Magnetic Video Corporation was a home media and audio duplication service established in 1968 by Andre Blay and based in Farmington Hills, Michigan. In 1976, they became the first company to release theatrical films to home media for consumers, making exclusive deals with United Artists, Avco Embassy, ITC, ABC Video Enterprises, Viacom (now Paramount Global), RBC Films (then an exclusive licensee of several of Charles Chaplin's films), New Line Cinema, Brut Pictures, Bill Burrud Productions, American Film Theatre and 20th Century-Fox. In 1979, the latter purchased Magnetic Video from Blay, reincorporating it as "20th Century-Fox Video" in 1982.
In 1982, following Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's acquisition of United Artists, 20th Century Fox entered into a joint venture with CBS to form CBS/Fox Video (legally known as The CBS/Fox Company). Around the summer of 1984, a sub-label, Key Video (later reactivated as "Key DVD" by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment), was launched; a second sub-label, Playhouse Video, was formed the following year. Both were quietly retired around 1990. CBS/Fox Video was renamed Fox Video the same year, alternating with the CBS/Fox name until 1998, when Fox Entertainment Group acquired CBS' interest in CBS/Fox. Despite this, the label still remained active primarily for BBC Video releases past that point until the expiration of the BBC license on July 31, 2000 due to CBS's merger with Viacom earlier that year; after which the CBS/Fox name was retired for good.
in 1991, alternating with the CBS/Fox name until 1998, when Fox Entertainment Group acquired CBS's interest in CBS/Fox. Fox Video changed its name to "20th Century Fox Home Entertainment" on March 16, 1995, alternating with the Fox Video name until 1998.
Fox Entertainment Group acquired CBS's interest in CBS/Fox Video and renamed it to "20th Century Fox Home Entertainment" on March 16, 1995, alternating with the Fox Video name until 1998. The studio was the last major holdout to release its product on DVD, releasing its first seven discs in November of that year, one month after Paramount Home Entertainment released its first DVDs; it also released titles on the DIVX (Digital Video Express) format.
After The Walt Disney Company's purchase of Fox in 2019, the name would be retired on-screen in 2020 with the rename to 20th Century Studios, and future home media releases would use a shortened version of the movie logo starting with the video release of The Call of the Wild, while the 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment name was still used for copyright holding purposes until December of that year.
Starting on July 30, 2024, future physical media releases are distributed by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment in North America due to declining sales of releases and the shift to streaming. The first release under this new arrangement was the home media releases of The First Omen. Just before this on June 24, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment and Universal Pictures Home Entertainment started distributing Disney and Sony titles through their Studio Distribution Services joint venture, though Disney titles will still be available exclusively through Sony.