Paramount Home Entertainment (formerly Paramount Home Media Distribution, and originally Paramount Home Video) is the home video distribution arm of

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

, a division of Paramount Global. The division oversees PPC's home entertainment and transactional digital distribution activities worldwide. The division is responsible for the sales, marketing and distribution of home entertainment content on behalf of Paramount Pictures, Paramount Players, Paramount Animation, Paramount Television Studios, CBS, Paramount Media Networks ( Showtime,

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

, Nickelodeon,

VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism of Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network based in New York City and owned by Paramount Global. It was created by Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment, at the time a division of Warner Commun ...

, BET, and Comedy Central), Paramount+, and applicable licensing and servicing of certain pre-2010 DreamWorks Pictures,

Miramax Miramax, LLC, also known as Miramax Films, is an American film and television production and distribution company founded on December 19, 1979, by brothers Harvey and Bob Weinstein, and based in Los Angeles, California. It was initially a leadi ...

, pre-2005

Dimension Films Dimension Films is an American film production company owned by Lantern Entertainment. It was formerly used as Harvey and Bob Weinstein's label within Miramax, which was acquired by The Walt Disney Company on June 30, 1993, to produce and relea ...

titles, and

DreamWorks Animation DreamWorks Animation LLC (DWA, also known as DreamWorks Animation Studios and simply known as DreamWorks) is an American animation studio that produces animated films and television programs and is a subsidiary of Universal Pictures, a division ...

films from 2006 to 2012, as well as select IFC Films titles and Saban Films titles. PHE additionally manages global licensing of studio content and transactional distribution across worldwide digital distribution platforms including online, mobile and portable devices and emerging technologies.

History

Before Paramount Home Entertainment was formed, Paramount released its video library through Fotomat. The relationship ended and Paramount soon formed its own video arm in 1979. In the UK and other countries, the Paramount Pictures film library were released on VHS by

CIC Video CIC Video was a home video distributor, established in 1980, owned by Cinema International Corporation (the forerunner of United International Pictures), and operated in some countries (such as United Kingdom, Australia, Brazil, Japan, France, Ge ...

alongside Universal Pictures until 1999 before CIC was renamed to Paramount Home Entertainment UK and PolyGram Video was renamed to Universal Pictures Home Entertainment UK. In 2008, PHE launched a direct-to-video label, Paramount Famous Productions (with the "Famous" part of the name a throwback to the days when the company was called Famous Players). In 2011, due to a company restructure, PHE was renamed Paramount Home Media Distribution. In May 2019, PHMD reverted its name back to Paramount Home Entertainment, which is the name they carried from 1999 to 2011.

HD DVD and Blu-ray support

Paramount brands the majority of its HD content under the label 'Paramount High Definition' which is seen both on the title box cover and as an in-movie opening. Films from Paramount subsidiaries such as Nickelodeon Movies and MTV Films as well as from former sister studio DreamWorks use no special branding, Paramount Vantage (another subsidiary) releases only select titles under the Paramount High Definition banner. In October 2005, Paramount announced that it would be supporting the HD video format Blu-ray in addition to rival format HD DVD, becoming the first studio to release on both formats. Its first four HD DVD releases came in July 2006, and it released four titles on Blu-ray two months later. In August 2007, Paramount (along with DreamWorks and

) announced their exclusive support for HD DVD. However, when other studios eventually dropped HD DVD and players for the technology stopped being manufactured, Paramount switched to Blu-ray. In May 2008, it released three titles on Blu-ray and continues to release its high-definition discs in that format exclusively.

Sub-labels

Paramount Famous Productions

Paramount Famous Productions was a sub-label of PHE, handling films released exclusively to home video formats without a theatrical release. The label was closed in 2011.

Paramount DVD

Paramount DVD is a sub-label of PHE exclusively found on DVD releases, generally noted by a logo animation with a DVD flying into the Paramount mountain and taking the shape of the outline created by the mountain.

Paramount High Definition

Paramount High Definition is a sub-label focusing on home media releases of Paramount's film and television library in high definition video formats.

Peanuts Home Video

Peanuts Home Video was a sub-label used under licence from United Feature Syndicate to distributed episodes of '' The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show'' and '' Peanuts'' specials, including '' Snoopy! The Musical'', ''

It Was My Best Birthday Ever, Charlie Brown ''It Was My Best Birthday Ever, Charlie Brown'' is the 38th animated television special based on characters from the Charles M. Schulz comic strip ''Peanuts''. It is one of two direct-to-video ''Peanuts'' specials that have yet to air on U.S. TV ...

'' (marketing) and many more.

References

{{Authority control American companies established in 1976 Home video companies of the United States Home video distributors Paramount Pictures Paramount Global subsidiaries Entertainment companies based in California Companies based in Los Angeles Entertainment companies established in 1976 Mass media companies established in 1976 1976 establishments in California