Media Home Entertainment
Media Home Entertainment
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| Industry | Home entertainment |
|---|---|
| Fate | Ceased operations |
| Founded | 1978 |
| Defunct | 1993 |
| Headquarters | Los Angeles, California |
| Products | VHS |
| Parent | Heron Communications (1984–1993) |
| Subsidiaries | Hi-Tops Video Fox Hills Video The Nostalgia Merchant |
Media Home Entertainment Inc. was a home video company headquartered in Culver City, California, originally established in 1978 by filmmaker Charles Band.
Media Home Entertainment also distributed video product under three additional labels — The Nostalgia Merchant (very old or classic films), Hi-Tops Video (children's videos), and Fox Hills Video (special-interest videos/obscure B-movies and low-profile Cannon pictures). The "Fox Hills" name was derived from a geographical location near the company's headquarters at 5700 Buckingham Parkway.
History[edit]
The company got off to a rocky start when ABKCO Records successfully sued them for releasing The Rolling Stones' Hyde Park concert on Betamax and VHS,[1] followed by a successful suit against it, VCI Home Video, and Video Tape Network filed by Northern Songs for releasing Beatles material (Media's tapes included Around The Beatles—featuring the Beatles and the Rolling Stones as backup singers, with performers such as Long John Baldry—a John Lennon solo concert, Magical Mystery Tour, a Shea Stadium concert, Sextette—featuring Beatles member Ringo Starr—and a Tokyo concert),[2] but would eventually become one of the largest independent video distributors in the U.S., relying on acquired films, television programs, and children's programs to establish a library of product. Some releases from the company included the original Halloween, the majority of the Peanuts specials (up to 1984), The Adventures of the Wilderness Family, Enemies, A Love Story, I Come in Peace, some films from the Cannon Films library, and all of the Nightmare on Elm Street films in the 1980s (1985–1989).
In 1984, Media Home Entertainment was bought by Heron Communications Inc., a subsidiary of Gerald Ronson's Heron International. However, by late 1990, Media Home Entertainment had begun downsizing its staff and selling off its video assets in the wake of Ronson's involvement in the Guinness share-trading fraud in Great Britain.
They briefly picked up the Morgan Creek Productions library.
Media Home Entertainment ceased final operations in 1993. At that time, its final titles being prepared for video release were acquired by and subsequently distributed by Fox Video (also some by CBS/Fox Video), while their laserdisc releases continued to be distributed by Image Entertainment. In the meantime, Media sold their library to budget label Video Treasures. Videos from the Media Home Entertainment library were also distributed overseas in the United Kingdom and Australia & New Zealand by VPD (Video Program Distributors) and Video Classics respectively. Some releases by Media Home Entertainment and its associated sublabels were distributed in Canada by Astral Video, a now-defunct subsidiary of the present-day Astral Media (now part Of Bell Media). Media Home Entertainment also had exclusive rights to the NFL Films video library from the late 1980's to about 1992 before PolyGram Video would finally get the rights later in that same year.
References[edit]
^ Billboard, March 3, 1979
^ The first Beatles tapes and the resulting lawsuits
External links[edit]
Media Home Entertainment on IMDbPro (subscription required)
The Nostalgia Merchant on IMDbPro (subscription required)
Fox Hills Video on IMDbPro (subscription required)
Categories:
- Home video companies of the United States
- Defunct media companies of the United States
- Entertainment companies based in California
- Media companies established in 1979
- Media companies disestablished in 1993
- 1979 establishments in California
- 1993 disestablishments in California
- Defunct companies based in the Greater Los Angeles Area
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