Paramount Home Entertainment (formerly Paramount Home Media Distribution, and originally Paramount Home Video) is the home video distribution arm of

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

, a division of

Paramount Global Paramount Global ( doing business as Paramount) is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate owned and operated by National Amusements (79.4%) and headquartered at One Astor Plaza in Midtown Manhattan, New York. ...

. The division oversees PPC's home entertainment and transactional digital distribution activities worldwide. The division is responsible for the sales, marketing and distribution of home entertainment content on behalf of Paramount Pictures,

Paramount Players Paramount Players is an American film production label of Paramount Pictures, focusing on "contemporary properties" while working with other Paramount Global brands. The name alludes to the company's earliest origins as Famous Players Film Compa ...

Paramount Animation Paramount Animation is an American animation studio, serving as the animation division and label of Paramount Pictures, a subsidiary of Paramount Global. The division was founded on July 6, 2011, following the box office success of Paramount's ow ...

Paramount Television Studios Paramount Television Studios (formerly known as Paramount Television from 2013 to 2020) is an American television production and distribution company, that is a division of Paramount Pictures, a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It is the success ...

, CBS,

Paramount Media Networks Paramount Media Networks (formerly known as Warner Cable Communications, Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment, MTV Networks, Viacom Media Networks, and ViacomCBS Domestic Media Networks) is an American mass media division of Paramount Global tha ...

( Showtime,

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its networks division's Kids and Family Group. It ...

, VH1,

BET Black Entertainment Television (acronym BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting African-American audiences. It is owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global via BET Networks and has offices in New York City, Los ...

, and Comedy Central),

Paramount+ Paramount+ is an American subscription video on-demand service owned by Paramount Global. The service's content is drawn primarily from the libraries of CBS Media Ventures (including CBS Studios), Paramount Media Networks (formerly Viacom Media ...

, and applicable licensing and servicing of certain pre-2010

DreamWorks Pictures DreamWorks Pictures (also known as DreamWorks SKG and formerly DreamWorks Studios, commonly referred to as DreamWorks) is an American film company and distribution label of Amblin Partners. It was originally founded on October 12, 1994 as a liv ...

Miramax Miramax, LLC, also known as Miramax Films, is an American film and television production and distribution company founded on December 19, 1979, by brothers Harvey and Bob Weinstein, and based in Los Angeles, California. It was initially a lea ...

, pre-2005

Dimension Films Dimension Films is an American film production company owned by Lantern Entertainment. It was formerly used as Harvey and Bob Weinstein's label within Miramax, which was acquired by The Walt Disney Company on June 30, 1993, to produce and r ...

titles, and

DreamWorks Animation DreamWorks Animation LLC (DWA, also known as DreamWorks Animation Studios and simply known as DreamWorks) is an American animation studio that produces animated films and television programs and is a subsidiary of Universal Pictures, a divisio ...

films from 2006 to 2012, as well as select

IFC Films IFC Films is an American film production and distribution company based in New York. It is an offshoot of IFC owned by AMC Networks. It distributes mainly independent films under its own name, select foreign films and documentaries under its ...

titles and

Saban Films Saban Capital Group LLC is an American investment firm based in Los Angeles, California focused on media, entertainment, and communications investments. Formed in 2010 by Haim Saban, Saban Capital Group owns Saban Films, part of Univision Commu ...

titles. PHE additionally manages global licensing of studio content and transactional distribution across worldwide digital distribution platforms including online, mobile and portable devices and emerging technologies.

History

Before Paramount Home Entertainment was formed, Paramount released its video library through

Fotomat Fotomat was an American retail chain of photo development drive-through kiosks located primarily in shopping center parking lots. Fotomat Corporation was founded by Preston Fleet in San Diego, California, in the 1960s, with the first kiosk ope ...

. The relationship ended and Paramount soon formed its own video arm in 1979. In the UK and other countries, the Paramount Pictures film library were released on VHS by

CIC Video CIC Video was a home video distributor, established in 1980, owned by Cinema International Corporation (the forerunner of United International Pictures), and operated in some countries (such as United Kingdom, Australia, Brazil, Japan, France ...

alongside

Universal Pictures Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Americ ...

until 1999 before CIC was renamed to Paramount Home Entertainment UK and PolyGram Video was renamed to Universal Pictures Home Entertainment UK. In 2008, PHE launched a direct-to-video label, Paramount Famous Productions (with the "Famous" part of the name a throwback to the days when the company was called Famous Players). In 2011, due to a company restructure, PHE was renamed Paramount Home Media Distribution. In May 2019, PHMD reverted its name back to Paramount Home Entertainment, which is the name they carried from 1999 to 2011.

HD DVD and Blu-ray support

Paramount brands the majority of its HD content under the label 'Paramount High Definition' which is seen both on the title box cover and as an in-movie opening. Films from Paramount subsidiaries such as

Nickelodeon Movies Nickelodeon Movies is the film production arm of American children's network Nickelodeon and the family film distribution label of Paramount Pictures launched on February 25, 1995 and based in Los Angeles, California. The division has earned n ...

and

MTV Films MTV Entertainment Studios is the film and television production arm of MTV Entertainment Group, a subsidiary of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Founded in 1991 as MTV Productions, it is a consolidation of the former MTV ...

as well as from former sister studio DreamWorks use no special branding,

Paramount Vantage Paramount Vantage (also known as Paramount Classics) was a film distribution label of Paramount Pictures (which, in turn, has Paramount Global as its parent company), charged with producing, purchasing, distributing and marketing films, general ...

(another subsidiary) releases only select titles under the Paramount High Definition banner. In October 2005, Paramount announced that it would be supporting the HD video format

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...

in addition to rival format

HD DVD HD DVD (short for High Definition Digital Versatile Disc) is an obsolete high-density optical disc format for storing data and playback of high-definition video. Supported principally by Toshiba, HD DVD was envisioned to be the successor to the ...

, becoming the first studio to release on both formats. Its first four HD DVD releases came in July 2006, and it released four titles on Blu-ray two months later. In August 2007, Paramount (along with DreamWorks and

) announced their exclusive support for HD DVD. However, when other studios eventually dropped HD DVD and players for the technology stopped being manufactured, Paramount switched to Blu-ray. In May 2008, it released three titles on Blu-ray and continues to release its high-definition discs in that format exclusively.

Sub-labels

Paramount Famous Productions

Paramount Famous Productions was a sub-label of PHE, handling films released exclusively to home video formats without a theatrical release. The label was closed in 2011.

Paramount DVD

Paramount DVD is a sub-label of PHE exclusively found on DVD releases, generally noted by a logo animation with a DVD flying into the Paramount mountain and taking the shape of the outline created by the mountain.

Paramount High Definition

Paramount High Definition is a sub-label focusing on home media releases of Paramount's film and television library in high definition video formats.

Peanuts Home Video

Peanuts Home Video was a sub-label used under licence from

United Feature Syndicate United Feature Syndicate (UFS) is a large American editorial column and comic strip newspaper syndication service based in the United States and established in 1919. Originally part of E. W. Scripps Company, it was part of United Media (along ...

to distributed episodes of ''

The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show ''The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show'' (known as You're on Nickelodeon, Charlie Brown during reruns on Nickelodeon) is an American animated television series featuring characters and storylines from the Charles M. Schulz comic strip ''Peanuts'' a ...

'' and ''

Peanuts ''Peanuts'' is a syndicated daily and Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz. The strip's original run extended from 1950 to 2000, continuing in reruns afterward. ''Peanuts'' is among the most popular and inf ...

'' specials, including '' Snoopy! The Musical'', ''

It Was My Best Birthday Ever, Charlie Brown ''It Was My Best Birthday Ever, Charlie Brown'' is the 38th animated television special based on characters from the Charles M. Schulz comic strip ''Peanuts''. It is one of two direct-to-video ''Peanuts'' specials that have yet to air on U.S. TV. ...

'' (marketing) and many more.

References

{{Authority control American companies established in 1976 Home video companies of the United States Home video distributors Paramount Pictures Paramount Global subsidiaries Entertainment companies based in California Companies based in Los Angeles Entertainment companies established in 1976 Mass media companies established in 1976 1976 establishments in California