PBS Distribution (PBSd), formerly known as PBS Ventures, PBS Home Video, and Public Media Distribution, is the home distribution unit of the American television network

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

. The company manages streaming channels, video on demand releases, and sells

home video Home video is recorded media sold or Video rental shop, rented for home viewing. The term originates from the VHS and Betamax era, when the predominant medium was videotapes, but has carried over to optical disc formats such as DVD and Blu-ray. ...

s of PBS series and movies and

PBS Kids PBS Kids (stylized as PBS KIDS) is the branding used for nationally distributed children's programming carried by the U.S. public television network PBS. The brand encompasses a daytime block of children's programming carried daily by most PBS ...

series in various formats, as well as programming from other public television distributors such as

American Public Television American Public Television (APT) is an American nonprofit organization and syndicator of programming for public television stations in the United States. It distributes public television programs nationwide for PBS member stations and indepen ...

and the National Educational Telecommunications Association.PBS Distribution (PBSd)
. accessed April 16, 2017. It is jointly owned by the

Public Broadcasting Service The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia Arlington County, or simply Arlington, is a County (United States), county in the ...

and the

WGBH Educational Foundation The WGBH Educational Foundation, doing business as GBH since August 2020, is an American public broadcasting group based in Boston, Massachusetts. Established in 1951, it holds the licenses to all of the PBS member stations in Massachusetts, a ...

. PBSd manages the PBS Masterpiece channel on Amazon's Prime Video Channels. It is currently distributing PBS programs and movies on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

and

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

(through its distribution partnership with Studio Distribution Services), digital downloads, and

streaming media Streaming media refers to multimedia delivered through a Computer network, network for playback using a Media player (disambiguation), media player. Media is transferred in a ''stream'' of Network packet, packets from a Server (computing), ...

and

programs on DVD and digital downloads. In 2017 independent films produced by PBSd were added for theatrical distribution and home video releases.PBS.org: "PBS & PBS Distribution Announce Plans to Expand Theatrical Distribution Efforts for Independent Film"
January 19, 2017. accessed April 16, 2017.

History

Established on September 7, 1977, the PBS Home Video, Inc. company originally distributed and sold

VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...

and

Betamax Betamax (also known as Beta, and stylized as the Greek letter Beta, β in its logo) is a discontinued consumer analog Videotape, video cassette recording format developed by Sony. It was one of the main competitors in the videotape format war ag ...

tapes simply on their own. Starting in 1989, PBS secured a deal with Pacific Arts to distribute PBS Home Video's products. In 1994, PBS moved to distribution through

Turner Home Entertainment Turner Entertainment Co. is an American multimedia company founded by Ted Turner on August 2, 1986. Purchased by Time Warner Entertainment on October 10, 1996, as part of its acquisition of Turner Broadcasting System (TBS), the company was lar ...

. In 1996, when Turner Home Entertainment's

parent company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the Security (finance), securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own Share ...

merged with

Time Warner Warner Media, LLC ( doing business as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate owned by AT&T. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City. It was established as Time Warne ...

, distribution was through

Warner Home Video Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment, Inc. (doing business as Warner Bros. Home Entertainment; formerly known as Warner Home Video and WCI Home Video and sometimes credited as Warner Home Entertainment) is the American home video distribution ...

until 2004, when distribution moved to

Paramount Home Entertainment Paramount Home Entertainment (formerly Paramount Home Media Distribution, originally Paramount Home Video, and operating as the namesake film studio since 2022) is the home video distribution arm of Paramount Pictures. The division oversees Para ...

. PBS Home Video was renamed PBS Distribution—PBSd in 2009, and became independent again in 2011. PBSd is jointly owned by PBS and the

. It is currently distributing PBS programs and movies on

, digital downloads, and

video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos, television shows and films Digital distribution, digitally on request. These multimedia are accessed without a traditional video playback device and a typica ...

and

programs on DVD and digital downloads. In 2017 independent films produced by PBSd were added for cinema and home video releases. PBS International offers factual content for broadcast, cable, and satellite services internationally. On November 1, 2011, PBS UK was launched on BSkyB. Canadian-born entrepreneur David Lyons and PBS Distribution formed a joint venture to run the channel.

Independent films

After a backlash from filmmakers over

WNET WNET (channel 13), branded on-air as Thirteen (stylized as THIRTEEN), is a primary PBS member television station licensed to Newark, New Jersey, United States, serving the New York City area. Owned by The WNET Group (formerly known as the Educ ...

's attempts to move independent documentary series to its secondary station, PBS took feedback from the documentary community and developed an

indie film An independent film, independent movie, indie film, or indie movie is a feature film or short film that is produced outside the major film studio system in addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies (or, in ...

strategy. Through

Independent Lens ''Independent Lens'' is a weekly television series airing on PBS featuring documentary films made by independent filmmakers. Past seasons of ''Independent Lens'' were hosted by Angela Bassett, Don Cheadle, Susan Sarandon, Edie Falco, Terrenc ...

, PBS acquired Stanley Nelson's documentary film '' The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution''. The history of The Black Panthers was especially timely due to the contemporary

Black Lives Matter Black Lives Matter (BLM) is a Decentralization, decentralized political and social movement that aims to highlight racism, discrimination and Racial inequality in the United States, racial inequality experienced by black people, and to pro ...

movement's growth. The film was first released in theaters in late 2015, then had a special nationwide

public television Public broadcasting (or public service broadcasting) is radio, television, and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service with a commitment to avoiding political and commercial influence. Public broadcasters receive f ...

premiere in late 2016. PBSd expanded its operation to included theatrical distribution of documentary films by hiring Erin Owens as PBS Distribution's Head of Theatrical Distribution; and Emily Rothschild as Director of Theatrical Acquisitions and Marketing. Owens and Rothschild had just worked with PBS on Stanley Nelson's ''The Black Panthers'' distribution. The operations expansion of PBSd was announced at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

on 19 January 2017. The company plans to get theatrical and non-theatrical rights for up to six feature-length documentaries to release per year. PBSd put British show, '' Jamestown'' as a streaming first run on PBS Passport and PBS Masterpiece as of March 23, 2018.

References

External links

Official PBS Distribution − PBSd website

Bill Reed papers
at the

University of Maryland libraries The University of Maryland Libraries is the largest university library system in the Washington D.C.–Baltimore area. The system includes eight libraries: six are located on the University of Maryland, College Park, College Park campus, while ...

. Reed was one of the creators of PBS Video, and his papers contain documents on video and home video unit of the network.
Robert M. Reed papers
at the

. Reed was the executive director of PBS Video from 1969-1976. {{Authority control Home video companies of the United States Public Broadcasting Service WGBH Educational Foundation DVD companies of the United States Film distributors of the United States Home video distributors Video on demand services Companies based in Arlington County, Virginia Companies based in Boston American companies established in 1977 Entertainment companies established in 1977 Mass media companies established in 1977

History

Independent films

See also

References

External links