The division was started in 1964 by Charles King. It was a company that expressly handled television distribution of the classic Hal Roach Our Gang shorts. When Roach lost the rights to the name "Our Gang" (it was retained by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, who bought the series from Roach in 1938), the shorts were retitled as The Little Rascals. It was through this acquisition that the comedy shorts from 1929 through 1938 have been made available to audiences for the past forty years. King World later co-produced an animated version of the shorts with Hanna-Barbera. King died in 1973 and the company was taken over by King's children: Roger King (who died in December 2007), Michael King, Robert, Diana, Richard, and Karen.