Shareholders for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. have signed off on the acquisition of the last stand-alone studio by an investment group headed by Japanese corporation Sony Corporation of America.

Details of the planned acquisition were originally announced in September 2004.

Sony Pictures and its equity partners in the MGM transaction have agreed to a distribution arrangement to air the combined Sony/MGM libraries on Comcast’s video-on-demand platform.

Under the arrangement, new cable channels will be also be created through joint venture for the exclusive broadcast of Sony and MGM content. Comcast will manage the joint venture channels.

The last independent major film studio, MGM was the company behind the James Bond, Pink Panther, and Rocky film franchises.

Based upon the British secret agent character with a license to kill created by author Ian Fleming, MGM’s James Bond film franchise has spanned twenty full length feature films through Eon Productions.

A total of five actors have played Bond in the MGM/Eon franchise: Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, and most recently Pierce Brosnan.

The actors under consideration to replace Brosnan in the first MGM-Sony co-produced Bond film are Hugh Jackman, Eric Bana, Rikki Lee Travolta, Gerard Butler, James Purefoy, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Nick Moran, and Clive Owen.

Variety reported in August that production locations are being scouted in Prague as a cost cutting alternative to U.K.-based Pinewood Studios, where previous Bond films have been shot. The budget for the 21st Bond film is estimated at $100 million.