Posted: May 13, 2019 8:30 AM ET | Last Updated: May 13The film industry isn't sure whether to see the VCR as a friend or an enemy.As the VCR was adopted by households across North America, the film industry was watching nervously.
Almost as many people were expected to see the new Emilio Estevez movie on videocassette as in theatres. Four years earlier, he seemed to lean to the "cataclysmic" side, when he compared the VCR to a serial killer in testimony before the U.S. Congress.Viewers can enjoy instructional videos and TV-as-fireplace, and the pay TV business is concerned about competition.One thing was certain: the video store business was booming. And people weren't just renting and buying Hollywood movies, but instructional videos.
Kalina asked the store's marketing manager, Joe Medwick, if anyone ever bought the instant fireplace video. Sure, he sad.Pay TV: frenemies with the VCR"Combined with your VCR, you can enjoy what you want to see, when you want to see it," was the new pitch from pay TV in 1986., initially regarded movie theatres as their competition.
cbc_archives Be Kind Rewind
cbc_archives I remember the introduction of home video recording. It was a revolution. There has been nothing like it since... just refinements to the concept.
cbc_archives Happens time and time again… Kodak did the same thing when they invented the digital camera, then stuck their head in the sand, and went from one of America’s richest corporations to bankruptcy with in a few decades, because they couldn’t read their own writing on the wall.
cbc_archives They were right. redlettermedia has a whole YouTube channel about it.