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Warner Communications was established in 1972 when Kinney National Company spun off its non-entertainment assets, due to a financial scandal over its parking operations and changed its name.

It was the parent company for Warner Bros. Pictures and Warner Music Group during the 1970s and 1980s. It also owned DC Comics and Mad. Warner made (and later lost) considerable profits with Atari, which it owned from 1976 to 1984.

In the 1970s, Warner formed a joint venture with American Express, named Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment, which held cable channels like MTV, Nickelodeon and Showtime. Warner bought out American Express's half in 1984, and sold the venture a year later to Viacom, which renamed it MTV Networks.

In 1987, it was announced that Warner Communications and Time Inc. were to merge, though it took two years for the merger to take place. The last thing Warner did before the merger closed in 1989 was to buy out Lorimar-Telepictures. In early 1990, the combined companies were named Time Warner.

[edit] See also

• Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment
• Video Game Crash of 1983
• Lorimar Productions
• Telepictures