BBC Video

BBC Video is a video company of the United Kingdom and United States. It was established in 1980 as a division of BBC Enterprises with John Ross Barnard as head.

At launch, the BBC had no agreement with British talent unions such as Equity or the Musician's Union (MU), so BBC Video was limited in the television programming it could release. Initial videocassette and laserdisc releases were either programmes with no Equity or MU involvement, such as natural history and other documentaries, or material licensed from third parties, including feature films such as High Noon and the first video release of Deep Purple's "California Jam" concert.

For the first few years, videos were produced on both VHS and Betamax formats. The BBC also worked with Philips on early Laserdisc releases, including a notable ornithology disc called "British Garden Birds", presented by David Attenborough. This disc was published in 1982 and included digital data in the form of teletext, which could be read by any suitably-equipped television. This pioneering use of a data channel on a consumer video led directly to the development of the BBC Domesday Project in 1984-6. Since videos could have stereo soundtracks, BBC Video produced stereophonic versions of many programmes that had been broadcast in mono. These included the Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy (although release was delayed due to the lack of an Equity agreement) and the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer.

By 1982 an agreement had been reached with the Musicians' Union and this led to some popular music releases (including compilations by John Martyn and Tom Robinson).

The label established itself in 1984 when Director Of Home Entertainment, Tony Greenwood, launched titles including "Fawlty Towers", Postman Pat, "Pingu", "Fawlty Towers", "Doctor Who", "Monty Python's Flying Circus" and "Fireman Sam". The label grew significantly from 13 million turnover in 1989 to nearly 39 million in 1994. In 1991 BBC Video was the number 1 video label in the UK when more pre-recorded videotapes were sold by value and units than any other company, including all of the Hollywood studios. Best sellers in that year included "Doctor Who", "Blake's 7", Rosemary Conley, "Pingu", "Red Dwarf", "Only Fools and Horses", "Rab C Nesbitt", "Scotch and Wry" and a range of football tapes produced by now head of the Football Association, Brian Barwick.

BBC Video was well known for its releases of "Fawlty Towers", "Doctor Who", and "Monty Python's Flying Circus",. Titles released in the United Kingdom were released through 3M and then the company itself, while in America titles were released through CBS-Fox (from the 1980s-1990s) and more recently Warner Home Video (2000-present) and in Australia through Roadshow Entertainment.

External links

* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/ bbc.co.uk - BBC official website]