Editing Filmation (section)

== Film library ownership ==
The studio's [[intellectual property]] assets have changed hands on a number of occasions. The in-house productions (''[[The Archie Show]]'', ''[[Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids]]'', etc.), which form a majority of the Filmation back catalog, were sold to [[Hallmark Cards]] in 1995,<ref name="Business Source Premier">{{cite news|title=Hallmark buys Filmation library. |date=20 January 1995 |work=The Hollywood Reporter |page=20 }}</ref> and were managed by its Hallmark Entertainment subsidiary. However, since the rest of Filmation's output was based on characters licensed from other companies, such titles are under the control of other studios (such as [[CBS Media Ventures]] and [[Warner Bros.]] via [[Turner Entertainment|Turner Entertainment Co.]] and [[DC Entertainment]]).

In March 2004, ownership of the Filmation in-house library, which was under the ownership of Hallmark, was sold to UK-based [[Entertainment Rights]]. Entertainment Rights has since made the revelation that when Hallmark converted all of its Filmation series to [[Digital Betacam|digital format]] in the 1990s, only PAL-format copies were made, with the original film negatives and print rolls apparently discarded, as well as the original sound masters and other archival material belonging to Filmation.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?threadID=40108&forumID=1&archive=1 |title=Bad news for Filmation fans |date=Feb 15, 2007 |work=Film Score Monthly |access-date=2011-02-19 |first=Paul |last=Ettinger}}</ref> This was due to Hallmark's previously unstated (but long-suspected) short-sighted policy of only distributing Filmation's in-house shows outside of the United States. As a result, many of Entertainment Rights' DVD releases (distributed by BCI Eclipse LLC in the United States prior to the latter company's folding) were based on the international versions (which have PAL prints).

Because they were taken from PAL-based transfers, without correction, these releases exhibit the so-called [[576i#576i speed-up|576i speedup effect]] in which the soundtrack plays 4% too fast, which results in the pitch being a half-step higher than it was originally (see [[PAL]] and [[Telecine]] for more information). PAL-[[NTSC]] conversion artifacts also include softness and ghosting. The exception appears to be at least two titles from ER's library: ''Groovie Goolies'', and the [[Ghostbusters (1986 TV series)|animated]] ''Ghostbusters'' series. These series appear to have been sourced from original NTSC transfers for their U.S. release by BCI. The Ghost Busters[[The Ghost Busters|live-action series]] was, unlike most Filmation shows, shot on NTSC format tape (rather than film), so even if those did come from PAL masters, they would not have exhibited 576i speedup, as that only applies to material sourced from film masters. Other exceptions included the shows which were licensed properties, such as ''[[Star Trek: The Animated Series]]'', which was owned by [[Paramount Television]] (now [[CBS Studios]], which is now part of Paramount Global since 2019), and ''Shazam!'' (owned by Warner Bros./DC Comics), because the master elements for those shows were turned over to the owners of those licensed properties years before the sale to Hallmark.

On April 1, 2009, it was announced that Entertainment Rights would be acquired by [[Boomerang Media]]<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB123871979150785001 |title=He-Man, Casper Bought by Private-Equity Firm |date=April 2, 2009 |work=The Wall Street Journal |access-date=2009-05-12 |first=Paul |last=Hodkinson}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|date=April 1, 2009|title=Boomerang Media Buys ER|work=World Screen News|url=https://worldscreen.com/articles/display/20448|url-status=dead|access-date=2009-05-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090402201507/http://www.worldscreen.com/articles/display/20448|archive-date=April 2, 2009}}</ref> and on May 11, 2009, it was announced that the subsidiaries and offices of Entertainment Rights would be absorbed under the name [[DreamWorks Classics|Classic Media]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.homemediamagazine.com/studios/classic-media-absorbs-subsidiaries-15704 |title=Classic Media Absorbs Subsidiaries |date=May 11, 2009 |work=Home Media Magazine |access-date=2009-05-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160331044316/http://www.homemediamagazine.com/studios/classic-media-absorbs-subsidiaries-15704 |archive-date=March 31, 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.awn.com/index.php?ltype=top&newsitem_no=27629 |title=Entertainment Rights to Operate as Classic Media |date=May 11, 2009 |work=Animation World Network |access-date=2009-05-12 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090421220537/http://news.awn.com/index.php?ltype=top |archive-date=April 21, 2009 }}</ref>

In 2012, it was announced that Classic Media, owner of the Filmation library, would be acquired by [[DreamWorks Animation]]. DreamWorks Animation and its programming library, including those of Filmation (not including shows whose rights are owned by other companies, such as ''[[The New Adventures of Gilligan]]'' and ''Star Trek: The Animated Series''), would later be acquired on August 22, 2016, by [[Universal Studios, Inc.|Universal Studios]] for $3.8 billion.<ref name="lat-comcastbuy">{{cite web|title=Comcast's NBCUniversal buys DreamWorks Animation in $3.8-billion deal|url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-nbcuniversal-buys-dreamworks--20160428-story.html|website=Los Angeles Times|date=28 April 2016 |access-date=28 April 2016}}</ref>