Gaiam Vivendi Entertainment (formerly known as Vivendi Entertainment, Vivendi Visual Entertainment and Visual Entertainment) is an independent film, television, DVD and digital distribution company operating in the United States and Canada. It is also a distribution partner for independent content providers.Home Media Magazine

History

Visual Entertainment was founded in 2004 to distribute DVDs as a division of

Universal Music Group Distribution Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...

, which in turn is a subsidiary of

Vivendi Vivendi SE is a French mass media holding company headquartered in Paris. Widely known as the owner of Gameloft, Groupe Canal+, Havas, Editis, Prisma Media, Vivendi Village and Dailymotion, the company has activities in television, film, video ...

. In 2006, Visual Entertainment was renamed Vivendi Visual Entertainment. In 2008, Vivendi Entertainment expanded from home video into theatrical distribution. On April 3, 2012, Universal disvested Vivendi Entertainment because of the buyout of

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 2012, ...

, and the company was acquired by

Gaiam Gaia, Inc., formerly Gaiam, is an American alternative media video streaming service and online community focusing on fringe-science and yoga. Founded by Jirka Rysavy in 1988, its brands include Gaiam TV; the latter's name was changed to Gaia i ...

and merged with its home entertainment division, renaming the combined subsidiary Gaiam Vivendi Entertainment. It was one of the three units of Universal Music, never fully owned by EMI, that were forced to be sold; other such units were

Sanctuary Records Sanctuary Records Group Limited was a record label based in the United Kingdom and is as of 2013 a subsidiary of BMG Rights Management solely for reissues. Until June 2007, it was the largest independent record label in the UK and the largest m ...

and

V2 Records V2 Records (or V2 Music; V2 being an abbreviation for Virgin 2) is a record label that was purchased by Universal Music Group in 2007 and sold to IASin 2013. In the Benelux, V2 operates separately from PIAS, as the label bought itself out from ...

. On October 17, 2013,

Cinedigm Cinedigm Corp. is an American entertainment company headquartered in Los Angeles, California. Cinedigm's businesses encompass digital cinema, streaming channels, content marketing, and distribution. History Early years Cinedigm Corp was founded ...

announced it was purchasing Gaiam Vivendi Entertainment for $51.5 million. Cinedigm plans to combine Gaiam Vivendi Entertainment with their existing home video business,

New Video New Video (stylized as NEWVIDEO) is an American entertainment distributor and collector of independent digital content. The company works with independent producers, filmmakers and television networks to curate content for many types of distrib ...

. The acquisition closed on October 21, 2013.

Services

The company has provided sales, marketing, and distribution services to studios such as

The Weinstein Company The Weinstein Company (usually credited or abbreviated as TWC) was an American independent film studio, founded in New York City by Bob and Harvey Weinstein in March 2005. TWC was one of the largest mini-major film studios in North America prio ...

World Wrestling Entertainment World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and va ...

The Jim Henson Company The Jim Henson Company (formerly known as Muppets, Inc., Henson Associates, Inc., and Jim Henson Productions, Inc.; commonly referred to as Henson) is an American entertainment company located in Los Angeles, California. The company is known for ...

, Salient Media,

NFL Films NFL Productions, LLC, doing business as NFL Films, is the film and television production company of the National Football League. It produces commercials, television programs, feature films, and documentaries for and about the NFL, as well as ...

Shout! Factory Shout! Factory is an American home video and music company founded in 2002 as Retropolis Entertainment. Its video releases include previously released feature films, classic and contemporary television series, animation, live music, and comedy ...

GoodTimes Entertainment GoodTimes Entertainment, Ltd. was an American home video company that originated in 1984 under the name of GoodTimes Home Video. Though it produced its own titles, the company was well known due to its distribution of media from third parties and ...

Classic Media Classic Media, LLC, doing business as DreamWorks Classics, is an American entertainment company owned by DreamWorks Animation, which is a subsidiary of Universal Pictures and a division of Comcast's NBCUniversal. It was founded as Classic Media ...

Hallmark Channel The Hallmark Channel is an American television channel owned by Crown Media Holdings, Inc., which in turn is owned by Hallmark Cards, Inc. The channel's programming is primarily targeted at families, and features a mix of television movies ...

, Indomina Releasing, Nasser Entertainment, Event Film,

RHI Entertainment Halcyon Studios, LLC., formerly known as Sonar Entertainment, RHI Entertainment, Hallmark Entertainment, Qintex Entertainment, HRI Group and Robert Halmi Inc., is an American entertainment company specializing in the production and distribution ...

Polychrome Pictures Polychrome Pictures, LLC, now defunct, was headquartered in Sherman Oaks, California, as a distributor of independent motion pictures on DVD, video on demand, and through digital distribution. Polychrome's independent film business in North Ameri ...

Sid and Marty Krofft Sid Krofft (born July 30, 1929) and Marty Krofft (born April 9, 1937) are a Canadian sibling team of television creators and puppeteers. Through their production company, Sid & Marty Krofft Pictures, they have made numerous children's television a ...

Eagle Rock Entertainment Eagle Rock Entertainment is an international producer and distributor of music films and programming. It operates two record labels (Eagle Records and Armoury Records), a full-service production company (Eagle Rock Productions) and a music publis ...

, Blowtorch Entertainment, Mill Creek Entertainment,

DHX Media WildBrain Ltd. (formerly known as DHX Media, Ltd.) is a Canadian media, animation studio, production, and brand licensing company, mostly associated as an entertainment company. The company is known for owning the largest library of childre ...

Saban Brands 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 Commun ...

Saban Entertainment Saban Entertainment, Inc. (along with Saban International; currently operating under the legal name is BVS Entertainment, Inc.) was a worldwide-served independent American-Israeli television production company formed in 1980 by Haim Saban and ...

Palisades Tartan Palisades Tartan is a British/American film distribution company, founded by US-based Palisades Media Group to take over the film library of film distributor Tartan Films after it folded in the summer of 2008. History Tartan Films, established i ...

Palm Pictures Palm Pictures is a US-based entertainment company owned and run by Chris Blackwell. Palm Pictures produces, acquires and distributes music and film projects with a particular focus on the DVD-Video format. Palm places an emphasis on such proje ...

Nelvana Nelvana Enterprises, Inc. (; previously known as Nelvana Limited, sometimes known as Nelvana Animation and simply Nelvana or Nelvana Communications) is a Canadian animation studio and entertainment company owned by Corus Entertainment. Found ...

Razor & Tie Razor & Tie was an American entertainment company that consisted of a record label and a music publishing company. It was established in 1990 by Craig Balsam and Cliff Chenfeld. Based in New York City (with additional offices in Los Angeles and ...

, Dargaud Media,

Pure Flix Entertainment Pinnacle Peak Pictures (formerly Pure Flix Entertainment) is an American evangelical Christian film production and distribution studio founded by David A. R. White and Russell Wolfe. Pinnacle Peak produces Christian films, including '' God's N ...

Codeblack Entertainment Codeblack Films is an American entertainment company. Codeblack focuses on films targeting African-American audiences. History Codeblack Enterprises was founded by Jeff Clanagan in 2005, who became CEO of the company. Originally focused on dire ...

, Melee Entertainment,

Dimension Extreme 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 rele ...

and

Genius Products Genius Products (also known as Genius Entertainment) was an entertainment company based in Santa Monica, California, United States. The ''Baby Genius'' line was one of a number of "smart toys" that came out in response to a study book about the ...

. The company has partnered with DHX Media by creating free episodes, "special collections", and "discounted seasons" for fans of the

Inspector Gadget ''Inspector Gadget'' is a media franchise that began in 1983 with the DIC Entertainment animated television series '' Inspector Gadget''. Since the original series, there have been many spin-offs based on the show, including additional animated ...

franchise in the US. On 10 September 2013, the company released ''Secret Millionaires Club: Volume 2'' on DVD.

References

{{Reflist 2004 establishments in California American companies established in 2004 Mass media companies established in 2004 Film distributors of the United States Film production companies of the United States Home video companies of the United States Former Vivendi subsidiaries Companies based in Los Angeles County, California 2012 mergers and acquisitions 2013 mergers and acquisitions Universal City, California Cinedigm