WCI Home Video was founded in 1978 and launched in the United States with twenty films on
Betamax and
VHS videocassettes in late 1979. Warner Bros. was the second Hollywood studio to enter the video market, following
Twentieth Century-Fox, with the formation of Warner Home Video in 1979. The company later expanded its line to include additional titles throughout 1979 and 1980. Warner Bros. began to branch out into the videodisc market, licensing titles to MCA
DiscoVision and RCA's
SelectaVision videodisc formats, allowing both companies to market and distribute the films under their labels. By 1985, Warner Bros. was releasing material under their own label in both formats. The origin of the DVD can be traced back to 1986, when Warner president
Warren Lieberfarb first advocated for the development of a format to put movies on a five-inch optical disc, similar to the CD that had taken the music industry by storm a few years earlier. Titles from Warner Home Video are distributed and manufactured by
Roadshow Home Video in Australia and New Zealand because of its film counterpart's films released by
Village Roadshow. In the early 1980s, Warner Home Video also experimented with the "rental-only" market for videos, Two known films released in this manner were
Superman II (1980) and
Excalibur (1981). Other films released for rental use include
Dirty Harry (1971),
The Enforcer (1976),
Prince of the City (1981), and ''
Sharky's Machine'' (1981). Warner executive Morton Fink devised a plan for dealers to rent films from the studios for a six-month period, but this idea was rejected by video dealers, as they had already found a way to decrease their inventory. In 1990, Warner Home Video acquired the worldwide home video rights to the
MGM/UA catalog. The $125 million purchase was used to finance MGM/UA's acquisition by the
Pathé Communications Corporation. The intended 12½-year-long deal was cut short in February 2000, with MGM paying Warner Home Video $225 million to regain video rights to its 5,100-title film library. In exchange, Warner Home Video gained full control over the video rights to MGM's pre-1986 library, an asset the studio had acquired from
Turner Entertainment Co., but due to a pre-existing licensing deal with MGM, was originally expected to expire in 2003. In December 1996, Warner Home Video was one of the first major American distributors for the then-new
DVD format in Japan, releasing the films
Assassins (1995), ''
Blade Runner: Director's Cut, Eraser (1996), and The Fugitive (1993) on DVD in Japan and in March 1997, in the U.S. with Twister'' (1996) also being a launch title for the region there. Warner Bros. executive
Warren Lieberfarb is often seen as "the father of DVD". Lieberfarb's successor, Warner Bros. executive
James F. Cardwell was recognized in paving the way for Warner Home Video's strategic positioning in next generation technologies such as High Definition DVD (
HD DVD), electronic sell-through, and portable video. In 2003, Warner Home Video became the first home video releasing company to release movies only on DVD with no VHS equivalent. In 2009, Warner Home Video introduced the
Warner Archive Collection (WAC), As a companion to the WAC, Warner launched a new podcast series titled the "Golden History of Hollywood," which featured archival recordings from the studio's vault, including behind-the-scenes interviews with stars and radio editions of movies. By 2012, "manufactured-on-demand" (MOD) titles from Sony and MGM were also sold through the WAC. In 2013, Warner launched a beta Warner Archive Collection streaming service called "Warner Archive Instant." Beginning in April of 2016, WAC started making "a handful" of previously out-of-print titles available each month on DVD. From June 30, 2020 to January 12, 2026, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment had regained the home video rights to the post-1986
MGM catalog after 21 years, Starting in 2022, due to the finalization of the Warner Bros. Discovery merger, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment started distributing the television libraries of Discovery-owned networks including the flagship
Discovery Channel and
Animal Planet. In 2023, the joint company’s first major project was the streaming launch of
Max, which offered content from Warner Bros. and Discovery, along with titles from
HBO,
CNN,
Cartoon Network, and more. Following the merger, from 2023 to 2025, the company did away with provisions "no longer deemed essential" under CEO
David Zaslav, dropping NBA rights, a nearly completed
Batgirl movie, some video-game studios, and specific kids programming. According to
Bloomberg, it was rumored Zaslav might be looking to sell the
Looney Tunes brand. In April 2025, the Warner Archive Collection’s remastered 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray edition of John Ford’s 1956 Western classic
The Searchers won in five categories at the annual Home Entertainment Media Play Awards, taking the top prize of Title of the Year, as well as Blu-ray Disc of the Year, Best Restoration, Best Audio/Visual Quality, and Best Release of a Western. In November 2025, Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment announced it would be bringing
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest to 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray for the first time, along with making
Paul Thomas Anderson’s
One Battle After Another available for digital purchase and rental starting November 14. In January 2026, Warner Bros. announced it was officially bringing
Lana and Lilly Wachowski’s
Speed Racer (2008) to 4K Ultra HD in 2026. In February 2026, Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment and HBO announced their physical releases for
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Complete First Season. The debut season of the
Game of Thrones spinoff series will be available on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD on June 16, 2026. In April 2026, Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment won 15 awards at the annual Home Entertainment Media Play Awards. Awarded titles included HBO’s
The Penguin: The Complete First Season winning TV on Disc of the Year and Best Drama, and
Tom and Jerry: The Golden Era — 1940-1958 winning Blu-ray Disc of the Year, Fan-Favorite Title of the Year, and Best Animation Release. That same month, Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment announced they would be bringing
The Amazing World of Gumball: The Complete Series to DVD on May 5, 2026.
Studio Distribution Services In January 2020, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment and
Universal Pictures Home Entertainment announced they would partner on a 10-year multinational joint-venture. In North America, their physical distribution operations for Blu-Ray, DVD, and
4K UHD were merged into a company named Studio Distribution Services, LLC. Internationally, Universal distributes Warner Bros.' titles in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Japan (until 2025), and Spain (since May 2022); while Warner distributes Universal's titles in the United Kingdom (until 2025), Italy (until 2024), and Benelux. Since June 1, 2021, SDS' logo took the Warner Bros. Home Entertainment logo's place on the back covers of the home releases; while there have been several exceptions, mainly
manufactured on demand titles including
4K (also steelbooks) and
Blu-ray releases. In June 2024, it was reported that
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment had entered into a distribution deal with Studio Distribution Services to handle the physical distribution of their Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD titles, as well as titles from Lionsgate and Disney (along with 20th Century Studios, Touchstone, Hollywood Pictures, and the other Disney-owned labels), which Sony produces for those studios. == References ==