Classic Media

Background : Classic Media was established by Eric Ellenbogen and John Engelman in 2000 to handle acquisitions, new productions and licensing of older cartoon and live action properties globally. In 2007, the company was acquired by Entertainment Rights of the United Kingdom, which resulted in financial difficulties. In April 2009, Entertainment Rights was acquired by a new company called "Boomerang Media, L.L.C.", also founded by Ellenbogen and Engelman themselves with backing from private equity firm GTCR, and then a month later, Entertainment Rights was folded into Classic Media. Their library consists of properties that they acquired from other companies, including United Productions of America, Harvey Entertainment , Golden Books Family Entertainment , Big Idea Entertainment , and Entertainment Rights. On July 23, 2012, DreamWorks Animation acquired the company for $155 million, and renamed it DreamWorks Classics. On April 28, 2016, DreamWorks Classics was acquired by Comcast, and became a unit of NBCUniversal along with DreamWorks Animation.

1st Logo (2001)
Nicknames : "The Swirl"

Logo : Over a white background, we see the black textCLASSIC in a bold spaced font, with MEDIA to the bottom in a smaller font, where the SSI bit is. Then, a green swirl forms from the beginning to the end through a smokey effect.

FX/SFX : The swirl forming.

Music/Sounds : A loud swooshing sound.

Availability : Very rare. Appears on some prints of Rankin-Bass material. It also appeared on a few early DVD releases from Sony Wonder, such as the first 2 volumes ofMadeline(Titled "The Best Episodes Ever!").

2nd Logo (2002-)
Nicknames : "The Kid Balloon", "The Boring Kid Balloon"

Logo : Over a white background, we see a plain blue kid balloon, facing on the top-right, with hair and cheeks. The text "ClassicMedia", in black and plain blue respectively, is at the bottom of the balloon with a kid balloon in place of a dot in "I" in "Media". Until 2009, the byline "An Entertainment Rights group company" is below the logo.

Variant : There is a version without a byline.

FX/SFX : The fade in and fade out.

Cheesy Factor : The whole logo looks like it was from the 1960s, though that was the intention. Also, why is it still used after being renamed?

Music/Sounds : Usually none, but in other cases, it's usually the closing theme of a TV show.

Availability : Common. Can be seen on such Rankin-Bass Christmas specials as Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman, and it usually plasters the Broadway Video logo on Frosty Returns, also the logo is superimposed on "Tinga, Tinga Tales" on Disney Junior. Appears on licensed games, for instance on Where's Waldo? for the Wii. Even though the company changed their name into Dreamworks Classics, this logo still remains in use.

Scare Factor : None. This logo is clean, and boring.