ArgosyMTM Group

ArgosyMTM Group (formerly known as Argosy Communications from 2006-2011) is an American production company conglomerate. It was formed in 2006 when Corus Entertainment sold off its US assets. It is majority owned by the Peck family, with the Blake, Lopez, and Shires families holding minority stakes.

It is based in Seattle, WA, with satellite offices in Charlotte, NC; New York, NY; San Jose, CA; Irving, TX; and Tokyo, Japan.

History
Argosy has its origins as a magazine in 1882. It was known as a “pulp fiction” magazine, and had classic stories about Tarzan and Martians.

In 1943, Association of Film Makers (AoFM), a film production company founded in 1937, was acquired by the magazine's publisher, Frank A. Munsey Company.

In 1953, the magazine’s publisher, Popular Publications, opened a TV production unit, known as Argosy Media, after the magazine. At the same time, Michael Shires, former Disney storyboard artist, and his inexperienced son, Michael Shires Jr., were hired to head an animation division of Argosy Media, recognizing the potential of television animation.

In 1973, after a corporate reorganization, AoFM was renamed to its current name, Argosy Pictures.

Later in 1973, Popular Publications spun off Argosy Media and Argosy Pictures into a new company, Argosy Media Affiliates. The company continued to make popular films and TV series, but in 1974, Michael Shires Sr. left to become a production assistant for a Jim Henson project that eventually became the Muppets, leaving Shires Jr. on his own.

In 1982, Argosy Media Affiliates was acquired by rival producer MTM Enterprises, which moved into the Argosy studios in Seattle, and reorganized its company as Argosy Entertainment.

In 1983, Argosy hired two then-obscure local indie cartoonists, mainly known in the Seattle area at the time: Ellen Peck and Paul Lopez: to restructure its television animation unit, as MTM wanted to start making Saturday morning cartoons. Ellen Peck sketched a new logo for MTM, a simplification of the orange cat emblem the company had used since 1969, but accidentally sent it to the Argosy unit, which coloured it grey and gave it the name “Aaron”, after then-CEO Aaron Marshall. The original Aaron logo only lasted until 1988 on screen, but was used as the corporate logo of Argosy Media until 1993, when the company returned to its previous “stylized A” logo, coloured in red.

In 1988, Argosy Entertainment, including Argosy Media and MTM, was acquired by ITV franchise Television South (TVS), which reorganized itself as TVS Entertainment. In 1990, however, TVS lost the franchise round to Meridian, and had to cease broadcasting in 1993. TVS sold its assets to televangelist Pat Robertson’s International Family Entertainment (IFE) shortly after ceasing broadcasting.

In late 1992, Paul Lopez died in a car crash, allegedly caused by his drunk driving, though Ellen Peck claims he was trying to hit pedestrians while drunk. He was replaced with Nathan Blake, his trainee and apprentice, who had already written some episodes for Argosy TV shows.

IFE was acquired by Canadian cable company Shaw Communications in 1996. In 1998, Shaw sold the failing Family Channel unit to Fox, to concentrate on its Canadian cable networks (including YTV), 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.

In 2003, Argosy Media formed a joint venture with Nintendo, known as Toadette Animation, after the expiry of Nintendo’s deal with DiC. Singaporean-Canadian animator Tiger Lee Clarke, then working at Nelvana, was hired to lead this division, and moved to Seattle permanently.

In 2006, Corus sold off its holdings outside of Canada; consisting of Argosy Media, MTM Enterprises, and the Southern, TVS, and Family Channel libraries; to a new company, forming Argosy Communications.

In 2011, after acquiring NASCAR, Argosy Communications reorganized itself as the modern ArgosyMTM Group. In 2015, ArgosyMTM bought out CEC Entertainment, and started making plans to revive ShowBiz Pizza.

In 2021, ArgosyMTM Group announced its plans for the 70th anniversary of Argosy Media in 2023, including an upcoming “Modern Classic” rebrand, and a series of “Throwback Logos” for all production units, to be used through the year 2023 (like how some airlines and railways have retro liveries for certain planes/trains).

In 2022, after ViacomCBS and WarnerMedia started negotiations to sell off The CW, ArgosyMTM Group emerged as a prime buyer, with Ellen Peck tweeting: “Something I didn’t know I wanted, but now I do.”

Main

 * Seattle, WA: The company has had a presence in Seattle since the early days. Seattle developed a film industry in the early days of film, not as large as Hollywood in California, but still decently sized, including several “mini-major” companies. In 1937, several of these companies merged to form the Association of Film Makers, which eventually became Argosy Pictures. The company moved into its current headquarters, in Home Plate Center, in 2015.
 * Charlotte, NC: Argosy Studios Charlotte initially opened in 1964. In 2008, the Argosy/NASCAR Plaza was built, which was renamed to simply NASCAR Plaza after ArgosyMTM’s acquisition of NASCAR in 2011. Much of its NASCAR operations, acquired in 2011, are based here.
 * San Jose, CA: The first presence of Argosy-related companies in San Jose was in 1968, when Argosy Studios California opened. The current building was opened in 1994.
 * New York, NY: In 1979, Argosy Media Affiliates acquired the historic Bonwit Teller building. The New York office of ArgosyMTM Group still operates out of this building today.
 * Irving, TX: This building was acquired in 2014, after ArgosyMTM Group acquired CEC Entertainment. It is known as the “ArgosyMTM Southwest Annex”.
 * Tokyo, Japan: Argosy arrived in Tokyo in 1987. Unlike other international offices, the Tokyo office reports directly to corporate HQ in Seattle; this is rumoured to be due to Ellen Peck’s adoration of, and close links to, Japanese culture (since she was raised by a Japanese stepmother). The current building, known as Argosy Media Japan Center, opened in 1999.

Secondary

 * San Tan Valley, AZ: This quite large property was once the mansion of the suspiciously-wealthy Dile family (rumoured to be somehow linked to either the Pecks or the Staintons in Argosy fan circles), and was built in 1908, predating the admission of the state of Arizona by 4 years. Through a series of sales, corporate mergers, and acquisitions, the property eventually ended up in the hands of Popular Publications, and later, Argosy Media Affiliates. It is popularly known as the “Argosy Mansion”.
 * Chicago, IL: The Argosy Supertower, formerly known as Stainton Supertower. Converted from a prohibition-era speakeasy, and originally housed Stainton Enterprises from 2015 to 2018, when that company was bought out by ArgosyMTM Group.
 * Utica, NY: Originally a special-needs facility of the Utica school district; acquired in 1995. The interior was gutted and redesigned by an Austrian architect. This building is notable for its deliberately-uneven floors, and also for having no right angles or regular designs inside, except in the basement and cafeteria.

Film divisions

 * ArgosyMTM Motion Pictures Group
 * MTM Films
 * MTM Family (formerly Argosy Family Entertainment from 1991-96)
 * MTM Nature (formerly Argosy Wildlife Features from 1991-96)
 * MTM Faith (formerly Argosy Christian Features from 1991-96)
 * Argosy Pictures
 * Seven Arts
 * Embassy Pictures
 * Gramercy Pictures
 * Judy Garland Pictures
 * NCA Animation Studios
 * American-British-Canadian Pictures
 * RKO Pictures (acquired in 2020)
 * ArgosyMTM Alternative
 * Troma (acquired in 2011)
 * The Asylum (acquired in 2019)

TV divisions

 * Argosy Media
 * Calico Media - low budget division
 * Argosy sub-labels - use nearly-identical “vanity plate” logo animations, but with different characters instead of Aaron the Cat
 * Foxy Entertainment
 * Scary Films
 * Felicia Entertainment
 * Argosy Animation Studios
 * MTM Enterprises
 * MTM Television Distribution
 * The Program Exchange (acquired in 2013)
 * Trifecta Entertainment and Media (acquired in 2015)
 * Seven Arts Television
 * Embassy Television
 * Gramercy Pictures Television
 * Judy Garland Television
 * ArgosyMTM Dubbing
 * ArgosyMTM Digital Networks
 * Center Post Media (acquired in 2015)
 * YTA TV
 * BizTV/BizTalkRadio
 * WRNN-TV Associates (acquired in 2018)

International units

 * ArgosyMTM International
 * ViD (legally known as ArgosyMTM Studios International Russia)
 * Hellas Kosmos Entertainment (legally known as ArgosyMTM Studios International Greece)
 * Paris Filmes (legally known as ArgosyMTM Studios International Brazil)
 * Svensk Filmindustri (acquired in 2021)

Other divisions

 * ArgosyMTM Home Entertainment
 * MTM Home Entertainment
 * Shout! Factory (acquired in 2017)
 * ArgosyMTM Classics (formed in late 2021 by merging the formerly-autonomous Cloudco Entertainment (acquired in 2019), Jim Henson Company (acquired in 2015), and Dr. Seuss Enterprises (acquired in 2013) units, as a form of “punishment” for all doing things Ellen Peck didn’t approve of)
 * ArgosyMTM Records
 * Argosy Records
 * MTM Records
 * ArgosyMTM Publishing
 * Argosy Press
 * Erin Hunter Enterprises
 * Argosy Comics
 * ArgosyMTM Interactive
 * Mitchell Project
 * Tomboy Games
 * Nintendo of America (50-50 joint-venture with Nintendo Japan)
 * Elecbyte
 * Lunime Studios
 * ArgosyMTM Sports
 * NASCAR
 * Pacific Northwest Sports Group
 * Seattle SuperSonics (NBA)
 * Seattle Storm (WNBA)
 * Seattle Seahawks (NFL)
 * Seattle Kraken (NHL)
 * Seattle Mariners (MLB)
 * Seattle Sounders (MLS)
 * PNSG Stadiums
 * Climate Pledge Arena (NBA, WNBA, and NHL facilities)
 * Lumen Field (NFL and MLS facilities)
 * T-Mobile Park (MLB facilities)
 * Argosy New Media
 * ArgosyMTM Online Properties (including former Literally Media (acquired in 2013 as Cheezburger Network and absorbed into then-new acquisition eBaumsWorld in 2016 to form Literally), G/O Media (acquired in 2019), ClickHole (acquired as part of G/O Media in 2019 and spun off to a new writing team in 2020), CH Media (acquired from IAC in 2020), and Verizon Media/Yahoo/AOL (acquired from Verizon in 2021) sites; merged into one unit in late 2021)
 * Argopolis CMS (powers all AMOP blog-format sites)
 * Argopolis (formed in 2021 as a “Spiritual Successor” to Gawker and The Daily What, both defunct properties whose sister sites are now owned by AMTM)
 * YTMND
 * AltaVista (formerly Yahoo Search)
 * Asterion (crowdfunding, merchandise sale, and subscription platform for independent creators)
 * Meow (video sharing website that has a selling point to “respect privacy” and “respect creators”)
 * CEC Entertainment
 * Chuck E. Cheese
 * ShowBiz Pizza
 * Peter Piper Pizza
 * Creative Engineering Inc.
 * ArgosyMTM Toys
 * Topps
 * Jellycat
 * The Mimsie Plush Company
 * Lisa Frank Incorporated
 * ArgosyMTM Retail
 * ArgosyMTM Labs
 * ArgosyMTM Theme Parks
 * Argosy Studios Park (Seattle, WA; flagship park)
 * Metazoa Zoo and Theme Park (Baton Rouge, LA; combines elements of zoos and theme parks)
 * Gussyland USA (Ithaca, NY; themed primarily around Gussy Goat and Wondertoons)
 * Cogent Communications (acquired in 2009)
 * Hurricane Electric (acquired in 2018)
 * Tucows (acquired in 2021)

Controversies
ArgosyMTM Labs, a unit of ArgosyMTM Group, is meant to be an “incubator” for “autonomous” subsidiaries. However, there have been reports of Ellen Peck herself forcing Labs “projects” such as Discord, DevSisters, WildWorks, and Wombo to discontinue planned cryptocurrency or NFT ventures, because of her own personal hate for the technology. This has included extending the Argosy code of honour to Labs projects, leading people to cast doubts on whether these subsidiaries are as “autonomous” as ArgosyMTM claims.

Ellen Peck has also been known to interfere in the businesses of ArgosyMTM subsidiaries, forcing the termination of formerly-official Crazy Frog, Seattle Kraken, Care Bears, and Dr. Seuss (all owned by ArgosyMTM) NFT projects, and sending DMCA takedown notices to the intended NFT partners. Peck has said: “ArgosyMTM is a company that does what’s best, and NFTs are not what’s best. I hate to force people to cancel their projects, but NFTs, with their toxic “crypto-bro” culture and damaging environmental effects, are not something any company should be associating itself with.” Twitter, which is known for the strong anti-NFT sentiment of its users, was divided, with some people saying that “I’m not really that much of an Argosy fan, but it seems like Ellen is running her company exactly the right way”, and other people saying that “despite how bad NFTs are, Ellen Peck should mind her own business, and let her underlings do things she disagrees with”.