to be available on dvd?
Nov 28, 2008 11:43 PM
I would like to know if copies of soul train re runs will every be available for the public to buy. I feel that generations old and new would enjoy watching soul train again.
Mar 12, 2009 4:01 AM
when will they put soultrain on dvd wats takin soolong people would actually buy soultrain on dvd so please hurry and put it on dvd so we can buy them soul train always been my mumber one show 4 years and still is cant wait to c it on dvd
Mar 25, 2009 9:15 PM
The Soul Train show was the defining music genre of my youth, growing up in Nigeria. I want to recreate those magic moments for my 3 year old son.
I am indeed very sick of this ‘forever’ waiting for Soul Train to be available on DVD. The new owners of the Soul Train franchise are the losers, because there are people out there selling pirated copies of the Soul Train DVD’S.
Wake up MadVision.
Jun 19, 2009 4:07 PM
I would like to see Soul Train back on TV new or old episodes. It would also be nice to have DVD’s available to buy. Keep the history of Black Music Alive.
Jun 19, 2009 4:09 PM
I love Soul Train and I miss it. I haven’t seen a show that’s better. I think a new show would be a good idea.