By Dennis Quick
Senior Staff Writer

Think of the heavyweights among the nation’s television show distributors and names like Viacom Inc., America Online Inc., The Walt Disney Co. and Tribune Media Services come to mind.

And then there is Litton Entertainment, based in Mount Pleasant.

In terms of sheer size, Litton is a midget among those television industry giants. But in terms of the number of network deals struck and TV shows supplied, Litton claims to be the nation’s seventh largest distributor of TV shows and the country’s largest independent distributor.

Litton’s smaller size gives the company the agility and flexibility to swoop into programming niches the big companies don’t fill, explained David Morgan, Litton’s president and chief executive officer.

“They’re like a B-52 bomber laden with a corporate culture,” Morgan said of the larger distributors. “We’re an F-15 fighter. We’re the biggest supplier of weekend programming.”

The shows Litton supplies practically cover the programming gamut—dramas, reality shows, sports, prime-time programs, news and children’s shows. The company feeds broadcast and cable networks alike.

Additionally, Litton produces television shows from studios in New York and Los Angeles. “Jack Hanna’s Animal Adventures,” airing on 260 stations nationally; “The Tom Joyner Show,” airing locally Saturdays on CBS; “BusinessWeek Weekend,” airing in 80% of the country on ABC; and “Exploration with Richard Wiese,” airing in 90% of the country, are some of Litton’s productions.

Litton has roughly 135 employees, about 20 of whom work in its Mount Pleasant headquarters on Johnnie Dodds Boulevard. The company is comprised of three divisions: Litton Worldwide Distribution, which provides TV programming; Litton Media Sales, which is based in New York and helps clients like Kraft and The Home Depot get advertising time on national TV; and Litton Studios, which annually produces more than 200 shows, according to the company’s Web site.

Litton also sells syndicated TV shows to local stations across the country and offers stations a news service.

Channeling Charleston

Morgan, a Baltimore native, started Litton Entertainment in 1989 from his Maryland home. He began the business at his dining-room table with a telephone equipped with “call waiting” and a determination to out-work the competition, he explained.

He visited the Charleston area in 1992, got seduced by the region’s beauty and climate, and relocated to the Lowcountry a year later.

Recently, Litton moved its post-production studios, where its TV shows are edited, from Burbank, Calif., to Mount Pleasant.

“The future of television and film production in Charleston and in South Carolina is bright,” Morgan said, attributing his optimism to the state’s tax credits and the promotional efforts of state film commissioner Jeff Monk and former Department of Revenue Director Burnet Maybank.

“There’s an incredible story to tell in L.A.” about South Carolina, Morgan added.

Feature films like “The Notebook,” shot in Charleston and released in 2004, have put the Lowcounty on the entertainment industry’s map, he said.

Dennis Quick is senior staff writer at the Business Journal. E-mail him at dquick@charlestonbusiness.com.

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