CBS/Fox Video

**The CBS/Fox Company** doing business under the brand **CBS/Fox Video** was a home video entertainment company formed and established in June 1982. It was a merger between 20th Century-Fox Video (formerly Magnetic Video Corporation) and CBS Video Enterprises. CBS/Fox released videos in the VHS, Laserdisc, and Betamax home video formats.

The company's headquarters were in Farmington Hills, Michigan (home of its predecessor Magnetic Video) until 1985, when it moved to Livonia, Michigan. In 1989, it moved its headquarters to New York City, where it stayed until it became Fox Video (now 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment) in 1991.

CBS/Fox Video was founded under a 50-50 venture with 20th Century Fox in 1982 when CBS broke off a previous experience formed in 1980 with MGM. During this period, both companies independently operated while maintaining their partnership. A reorganization occurred in 1990 with CBS selling products under the **CBS Video** name (which they sparingly used since the 1970s) and mainstream Fox titles controlled by FoxVideo; Fox enacted the change in 1991. In the early 2000s, CBS/Fox ceased operations.

## History

### Video rental library

Before CBS/Fox Video existed, 20th Century Fox Video released a few titles for rental only. These titles include *Dr. No*, *A Fistful of Dollars*, *Rocky*, *Taps*, *For Your Eyes Only*, *Omen III: The Final Conflict*, *La cage aux folles II*, and *Star Wars*. While sale tapes were in big boxes that were later used by CBS/Fox in its early years, they packaged Video Rental Library tapes in black clamshell cases. Other companies took similar approaches.

## FoxVideo, Inc.

### **Successor**

20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment

### **Products**

Pre-Recorded VHS
Pre-Recorded Betamax

### **Parent**

20th Century Fox

In 1982, CBS formed a 50-50 venture with 20th Century Fox after Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer broke off a joint venture with CBS, MGM/CBS Home Video, to market videocassettes and videodiscs. They publicly announced the venture on June 18, 1982. They announced CBS's 40-acre film, and both companies would operate the production facility in Studio City, California (currently known as the CBS Studio Center). In the process, CBS and Fox continued to independently supply programs for the home video market, while CBS/Fox provided films from motion picture studios.

CBS/Fox inherited deals from its predecessors Magnetic Video and 20th Century-Fox Video to distribute films from other companies, such as United Artists films. The UA titles distributed by CBS/Fox consisted mainly of pre-MGM merger titles (although at the time, MGM held the video rights to some pre-merger films that they hadn't released on video yet), films from the *James Bond* and *Rocky* series (some post-merger *Bond* and *Rocky* 1980s sequels were released by CBS/Fox as well), and some low profile post-merger films under license from MGM/UA. These UA films were later issued through MGM/UA Home Video (now, MGM Home Entertainment) starting in 1989 (although Fox would later release the post-April 1986 MGM library years later).

Other deals gave CBS/Fox films from Lorimar, including films inherited from Allied Artists (which Lorimar had purchased in 1979). Even after acquiring Karl Home Video in 1984 and renaming it to Karl-Lorimar Home Video, some Lorimar titles continued to be distributed by CBS/Fox until Warner Home Video took over distribution after Warner Bros purchased Lorimar in 1989. Specific Tri-Star Pictures releases also went through CBS/Fox, as CBS, alongside Columbia Pictures and HBO, was a Tri-Star partner (accordingly, they split Tri-Star output during the era between CBS/Fox, RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video, and HBO's various video labels). CBS/Fox also secured rights from George Lucas for the video release of *The Empire Strikes Back* for $12 million on August 30, 1984. Lucas claimed the deal was to prevent the film from being broadcast on television.

In 1985, CBS and 20th Century Fox secured a financial package that saw both companies generate between $75 and $100 million. The deal also included the offering of bonds with the investment firm Drexel Burnham Lambert. Also that year, CBS/Fox became the American licensee of BBC Video products.

In 1987, the company increased its rights to BBC Video after buying the rights to 600 titles. When asked about how the agreement came to light, then-CBS/Fox president Leonard White said, "The deal is timed to coincide with the BBC's 50th anniversary". Within a month of the announcement, CBS/Fox released a definitive line-up of films named "Five Star Collection IV," which included 28 films. Such films included *Revenge of the Nerds*, *Cat's Eye* and *Oxford Blues*. In 1989, the company began releasing NBA Entertainment titles. In November 1989, the company filed a lawsuit against MGM/UA over a broken video distribution agreement. The claim was that CBS/Fox lost revenue after video releases ended up being films that did not perform well in cinemas while MGM/UA distributed higher-grossing films. The two companies had been placed in a bad relationship since 1981 when MGM bought United Artists, and CBS broke away from their previous joint venture with MGM to form CBS/Fox. They settled the case on June 26, 1992, when both companies resolved their differences.

### The 1990s

In 1990–1991, CBS/Fox began releasing titles from the then-bankrupt Media Home Entertainment. At the end of 1990, CBS/Fox reported they controlled 6.5% of the home video market and said $249 million in revenues.

In March 1991, a reorganization of the company was made, which would give Fox greater control of the joint venture. They transferred all of CBS/Fox's distribution functions to the newly formed FoxVideo, taking over exclusive distribution of all 20th Century Fox products. CBS began releasing their products under the "CBS Video" name (which they sparingly used since the 1970s), with CBS/Fox handling marketing and FoxVideo handling distribution. CBS/Fox would retain the license to non-theatrical products from third parties, including those from BBC Video and the NBA.

### The end of CBS/Fox Video

20th Century Fox founded 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment in 1995 as an umbrella encompassing FoxVideo, CBS/Fox, and several other divisions, including Fox Interactive. Over the next three years, they phased out the FoxVideo and CBS/Fox names favouring TCFHE. In 1998, CBS/Fox Video released its final three titles: *FernGully 2*, *Our Friend Martin*, and *Walking with Dinosaurs*.

In 2000, CBS finalized their merger with Viacom, and the CBS/Fox partnership ceased existence. However, even after the corporate split, CBS/Fox did still own some ancillary rights to two Rodgers and Hammerstein film properties, *Oklahoma!* and *South Pacific*, until 20th Century Fox could fully assume CBS/Fox's former share of these films. The BBC's license with CBS/Fox ended in Summer 2000, and Warner Home Video took over distribution.

## Specialty labels

CBS/Fox used specialty labels for children's and families' videos, music videos, and sports videos. In addition to its main CBS/Fox label, which was mostly A-list fare (although CBS/Fox also released the three Porky's, first Bachelor Party (1984) and first two Revenge of the Nerds (1984 & 1987) movies with their low budgets and concepts and mostly young or unknown casts on it), CBS/Fox maintained two other labels, **Key Video** (mostly B and drive-in fare and some made for television films, plus some of the a.a.p./United Artists back catalogue and low-profile Tri-Star, MGM/UA and Fox releases); and **Playhouse Video** (children's and family films and programs, including *Planet of the Apes* 1968-1973 films, Shirley Temple's films, The Muppets videos, Mr. Rogers videos, and Dr. Seuss specials by DePatie-Freleng Enterprises); CBS/Fox also used this label on the earliest *Doctor Who* VHS releases. These became inactive by 1991, though 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment reactivated the Key Video label as **Key DVD**.

## Anti-piracy measures

To prevent unauthorized tape duplication, CBS/Fox became an early adopter of Macrovision anti-piracy technology. In countries such as Australia, the company introduced a coloured spine that was either yellow or blue on VHS tapes. On Betamax cassettes, a polarized seal was present. CBS/Fox took these measures to ensure that consumers would have high-quality products.