Press Release: PBS & Paramount to partner for video distribution... (1 Viewer)

[Scott Kimball]

PBS HOME VIDEO AND PARAMOUNT HOME ENTERTAINMENT TO PARTNER FOR VIDEO DISTRIBUTION

ALEXANDRIA, Va., January 15, 2004 - Judy Harris, Executive Vice President, PBS Businesses & Development, today announced that Paramount Home Entertainment will be PBS Home Video’s new video distribution partner for the U.S. and Canada. Beginning April 5, 2004, Paramount will bring PBS DVD and VHS releases to retailers across the country. The PBS Home Video library features award-winning titles, such as THE CIVIL WAR, BASEBALL, JAZZ and many other acclaimed films from Ken Burns, AMERICAN EXPERIENCE’s portrait of Seabiscuit and the popular children’s franchises, CAILLOU, SAGWA THE CHINESE SIAMESE CAT and TELETUBBIES, among many others.

“We are delighted to be working with Paramount Home Entertainment,” said Ms. Harris. “Not only are they an industry leader, but they have a genuine understanding of our brand and programming. With Paramount’s strong marketing ability and distribution strengths, we look forward to a very successful partnership.”

“The PBS and PBS Kids brands are synonymous with the highest quality TV programming,” said Thomas Lesinski, President, Paramount Pictures, Worldwide Home Entertainment. “Their blend of trusted children’s content and acclaimed documentary programming are the benchmark in the industry. We are very excited to be PBS’ new partner in the home entertainment business.”

PBS Home Video furthers PBS’ mission of lifelong learning by expanding the availability of PBS’ top-quality programs, which are seen by nearly 90 million viewers each week and are consistently honored in television’s most prestigious competitions. During the 2003 award year, PBS surpassed every other network for News and Documentary Emmys™, Daytime Emmys™ (for children’s programming), duPont-Columbia University Awards and Peabody Awards. PBS Home Video library includes acclaimed films from Ken Burns, Ric Burns and David Grubin, icon series such as AMERICAN EXPERIENCE, FRONTLINE and NOVA and children’s favorites CAILLOU, SAGWA and TELETUBBIES. Among the many honors received by PBS Home Video titles are the DVD Association Excellence Awards, Parent’s Choice Awards and the Oppenheimer Toy Portfolio Awards.

PBS, headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, is a private, nonprofit media enterprise owned and operated by the nation's 349 public television stations. Serving nearly 90 million people each week, PBS enriches the lives of all Americans through quality programs and education services on noncommercial television, the Internet and other media. More information about PBS is available at pbs.org, the leading dot-org Web site on the Internet.

Paramount Home Entertainment is a division of Paramount Pictures, which is part of the entertainment operations of Viacom Inc., one of the world’s largest entertainment and media companies, and a leader in the production, promotion, and distribution of entertainment, news, sports and music.

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

Interesting press release, I can't wait to see what PBS and Paramount come up with for releases. The only PBS set I've bought so far is Baseball: a film by Ken Burns, but I have my eye on the civil war set.

 

[Brian PB]

I am dying to own Eyes on the Prize I & II (certainly the best series of documentaries on the Civil Rights movement) on DVD, though I'm not sure that PBS owns the rights (I believe the independent production company Blackside does--but PBS would be the logical source to put it out). If this new arrangement results in more PBS documentaries on DVD, I'm all for it.

 

[Greg Krewet]

I am wondering if BBC titles will also switch over to Paramount also.
Best
Greg

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

I forgot about this series until it was mentioned in the above post. It is a very well done documentary, and I would definitely buy this on DVD also I got to watch it in U.S. History class as a high school Junior.

 

[Kraig Lang]

The Lewis and Clark documentary by Ken Burn's was also outstanding. The whole family sat and watched that one on a rainy sunday afternoon.

 

[Jason Seaver]

Doubtful, unless they're co-productions. And even then, they're just as likely to be co-productions with individual PBS stations (for example, The Inspector Lynley Mysteries are produced by the BBC and WGBH Boston, not PBS), with the rights likely staying with the BBC.

 

[Randy_M]

I've been waiting for The Adams Chronicles (70's miniseries) for forever. I sure hope there's a possibility of a DVD release now.

That show was one of the best productions I ever saw on TV.