MGM-UA Home Video
|
Formerly called
|
MGM Home Video (1975–1980) MGM/CBS Home Video (1980–1982) MGM/UA Home Video (1982–1998) |
|---|---|
| Home video division of MGM | |
| Industry | Home video |
| Founded | 1975 |
| Headquarters | USA |
| Products |
DVD Blu-ray |
| Owner | MGM Holdings |
| Parent | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Home Entertainment LLC is the home video arm of the American media company Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
The home video division of MGM started in 1975 as MGM Home Video, releasing all the movies and TV shows by MGM. In 1980, MGM joined forces with CBS Video Enterprises, the home video division of the CBS television network, and established MGM/CBS Home Video. In October of that year, they released their first batch of Betamax and VHS tapes.
The initial printings of all 24 films were packaged in brown leather clamshell cases with gold lettering; they were presented to CBS executives. Later printings of these films, as well as all printings of later releases by MGM/CBS, were packaged in oversized gray book-style boxes with either the MGM Abstract Lion print logo or CBS Video print logo in the upper right hand corner of the packaging. MGM/CBS also issued some early tapes of Lorimar product; those releases would instead bear the Lorimar print logo where the MGM or CBS Video print logo would normally be.
In 1982, a year after MGM bought and merged with the near-bankrupt United Artists, CBS dropped out of the video partnership with MGM and moved to 20th Century Fox to create CBS/Fox Video. MGM's video division became known as MGM/UA Home Entertainment Group, Inc., more commonly known as MGM/UA Home Video. MGM/UA continued to license pre-1981 UA and pre-1950 WB films (as well as some post-1981 titles) to CBS/Fox (due to an agreement UA had with Fox years earlier dating back to when CBS/Fox Home Video was called Magnetic Video).
In 1986, MGM's pre-May 1986 library (also including the pre-1950 Warner Bros. library, Bugs Bunny: Superstar, the Fleischer Studios/Famous Studios Popeye cartoons, most US rights to the RKO Pictures library, and Gilligan's Island and its animated spin-offs), was acquired by Ted Turner and his company Turner Entertainment Co.. After the library was acquired, MGM/UA signed a deal with Turner to continue distributing the pre-May 1986 MGM and to begin distributing the pre-1950 Warner Bros. libraries for video release (the rest of the library went to Turner Home Entertainment).
...
Wikipedia