Radio Rentals

Radio Rentals was formed in 1930 in Brighton, Sussex, UK to rent out radio sets by Percy Perring-Thoms with a turnover in the first year of £780. It later moved into televisions and ultimately video recorders. In 1964 (reference: Radio Rentals Staff Handbook) it merged with RentaSet, Joseph Robinson's similarly formed company. Then in 1968 it was acquired by Thorn Electrical Industries and joined with Thorn's DER chain (founded 1938) as part of Thorn Television Rentals (TTR) though the two companies were run completely separately with different staff and vehicles etc. In 1980 TTR and thus Radio Rentals became part of the merged Thorn-EMI, and in 2000 it merged with Granada Limited to form boxclever. The company still trades as Radio Rentals in Australia.

Radio Rentals operated mainly in the UK, having started life in Boyces Street Brighton, Sussex, England. Growth of a public TV service after the war encouraged more people to want TV sets but they were expensive, leaving an opportunity for companies like RR to offer them at a monthly rental price which was much more affordable. With the coming of colour services, initially on BBC2 only, a further opportunity for renting was created. On 15 November 1969, colour broadcasts on both BBC channels and the ITV network became available from the main transmitter sites around the UK. This led to a boom in rental of the sets.

Later, in the latter 1970s, video recorders appeared on the market but were expensive. Only 5% of UK households had video recorders in 1980. Radio Rentals elected to offer Baird branded JVC VHS machines from 1977 onwards. With the advent of satellite broadcasting in the 1980s, Radio Rentals offered a range of equipment for rent, enabling more viewers to watch both Sky Television services and British Satellite Broadcasting services. (These broadcasters were later to merge and form British Sky Broadcasting.)

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