Video Collection International

Video Collection International (VCI) was a UK-based home video company, founded in 1984 as The Video Collection.

 History 
Originally part of Prestwich Group, based in New Southgate, London, it was the subject of a management takeover led by Steve Ayres as chief executive and Paddy Toomey (formerly Woolworths) as managing director. The vision for Sell Through Video was born with the powerful company Woolworths leading retail sales. After becoming an independent company in 1985, The Video Collection became the largest home video distributor in the UK. It also had two European divisions: Vídeo Colección, SA in Spain, Vidéo Collection France in France, as well as Strand VCI Entertainment (renamed Strand Home Video in 1992) in North America (sold in 1994 to The Handleman Company). The Video Collection was commonly in partnership with British television channels ITV and Channel 4, and distributed many of their titles from their franchises, such as Thomas & Friends. The Video Collection also managed the budget label Cinema Club. Due to financial difficulties in 1995 it was renamed to VCI. In 1999 the company was sold to the Kingfisher group. Kingfisher split the company into Woolworths Group in July 2001. In 2004 it merged with 2 Entertain, along with BBC Video, which is why VCI closed in 2005.

References

Other websites
 Official site

Category:Companies