please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . learn how and when to remove these template messages this article needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . january 2015 learn how and when to remove this template message this article possibly contains original research . please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations . statements consisting only of original research should be removed . august 2015 learn how and when to remove this template message learn how and when to remove this template message 2 entertain limited former type public limited company industry video and music publishing founded september 2004 defunct 2010 headquarters london uk 1 parent bbc worldwide website www.2entertain.co.uk dead link 2 entertain is a british video and music publisher formed by the merger of bbc video and video collection international in 2004 . under ceo richard green the company operated as a joint venture between bbc worldwide and the woolworths group until bbc bought out woolworths share following the latter s administration in 2010 . contents 1 history 1.1 bbc video 1.2 video collection international 2 releases 3 see also 4 references 5 external links history edit bbc video edit this section does not cite any sources . please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . august 2015 learn how and when to remove this template message the first bbc video opening logo used from 1980 1988 . bbc video was established in 1980 as a division of bbc enterprises later bbc worldwide with john ross barnard as the head . at launch the bbc had no agreement with british talent unions such as equity or the musician s union mu so bbc video was limited in the television programming it could release . initially video cassette and laser disc releases were either programmes with no equity or mu involvement such as natural history and other documentaries or material licensed from third parties including feature films such as high noon and the first video release of deep purple s california jam concert . for the first few years the bbc produced videotapes in both vhs and beta max formats . the company also worked with philips on early laserdisc releases including a notable ornithology disc called british garden birds presented by david attenborough . this disc was published in 1982 and included digital data in the form of teletext which could be read by any suitably equipped television . this pioneering use of a data channel on a consumer video format led directly to the development of the bbc domesday project in 1984 86 . since videos could have stereo soundtracks bbc video produced stereophonic versions of many programmes that had been broadcast in mono . these included the hitch hiker s guide to the galaxy although release was delayed for lack of an equity agreement and the wedding of charles prince of wales and lady diana spencer . by 1982 an agreement had been reached with the musicians union and this led to some popular music releases including compilations by john martyn and tom robinson . the label established itself in 1984 . the label grew significantly from 13 million turnover in 1989 to nearly 39 million in 1994 . in 1991 bbc video was the number one video label in the uk when it sold more prerecorded videotapes by value as well as by unit count than any other company including all of the hollywood studios . bbc video was well known for its releases of fawlty towers doctor who and monty python s flying circus as well as the children s programmes postman pat fireman sam and pingu . the company release titles in the united kingdom through 3m as well as directly while releasing them in north america through cbs fox from the 1980s to 1990s originally through the children s subsidiary playhouse video for doctor who until unedited releases began and more recently warner home video 2000 present and in australia through roadshow entertainment and abc video dvd . video collection international edit this section needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . august 2015 learn how and when to remove this template message video collection international was a video company based in the uk . it was opened in 1984 . originally part of the prestwich group based in new southgate london the company was subject to a management buyout headed by steve ayres ceo and paddy toomey ex woolworths as md. the vision of sell through video was born with the strong woolworths association driving the retail sales . with these individuals at the helm the company expanded rapidly securing the market lead in retail video sales throughout the mid to late 1980s and into the early to mid 1990s . the company mainly served as a home video label for itv television programmes but launched the central video granada media thames video abc video channel 4 video and the cinema club labels in the process . the cinema club label mainly consisted of re releases of films from the late 1960s and early 1970s . after suffering financial losses in 1995 the company changed its name to vci and discontinued the central video label . it discontinued the cinema club label in 1999 and re established it under the filmfour name though the cinema club logo would still be used for occasional budgeted titles after that . at its peak vci plc consisted of video collection ltd music collection ltd andr deutsch book publisher and disc distribution . in 1999 the business was sold to the kingfisher group . in 1999 filmfour began releasing dvds . the company split into two arms publishing vci based in dean street london and vci distribution which also handled third party distribution for labels outside its own stable based in watford and the old premises in new southgate . soon after the company discontinued thames video and introduced the granada media label which would soon appear on most vci titles . in 2005 channel 4 video later 4dvd became a separate company . following the formation of itv plc in 2004 vci created the granada ventures division . in 2006 granada ventures was rebranded as itv dvd and in 2009 as itv studios home entertainment . vci had by now become part of the woolworths group . bbc worldwide and woolworths group merged vci with bbc video to create 2 entertain video part of their new joint venture company 2 entertain . vci is perhaps most well known as the main home video distributor for the iconic children s television programme thomas & friends . confusion often arose between this uk based company and the tulsa oklahoma based home video label vci entertainment founded in 1976 by bill blair . at the height of the uk label s popularity the us based label rebranded themselves as united home video ; however they returned to the vci name in the mid 90s and have retained it ever since . 2 releases edit main article list of bbc home video releases see also edit sony pictures home entertainment channel 4 bbc references edit contact us . 2 entertain . retrieved 20 august 2013 . about us . vcientertainment.com . retrieved 23 august 2015 . external links edit official website bbc worldwide s consumer products official website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title 2 entertain & oldid 741623997 categories 2004 establishments in the united kingdom2010 disestablishments in the united kingdombbcdvd companies of the united kingdomentertainment companies established in 2004f . w. woolworth companyhome video distributorsmedia companies disestablished in 2010hidden categories articles needing additional references from january 2015all articles needing additional referencesarticles that may contain original research from august 2015all articles that may contain original researchuse british english from march 2012use dmy dates from march 2012articles needing additional references from august 2015 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 28 september 2016 at 17 44 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non 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