Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Inc. (formerly known as Warner Home Video and WCI Home Video and sometimes credited as Warner Home Entertainment) is the
home video distribution division of
Warner Bros.
It was founded in 1978 as WCI Home Video (for
Warner Communications, Inc.
Warner Media, LLC ( traded as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States.
It was originally established in 1972 by ...
). The company launched in the United States with twenty films on
Betamax
Betamax (also known as Beta, as in its logo) is a consumer-level analog recording and cassette format of magnetic tape for video, commonly known as a video cassette recorder. It was developed by Sony and was released in Japan on May 10, 1975, ...
and
VHS videocassettes in late 1979. The company later expanded its line to include additional titles throughout 1979 and 1980.
History
The company launched in the United States with twenty films on
Betamax
Betamax (also known as Beta, as in its logo) is a consumer-level analog recording and cassette format of magnetic tape for video, commonly known as a video cassette recorder. It was developed by Sony and was released in Japan on May 10, 1975, ...
and
VHS videocassettes in late 1979. The company later expanded its line to include additional titles throughout 1979 and 1980.
Warner Bros. began to branch out into the videodisc market, licensing titles to MCA
DiscoVision and RCA's
SelectaVision videodisc formats, allowing both companies to market and distribute the films under their labels. By 1985, Warner was releasing material under their own label in both formats. Titles from Warner Home Video were and continue to be distributed and manufactured by
Roadshow Home Video
Roadshow Entertainment (formerly known as Roadshow Home Video from 1982–1993) is an Australian home video, production and distribution company that is a division of Village Roadshow (formerly Roadshow Home Video and Roadshow Entertainment) th ...
worldwide except for Australia and New Zealand because of its film counterpart's films released by
Village Roadshow.
Warner also experimented with the "rental-only" market for videos, a method also used by
20th Century Fox
20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...
for their first release of ''Star Wars (film), Star Wars'' in 1982. Two known films released in this manner were ''Superman II'' and ''Excalibur (film), Excalibur''. Other films released for rental use include ''Dirty Harry'', ''The Enforcer (1976 film), The Enforcer'', ''Prince of the City'', and ''Sharky's Machine (film), Sharky's Machine''.
In 1990, Warner Home Video acquired the worldwide home video rights to the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, MGM/United Artists, UA catalog. The $125 million purchase was used to finance MGM/UA's acquisition by the MGM-Pathé Communications, Pathé Communications Corporation.
The intended 12½-year-long deal was cut short in February 2000, with MGM paying Warner Bros. $225 million to regain video rights to a number of its films. In exchange, Warner Bros. gained full control over the video rights to MGM's pre-1986 library, an asset the studio had acquired outright from Turner Entertainment, Turner, but due to a pre-existing licensing deal with MGM, was originally expected to expire in 2001.
On December 20, 1996, Warner Home Video was one of the first major American distributors for the then-new DVD format, by releasing the films ''Assassins (1995 film), Assassins'', ''Blade Runner, Blade Runner: Director's Cut'', ''Eraser (film), Eraser'', and ''The Fugitive (1993 film), The Fugitive'' on DVD in Japan and on March 24, 1997, in the United States with ''Blade Runner'' also being a launch title for the region there. Warner Bros. executive Warren Lieberfarb is often seen as "the father of DVD". Lieberfarb's successor, Warner Bros. executive James F. Cardwell was recognized in paving the way for WHV's strategic positioning in next generation technologies such as High Definition DVD (HD DVD), electronic sell-through and portable video. In 2003, Warner Home Video became the first home video releasing company to release movies only on DVD with no VHS equivalent.
In 2009, Warner Home Video introduced the Warner Archive Collection, which allows the public to order custom-made DVDs of rarely seen films and TV series from the Warner and Turner libraries. The films are also available as digital downloads. Warner Archive DVDs and downloads can be ordered online on Warner's website, on Amazon.com or Turner Classic Movies-affiliated DVD website Movies Unlimited.
On January 14, 2020, Universal Pictures Home Entertainment, Universal and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment announced that they would partner on a 10-year multinational joint-venture, merging their physical operations in North America.
On April 7, 2020, the European Commission approved the merger. The company was later named Studio Distribution Services, LLC.
References
External links
WarnerBros.com , Home Entertainment , Company
{{DEFAULTSORT:Warner Home Video
Warner Bros. Discovery subsidiaries
1978 establishments in California
Companies based in Burbank, California
Entertainment companies based in California
Entertainment companies established in 1978
Home video companies established in 1978
Home video companies of the United States
Home video distributors
Mass media companies established in 1978
1978 establishments in the United States