EMKA Limited is a company that is owned by theUniversal Television division ofNBCUniversal with the sole function of overseeing the1929–1949Paramount Pictures sound feature film library, with some exceptions. It was founded in 1958.
In February 1958, nine years after the ruling of theUnited States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc. case in 1948,Music Corporation of America (MCA) approached Paramount to acquire the television distribution rights to 750 sound feature films released prior to December 1, 1949 for $10 million, with payment to be spread over a period of several years.[1][2][3][4][5][6] Paramount saw this as a bargain since the studio saw very little value in its library of old films at the time. To address any antitrust concerns, MCA set up EMKA, Ltd. as adummy corporation to sell these films to television. EMKA's Paramount library includes the first fiveMarx Brothers films (although it took until 1974 for rights issues to be cleared forAnimal Crackers before it could legally be shown again), the first fourBob Hope–Bing CrosbyRoad to... pictures, and other classics such asTrouble in Paradise,Shanghai Express,She Done Him Wrong,Remember the Night,Sullivan's Travels,The Palm Beach Story,For Whom The Bell Tolls,Double Indemnity,Going My Way,The Lost Weekend andThe Heiress.
Over the years, MCA took in more than a billion dollars in rentals of these supposedly "worthless" films. In 1962, MCA purchased the US branch ofDecca Records, then the parent company ofUniversal Studios, and subsequently divested MCA of the talent agency business. MCA was eventually acquired by Japan-basedMatsushita Electric in 1990 and then bySeagram in 1995, renamed as Universal Studios in 1996 which was sold toVivendi in 2000. In 1997,Universal Television was sold toUSA Networks, 5 years later on May 28, 2002, its entertainment assets were sold to Vivendi Universal. In 2004, Vivendi, merged its entertainment division withGeneral Electric'sNBC to formNBC Universal. In 2011,Comcast bought 51% of NBC Universal from Vivendi and renamed it NBCUniversal, and in 2013, Comcast bought remaining 49% of NBCUniversal from GE.
EMKA continues to exist as a division ofUniversal Television with Universal holding theatrical andhome video distribution rights, whileNBCUniversal Syndication Studios holding television distribution rights. Some of EMKA's films were remade by Universal in later years such asMeet Joe Black, a remake ofDeath Takes a Holiday, and a few other films became adapted by Revue Studios as television series.
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