Michael Eisner proclaimed in Wednesday’s meeting: "We have been talking to the Henson company for 15 years. I would not be surprised to hear that there would be an announcement soon. I wouldn't be surprised that the Walt Disney Company would be finally cultivating years of romance."

Some would call it more like an abusive relationship - but it just might have a happy ending.

Disney’s preparing to offer roughly $135 million to take the Henson Company out of the hands of EM.TV, a German children’s programming conglomerate. EM.TV bought Henson for $680 million three years ago. While analysts speculate that the value of Henson is worth no more than $80 million, there are definitely interested parties.

While it’s practically a lock for Disney, there are four others interested in the property, which includes the rights to the Muppets characters - but not the Sesame Street ones - guaranteed by the sale of the Sesame Street Muppets to CTW - and also over six and seven hundred hours of programming (The Muppet Show, Muppets Tonight, Bear in the Big Blue House, etc.), and, of course, the Henson version of Imagineering, the Creature Shop. Their website is a film techno-geek’s dream: .

Entertainment Rights Plc, a London-based firm which handles distribution and merchandising for characters such as “Barbie as Rapunzel�? and Clifford the Big Red Dog are definitely interested - and the Muppets would fit right in with their stable of performers, including Basil Brush, a wildly popular Australian favorite.

Classic Media, a German company which has rights to the Harvey characters (Casper the Friendly Ghost, Wendy Witch etc.) along with Lassie and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. With their existing worldwide distribution arms, the Muppets would be everywhere. It is rumored, however, that Classic Media only wants to buy a half stake in Henson's character licenses and programming. This is modus operandi for Classic Media if it’s true - they went halfsies with Random House to pick up Golden Books a while back.

Haim Saban, from whom Disney bought the FOX Family Channel, which later became the ABC Family Channel. The Saban bid was first revealed in October of last year. According to MuppetCentral.com, he has a ringer on his team: Nancy Schultz, who, when she was with PriceWaterhouseCooper, advised Henson and also served as Chief Financial Officer of the Henson Company, is now working for Saban Capital Group, inc. When Saban’s co-bidder, Evercore Partners, bowed out of the deal, the door was closed - but not locked - Saban has once again indicated interest in buying the Muppets.

Dean Valentine, the former chief executive of United Paramount Network. Described by those who have followed his career as an “Animation Fan Boy�?, Valentine was, once upon a time, the president of Walt Disney Television - and a former journalist. So, if I get anything wrong about his bio, I’ll be sure to hear from him. Dean, it’s [email protected] . A huge animation fan, Dean’s responsible for “Home Improvement�?, “Recess�? and “Pepper Ann�?, and some of the more edgy ODV - Original Direct Video - releases. Valentine said in a 2002 lawsuit that UPN had failed to deliver on $22 million in promised bonuses from the company and left after five years at the helm. While there, he brought over the popular Buffy the Vampire Slayer from WB to UPN. In December of last year, EM.TV agreed to sell 49.9 percent of the Henson Company to Valentine’s investor group, Europlay Capital Investors. Shortly thereafter, it was announced that by “mutual agreement�?, the deal would not go through. No other explanation was offered. Valentine is said to be looking for new partners for the deal.

Earlier, EM.TV sold the rights to the Sesame Street Muppets to Children’s Television Workshop. This means that if Disney DOES buy the Henson Company, they will have absolutely no control over the Sesame Street characters and/or their merchandising in any way, shape or form, thereby de-fanging the effort they’d made before to put a stranglehold on the CTW characters’ merchandising.

It remains to be seen if Disney will have cutbacks at Henson if the company does get picked up by the Mouse. There seems to be a pattern there. Sources noted by Reuters say the “company’s staff is bloated�?. However, the infusion of capital that a Disney buyout promises could restore the brand to its former glory, they added.

We’ve read all about it - here, on LaughingPlace.com - the takeover of Disneyland, MuppetVision 3D in the Disneyland Opera House - not tanked by the protests, according to a Senior Imagineer, but by the fallout from the failed deal - the Great Muppet Movie Ride, which would have you riding through something like the Great Movie Ride -with a maniacal twist - you’d ride into a scene where Kermit and Piggy are performing a snowy, romantic scene straight from Dr. Zhivago - then past it to find Sweetums and some other Muppets shaking the giant snowglobe that holds their sled. The Great Gonzo’s Pandemonium Pizza Parlor was all ready built - but not themed - when the deal fell through. When you’re in Mama Melrose’s, look up at what appear to be shelves running all around the dining room - Rizzo the Rat and his whole family would have been working as waiters, riding tiny unicycles all along a track placed there, holding trays of food. I’m pretty sure, however, that YOUR server would have been human.

The Disney-Henson buy originally planned for 1990 tanked - and badly - after Jim Henson’s sudden death. Henson’s family found themselves faced with an entirely different rodent than the friendly mouse they had been dealing with - one who wanted a lot more than previously agreed to, namely, the Sesame Street characters. (Why? Well, with Jim gone, so was the rights to his future creative works, and that had been part of the original deal.) Barring that, they wanted Henson to bar merchandising, CTW’s bread and butter, so that if anyone wanted Muppet merchandise, it had to be from Disney’s Muppets.

Things went from bad to worse, and the low point in negotiations took place late at night on the Disney Studio lot. The Henson people wouldn’t give, even after hours of hammering from the Disney suits. Finally, Mickey’s people said, “Fine, no deal, then!�? and walked out of the meeting, leaving Brian Henson and his cohorts to find their way out of the maze that is the Disney Studio, alone and in the dark.

Disney’s made a couple more efforts to buy the company; (see Jim Hill’s series right here on LaughingPlace.com for a LOT more details) as recently as December 2001, Disney Chairman and CEO Michael Eisner called the deal “unrealistic�?. Well, the asking price back then WAS a lot closer to 680 million dollars - and now it’s about 600 million dollars less - and Michael’s not going to turn down a great bargain when he sees one - especially for a property he’s been “romancing�? over for more than a decade.

Oh - Michael also confirmed Forbidden Mountain. But more on THAT next week.

Fab

-- Michelle Smith

-- Posted March 21, 2003