Acorn Media Group: About Acorn: Company Timeline

Acorn Media U.S.

Acorn Media U.K.

Acorn Australia

Acorn Direct

Company Timeline

Executives

COMPANY TIMELINE

Acorn Media Group Inc. was founded in 1984 as Atlas Video. Here are
some milestones in the company's development.


1984	Atlas Video is founded in the home of Peter Edwards, an independent communications consultant working primarily in the cable television industry. He plans to produce and distribute documentary programming on home video.
1987	Encouraged by the success of the company's first two releases, the historical travel documentaries Cavaliers and Craftsmen and Virginia Plantations, Edwards is able to raise a modest amount of bank financing. He quits his day job at NBC News, moves to his basement, and hires first employee Marsha Oden (now Marsha Lutz, still with the company).
1988– 1990	The company grows in tiny steps, producing and distributing a series of six Civil War documentaries and a 10-hour World War II series.
1991	John Lorenz joins Atlas Video as executive vice president after a 14-year career at PBS, where he was director of program business affairs. Within the next year, the company's business model shifts to licensing independently produced documentaries, which are sold primarily through wholesale channels.
1994	Atlas Video licenses its first period drama, Derek Jacobi's Cadfael, then airing on PBS's Mystery! The deal is Atlas Video's first of many to follow with a major U.K. broadcaster, Carlton (then Central Television). Later in 1994, the company changes its name to Acorn Media.
1997	Acorn Media U.K. is launched to distribute a similar line of products in Britain. The operation is led by Lesley Fromant, a Fox Video veteran who founded and ran the home video operation of Carlton (Central).
1998	The Acorn Media U.S. consumer website goes online and processes its first order for $130.90.
1999– 2001	Acorn Media U.S. releases the company's first DVD, Bernadette Peters in Concert. Within the next two years, the number of Acorn Media DVDs released in the U.S. reaches 32. Acorn Media becomes a leading provider of classic British mystery programming on home video with the launch of the BBC's original Lord Peter Wimsey, starring Ian Carmichael, and Granada's Poirot, starring David Suchet.
March 2001	Acorn Media greatly expands its direct-to-consumer marketing efforts with the launch of Acorn Direct and the mailing of the first Acorn catalog. By the end of 2001, the catalog's total circulation exceeds 1 million. The catalog and companion website ( www.acornonline.com ) offer Acorn Media U.S. titles along with third-party home video products and other merchandise.
2002	The Acorn Media U.S. landmark VHS and DVD release of the digitally remastered classic Brideshead Revisited hits the marketplace. Entertainment Weekly calls it “a keenly observed epic that's magnificent all by itself,” and Roger Ebert makes “the magnificent 11-part, 11-hour British television miniseries” his “thumbs-up video selection of the week” on the nationally syndicated television show Ebert & Ropert at the Movies. The highly anticipated release of John le Carré's Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and its sequel, Smiley's People, marks Acorn Media's first partnership with Paramount Home Entertainment.
2003	Release highlights include Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City, and Broadway's Lost Treasures, a rare compilation of performances from Tony Award broadcasts.
2004	The Acorn Media U.S. DVD release of the new BBC drama Tipping the Velvet becomes an immediate hit. The Company also expands its health/fitness line with the launch of the home video series Keeping Fit in Your 50s. This unique product is an original Acorn Media production, the first since the early days of the Company.
	Miguel Penella, a former marketing vice president at Time-Life, is named president of Acorn Direct. He brings extensive experience in multi-channel marketing to the Company's already thriving direct-to-consumer division.
	The Company changes it official corporate name from Acorn Media Publishing Inc. to Acorn Media Group Inc. This reflects the maturity of the Company's three distinct business units—Acorn Media U.S., Acorn Media U.K, and Acorn Direct. John Lorenz is named president of Acorn Media U.S. while Peter Edwards continues as the Company's chief executive officer. Concurrent with these changes, Acorn Media launches its corporate website.
2005	Acorn Media U.K., Acorn Media U.S. and Acorn Direct continue to bring audiences the best in British television programming, releasing several fan favorites across all three business units including Midsomer Murders, The House of Eliott, and Tom Brown’s Schooldays. Acorn Media U.S. releases the much-anticipated new production of Agatha Christie’s Marple, broadcast on PBS’s Mystery! series in Spring 2005.
January 2006	Paul Holland joins Acorn Media U.K. as managing director, assuming full responsibility for the U.K.-based independent DVD distributor. He joins the Company from Granada Ventures, where he was director of publishing.
February 2006	Acorn Media announces the launch of Acacia, a new mind, body, spirit product line and direct-to-consumer catalog offering enjoyable and effective ways to develop and maintain a healthy lifestyle.
July 2006	The Company's first release under the Acacia brand, The Elaine Petrone Method™, reaches the top of the VideoScan Fitness chart paving the way for other Acacia top sellers including Yoga Trance Dance starring world–renown yoga teacher Shiva Rea and Yogic Arts™: The Awakening Level starring international trainer to the stars Duncan Wong.
April 2007	Miguel Penella, president of Acorn Direct since 2004, succeeds Founder & Chairman Peter Edwards as the new chief executive officer of Acorn Media Group. As CEO, Miguel oversees operations for all business units as well as continued expansion of the company. The Acacia DVD label launches in the United Kingdom with the release of eight new titles, including Kundalini Yoga with Maya Fiennes.
August 2007	Acorn Media Australia, run by Managing Director Lesley Fromant, launches with the release of three popular titles including Sword of Honour, Beyond the Fringe, and The Politician’s Wife.
November 2007	Mark Stevens, formerly with AARP, Time-Life, and HBO, succeeds John Lorenz as president of Acorn Media U.S. John Lorenz is appointed to the position of vice-chairman of the Acorn Media Group.
July 2008	Peter Clinch, formerly with J. Jill and Pottery Barn, joins Acorn as the President of Acorn Direct.
May 2009	Andrew Cuthill, former finance executive with Del Monte Foods, Keeco, and Spectrum Water Coolers, joins the Company as chief financial officer. Acorn Media U.S. releases its first Blu-ray title, 3 Mo’ Divas.
June 2009	Acorn Media U.S. launches Athena, a branded line of home video products providing a rich and enjoyable learning experience. First products include, Playing Shakespeare and The People’s Republic of Capitalism. Read the press release.
September 2009	Acorn Media U.K. launches Acacia programs on Body in Balance TV channel in Germany with programs dubbed in German. DVD releases follow a month later in the territory.
May 2010	The Acorn Direct consumer website launches its digital delivery service and processes its first download-to-own order for $31.99. The digital sale is for set 15 of the top-selling Midsomer Murders series.
July 2010	Time magazine hails Acorn Media as "chief curators of the best Brit TV"
November 2010	Acorn Media Group acquired the rights to the popular British detective series Foyle’s War and other first-rate television programs from Greenlit Rights Limited. Read the press release.
July 2011	Acorn TV, a new streaming service that makes the company’s award-winning British mysteries and dramas available online to American audiences, launched on July 18. Read the press release.