20th Century Fox Home Entertainment story (post-1982)

In February 1982, when founding member Andre Blay exited Magnetic Video to form his own concern, Blay Video (which morphed into Embassy Home Entertainment), 20th Century-Fox renamed the firm as 20th Century-Fox Video. One of the first things, and perhaps the most notable thing, that Fox did under the new name was put up some of its titles for rental only, in the manner that Walt Disney Home Video, Warner Home Video, and MGM/CBS Home Video already did. Some of the company's for-rental-only tapes included those of the United Artists films Dr. No, A Fistful of Dollars, Rocky, and For Your Eyes Only and the Fox films Taps and Star Wars (well before it became Episode IV). The company was to have a short life though.

Over at CBS, the network had a relationship with MGM (hence MGM/CBS) but it was on the rocks effective with the August 1981 announcement that MGM would merge with United Artists and had plans to form a video unit with the latter studio. CBS' employees were disgusted at the announcement, sensing it as a breach of the terms of the deal MGM had made with them in 1980. CBS wanted, however, to persevere with the idea of having their unit being combined with that of another studio, and went shopping. Finally, they happened upon 20th Century-Fox and on June 18, 1982, it was announced that the two companies would form CBS/Fox Video and that Fox would have a 50% stake in the Studio Center, the 40-acre film and production facility that CBS owned in Studio City, California. (Fox also owned the Century City studios in Los Angeles and because it was a bit tough to run both, Fox ended up selling their stake to Mary Tyler Moore, hence it being renamed to CBS-MTM studios; her stake was sold to the UK broadcaster TVS along with the rest of her properties in 1986.)

CBS and Fox continued to supply programming independently of each other (it was from MGM/CBS that CBS brought over the Lorimar films since the production company had an exclusive video deal with CBS Video Enterprises back then) and supplied various films from motion picture companies (when Embassy Home Entertainment was formed, the Avco Embassy films were ported over to that company). In 1985, it became the distributor of videos made by the BBC for the US-Canadian market, which was in place until the end of CBS/Fox's existence. It also released the Empire Strikes Back under a deal made with George Lucas for $12M where he saw to it that the movie was not shown on television at the time (though it occasionally is now).
In 1985, CBS and Fox secured a financial deal where the companies would reap profits of between $75-100M, including bond dealings with Drexel Burnham Lambert. During the deal, they left the 8 year home of Farmington Hills, Michigan (originally home to Magnetic Video) for nearby Livonia. In 1989, CBS/Fox moved to New York City.

On December 31, 1987, CBS/Fox's home video rights to the a.a.p. library reverted to Ted Turner, who bought it and the pre-May 1986 MGM film/TV show library after his unsuccessful ownership of MGM/UA. that year, CBS/Fox usurped the rights to 600 BBC broadcasts; "the deal is timed to coincide with the BBC's 50th anniversary", then-president Leonard White said back then. Some time after that, they reissued many tapes for $29.98 under the banner "Five Star Collection IV", compiling The Empire Strikes Back, Carrie, Cat's Eye, Return to Boggy Creek, The Omen, Damien: Omen II, The Final Conflict: Omen III, Alien, Sanctuary of Fear, The Night Stalker, Young Frankenstein, Hound of the Baskervilles, The Day The Earth Stood Still, Rollerball, The Stunt Man, WarGames, Iron Eagle, Bachelor Party, The Man with One Red Shoe, Revenge of the Nerds, all three of the Porky's films, All the Right Moves, Alice's Restaurant, Hair, Oxford Blues and Teachers. They also began acting as a distributor of Media Home Entertainment's tapes in 1990, when Gerald Ronson, the head of its parent company, Heron Communications, was found to be involved in the UK's Guinness share-trading fraud.

In November 1989, CBS/Fox sued MGM/UA over a breach of video distribution contract, feeling that the company got ripped off because MGM/UA ended distributing the more successful movies from the UA lineup while CBS/Fox mostly got flops, never mind that CBS/Fox had the latest James Bond 007 movies of the decade. The case was settled on June 26, 1992, when both companies resolved their differences.

In March 1991, a reorganization of the company was made, which would give Fox greater control of the joint venture. All of CBS/Fox's distribution functions were transferred to the newly formed FoxVideo, which would become the exclusive distributor of all 20th Century Fox products; FoxVideo would originate from Fox Plaza in the Los Angeles suburb of Century City. CBS performed quite similar functions under the "CBS Video" name. CBS/Fox handled marketing and FoxVideo handled distribution, with pressing duties handled by Rank Video Services America, hence the RVS stamp on many tapes during the period. CBS/Fox would retain the license to non-theatrical products from third parties, including those from BBC Video until Auntie Beeb instead went to Warner at the end of 2000, along with various sports programs from the NBA and NHL. Fox got a third video arm in 1995 with the forming of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. CBS/Fox Video folded into CBS Home Entertainment, FoxVideo and TCFHE in 1998; FoxVideo itself folded into TCFHE a year later, after CBS merged with Viacom.

Today's 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment has been most successful with season box sets of the Simpsons on DVD. Their films were not on the format for its first two years due to them instead choosing to release their films on the DIVX format (not codec); in 1999, Fox started releasing DVDs due to the failure of this early stab at a digital rental service. TCFHE also distributes MGM and United Artists titles since MGM ended their home video agreement with Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. It also distributes films from Relativity Media, EuropaCorp U.S.A., Annapurna Pictures and Entertainment One. They release product from Pathé in the UK and Yari Film Group in Region 1. They released Blu-Rays since 2006 and HIT Entertainment product from that year until 2008.

A videography will follow.