Sony Pictures Home Entertainment is the home video distribution arm of Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation. It was established in 1978 as Columbia Pictures Home Entertainment.
It is responsible for the distribution of the Sony Pictures library for home entertainment, mainly releases from Columbia Pictures and TriStar Pictures, but also releases product from Sony Pictures Classics, Screen Gems, Triumph Films, Destination Films, Revolution Studios, Stage 6 Films, and Affirm Films. Since June 21, 2007, SPHE now handles its former Sony BMG kids label, Sony Wonder.
They are also responsible for their television shows from the Sony Pictures Television library from Screen Gems, Columbia Pictures Television, TriStar Television, Tandem Productions, ELP Communications (shows include from TAT Communications to ELP Communications), Columbia TriStar Television and Sony Pictures Television.
The company was formerly known as Columbia Pictures Home Entertainment (1978-1982), RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video (a joint venture with RCA, 1983-1991), Columbia TriStar Home Video (1991-2001), and finally Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment (1999-2004), before taking on its current name in fall 2004. In some territories, it still goes by its previous identity, however this may not be the case for much longer. In the United Kingdom (and other foreign countries, mainly in Europe), it was known as RCA/Columbia Pictures International Video during the 1980s and early '90s.
As RCA-Columbia Pictures Home Video, the company distributed many films from New Line Cinema and a number from CineTel Films on VHS.
It also has an Australian deal with Hoyts.
Because it is Sony owned,SPHE must support the Blu-ray HD Format.
Australian subsidiary and recent sub-labels
The Australian operations was a joint venture between RCA/Columbia Pictures Video and local distributor Hoyts. It was known as RCA-Columbia Pictures-Hoyts Video, and released many local titles in addition to Columbia Pictures titles. Prior to this, releases were handled through CEL. In the early 1990s, the company was renamed Columbia TriStar Hoyts Home Video, before Hoyts dropped out of the partnership.
During this time, the company also had some sub-labels, including:
- First Release Home Entertainment - a mixture of B-movie, TriStar and some mainstream releases in Australia
- Video Box Office - a mixture of B-movies and some mainstream releases in Australia
- Magic Window - children's titles
- RCA-Columbia Pictures International Video - international movies
- SVS-Triumph - titles from Triumph Films, and some lesser-known Columbia and TriStar releases (It was originally founded in 1986 as Sony Video Services and was renamed after the formation of Sony Pictures.)
- Gaumont-Columbia-RCA Video - A French home video label that released movies by Gaumont, Columbia Pictures, TriStar, and Triumph Films originally formed in 1982. It was later renamed as Gaumont-Columbia TriStar Home Video in 1991.
When Hoyts' then-new owners, Consolidated Press Holdings, re-established Hoyts Distribution, Nine Films and Television was formed. Releases from Nine and Hoyts are now distributed on video and DVD by SPHE.
SPHE and MGM
Since 2005, when Sony and four partners acquired MGM from Kirk Kerkorian, SPHE held the domestic home entertainment rights to MGM's 4,000 film and 10,400 TV episode library, although those releases are still being distributed under the MGM DVD label.
In autumn 2006, MGM shifted most of its home entertainment output to 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, which had already been distributing MGM's catalog internationally since 2001. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment continues to handle video distribution of MGM/UA/Sony co-releases (i.e. through Columbia, TriStar, and Sony Pictures Classics) (such as the 2006 version of Casino Royale) in which the latter studio is majority partner and distributor as Sony still owns 20% of MGM, whereas Fox has no controlling interest.
SPHE is also distributing Blood and Chocolate on DVD despite the fact that MGM distributed the film on its own in selected theaters. This is due to the fact that MGM had the distribution rights for it before MGM was bought.
Criticism
- Sony has been criticized by many DVD consumers for business practices they find bothersome; for instance, several movies (ranging from Guess Who's Coming to Dinner to Moscow on the Hudson) that were made available with a widescreen and pan-and-scan version on either side were reissued as pan-and-scan only titles. There was also discontent over their decision to release pan-and-scan only versions of Annie, Matilda, and Castle Keep, but only in the case of the final film did the director, Sydney Pollack, intervene and get a widescreen version issued (John Huston, director of Annie, died in 1987, and Danny DeVito did not comment on the DVD of his film Matilda). Annie in particular has a strange DVD history; the original 2000 DVD featured both widescreen and pan-and-scan versions of this 1982 Panavision musical, but the widescreen version was misframed, but later repressed. [1] However, the corrected version was pulled and replaced with a pan-and-scan only "Special Anniversary Edition" (with a DTS soundtrack) in 2004, while other countries received widescreen versions of the reissue. Similarly, Ghostbusters II and White Nights were released on Laserdisc letterboxed to an aspect ratio of 1.85:1, even though both titles were shot in anamorphic 2.35:1. The DVD of Ghostbusters II corrects this problem, but White Nights is still incorrectly displayed at 1.85:1.
- In another incident, the third season DVD set of Married with Children did not feature the Frank Sinatra theme song Love and Marriage due to a licensing dispute between SPHE and the publishers of the song. Many fans were upset that the theme had to be replaced, and has been replaced on all subsequent sets. [2]
- Also, some episodes of TV series the studio has released on DVD have been edited syndication versions, though most episodes are the unedited versions. One recent offense is a whole story point missing from volume 1 of Norman Lear's satirical soap opera Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman). [3]
- Sony Pictures Home Entertainment is also known to release older TV sitcoms very slowly and then go into hiatus, e.g. All in the Family, Diff'rent Strokes, The Facts of Life, Silver Spoons, The Jeffersons, Who's The Boss?, 227, and others. However, some shows went into release limbo but have since reappeared such as The Partridge Family, Barney Miller, and The Nanny.
- The recent repackaging of individual seasons as complete series sets with Sanford and Son, Good Times, What's Happening!!, Soap, and NewsRadio were criticized because they held the discs (which ranged from 9 to 18 depending on how many seasons exist per show) on a plastic spindle, similar to those in stacks of blank DVD-Rs, that made it difficult to access individual discs. Some fans considered the physical packages cheap and shoddy.
- In June 2009, Sony released Season 7 of the acclaimed TV series The Shield with no subtitles or closed captioning, even though seasons 1 through 6 had been fully subtitled like most DVD's. This unleashed a torrent of criticism.
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