Simitar Entertainment

History

In 1984, K-Tel, who had a successful video presence in Canada and Australia, launched its North American home video division under the K-Tel Video name. After K-Tel International filed for bankruptcy, two of its founders Mickey Elfenbien and Philip Kives started Simitar Entertainment and took over the North American arm from K-Tel.

They bought out Pickwick Records and began releasing music. The company also spawned labels, such as Simitar Motorsports Video for motorsports titles, New Family Movies for family films and Ani-Magine Anime for Japanese anime. Eventually, Simitar went onto its battle against GoodTimes Entertainment, United American Video Corporation, Video Treasures and Simitar Entertainment as one of its major budget video distributors.

In 1997, they became the first independent film producer to release their films on DVD. Simitar Entertainment would eventually go bankrupt and shut down in 2000 after losing a lawsuit filed by Titan Sports (then-owner of the World Wrestling Federation, now known as WWE) over a 1999 knock-off compilation entitled Slammin' Wrestling Hits, which contained covers of WWF entrance themes produced without their consent. Simitar's library would end up going to Brentwood Communications.

Releases

TBD