 New World – which was founded by actor/producer/director Roger Corman and his brother, film producer Gene Corman, on July 8, 1970, as an independent producer of low-budget feature films, and starting in 1984, began producing television programs such as "Crime Story", "Santa Barbara", and "The Wonder Years" – expanded into television broadcasting on February 17, 1993, after Perelman purchased a 51% ownership stake in Denver-based SCI Television (a group descended from the former Storer Communications that was undergoing a complex restructuring of its debt) from the Apollo Partners-controlled Gillett Holdings for $100 million and $63 million in newly issued debt.The day prior to that deal, SCI purchased WTVT in Tampa, Florida, from Gillett Holdings in a separate agreement for $163 million.New World expanded its broadcasting holdings in May 1994, when it bought four stations owned by Argyle Television Holdings (which Argyle had acquired from the Times Mirror Company the year prior) in a $717 million purchase option-structured deal, followed three weeks later by the purchase of four stations owned by Great American Communications (which, several months later, would be renamed Citicasters upon the completion of its corporate restructuring) for $350 million in cash and $10 million in share warrants.