Argosy Media

Argosy Media is an American production and distribution company founded in 1953, though it dates back to a magazine first published in 1882. It is part of the larger conglomerate ArgosyMTM Group. The company is based in Argosy Heights, an unincorporated community in King County in the US state of Washington.

Info

 * Founded: 1953 in Seattle, WA
 * Key people: Ellen Peck, Paul Lopez, Nathan Blake

Creation
Argosy Media was formed in 1953 as a film and TV unit of Argosy Magazine, at the time owned by Seattle-based company Popular Productions. The company recruited former Disney animator, Michael Shires, and his then-15-year-old son and animator-in-training, Michael Shires Jr., as animators. Popular Productions spun off the Argosy unit, including the magazine, in 1973; the magazine was discontinued weeks later.

The Shires era
Argosy was meant from the start to be the "Disney of the Northwest", with a focus on family and animated fare. The Shireses were made Executive Producers of Animation, and hired several more animators. In 1955, Michael Shires and Michael Shires Jr. opened the Washington State College of the Arts (WashArts), which could be seen as a counterpart to the then-nonexistent CalArts.

Shires Jr. era and bankruptcy
In 1974, Michael Shires Sr. left the company to become a production assistant for a Jim Henson project that eventually became the Muppets, but his son remained at the company.

Argosy Media Affiliates went bankrupt in 1982 due to a series of poor business decisions, such as firing Michael Shires Jr. and downsizing the animation division. It was quickly acquired by rival producer MTM Enterprises, which moved into the Argosy studios in Seattle, rehired Shires Jr. (who was retained until his death in 2001), and reorganized its company as Argosy Entertainment.

Peck/Lopez era; the genesis of Aaron
Following the acquisition, the newly-combined company quickly hired two then-obscure local cartoonists, Ellen Peck and Paul Lopez, to revive its animation division.

In 1983, Ellen Peck created the famous cat that Argosy used throughout the '80s, the '90s, half of the 2000s and late 2007 to the present day, and served as a mascot officially in 1989. Either Ellen Peck, or a marketing executive, named the cat Aaron. According to Ellen Peck, the original Aaron logo was originally intended as a new version of the MTM corporate logo, an orange cat named “Mimsie”, but was accidentally sent to the Argosy division as an unfinished rough sketch; an Argosy executive told her to colour it grey, as “grey is a neutral color”.

Aaron (in the logos) was voiced by Ellen Peck in pre-2000, then Lewis Jones in 2000-2007, and from late 2007 to the present, he is voiced by Rick Buckley. In the TV shows, he has a more anthropomorphic design than in the logos, and is voiced by various child actors.

TVS era (1988-1993)
In 1988, Argosy Entertainment, including Argosy and MTM, was bought out by British ITV company, TVS Entertainment.

On New Year's Day 1993, Paul Lopez died in a car accident caused by drunk driving. Ellen Peck named Nathan Blake, who was an "animation apprentice" being trained by Lopez, and was only 21 at the time, as his replacement.

International Family Entertainment era (1993-1995)
In 1993, International Family Entertainment bought TVS Entertainment after TVS lost its ITV franchise to Meridian. Argosy and MTM were operated separately from the Family Channel.

Shaw and Corus era (1995-2006)
In 1995, Canadian cable company Shaw Communications bought International Family Entertainment. In 1998, Shaw sold the failing Family Channel unit to Fox, but retained ownership of Argosy, MTM, the TVS and Southern libraries, and the pre-1998 Family Channel library. In 1999, Shaw spun off its media assets, including Argosy and MTM, as Corus Entertainment.

Independence (2006-present)
In 2006, Ellen Peck and Nathan Blake purchased the non-Canadian-based assets of Corus, including Argosy and MTM, under the holding company Argosy Communications, which was renamed to ArgosyMTM Group after the merger with NASCAR in 2011.

In 2020, Argosy made a deal with Quibi for rights for Quibi's original content outside the US. Later that year, on November 30, when Quibi shut down, Argosy purchased the Quibi company directly, including its original content studios and all libraries. As a result, shows from Quibi moved to Argosy's websites, where they can be watched for free.

Broadcast
Argosy's animated children's shows usually air in local syndication in the US, on CTV (through the CTV Kids block) in Canada, on ITV (through the CITV block and channel) in the UK, and on Network Ten in Australia.

Since 2009, Argosy's shows have been first-run on YouTube; Argosy mainly makes money off merchandise.

Argosy also operates a variety of digital multicast networks in the US, including Argosy Kids, Argosy Retro, and Classix.

New media
Argosy has been recognized as a pioneer in new media. It was one of the first production companies to have its own website, dating back to 1997. In 2000, Argosy started putting free episodes of its shows on its website in RealVideo format (changed to Windows Media in 2002, MP4 in 2006, and WebM in 2017). In 2009, Argosy started uploading full episodes of its shows to YouTube, DailyMotion, and Vimeo.

Argosy is opposed to COPPA on YouTube, and created the Content Creators for New Media Legal Reform, a lobbying group seeking sites meant for all ages to be exempt from COPPA, in early 2020.

Criticism
Argosy has been criticized for absorbing smaller animation studios, such as Hammocks Animation, Romite Group, and Stant Animation. In the last case, the company was also a cultural icon for the Republic of Ireland (Eire).