The CBS/Fox Company (Duplicator)

History
This arm was originally established in 1967 as Magnetic Video Corporation. Initially, it was only an audio duplication facility. It became a video duplication facility in 1977, when it was expanded to become a home entertainment distributor. The arm was renamed to The CBS/Fox Company, a joint venture between CBS and 20th Century-Fox, in late 1982, shortly after the home entertainment subsidiaries of the former company and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer were split, alongside Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's acquisition of United Artists from Transamerica.

List of Customers

 * 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (1977-1987)
 * Columbia Pictures Home Entertainment (1981)
 * MCA Videocassette, Inc. (1980)
 * Paramount Home Video (1979-1981)
 * Walt Disney Telecommunications and Non-Theatrical Company (1987)
 * Walt Disney Home Video (1987)
 * Worldvision Home Video (1983-1987)

How to Tell

 * Tapes that were duplicated at Magnetic Video Corporation would have "MAG1" engraved on the back of the tape.
 * On Canadian copies, the engraving would read "MAG-2".
 * 1984 tapes duplicated at CBS/Fox would have engraving on the right side of the tape that says "CBS FOX."
 * Post-1985 tapes duplicated at CBS/Fox would have printings on the bottom middle side that contain serial numbers and a day and year code that is read in Day/Y. Additionally, there may also be a side label digit.
 * For example, if the day and year code reads "16560", that means the tape was printed on the 165th day of 1986.
 * Technicolor Videocassette continued these printing methods, in very invisible dark ink with a white barcode sticker on the left side, during the next three years, following its acquisition of CBS/Fox's duplication facilities and spin-off from VCA in 1987.
 * From then to late 1990, the code would read something like "1879" for example. This means the tape was printed on the 187th day of 1989, but sometimes, from early 1989 to late 1990, it would read something like "18789," usually in visible ink.
 * Although the white barcode sticker was originally discontinued in the spring of 1991, with the video release of "DuckTales The Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp," the sticker revived on some 1993 SP-mode pressings of select Disney video releases from the time, including a couple of volumes of the Mickey Mouse Club television series, which were re-issued off of the previous releases from 1985.



Locations

 * Farmington Hills, Michigan (1967-1985) (moved to Livonia)
 * Livonia, Michigan (1985-1987)