Gaiam Vivendi Entertainment
Gaiam Vivendi Entertainment is an independent film, television, DVD and digital distribution company operating in the United States and Canada. It is also a distribution partner for independent content providers.
The company has provided sales, marketing, and distribution services to studios such as Entertainment One, Alliance Films, Paramount Home Media Distribution, Lionsgate Home Entertainment, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, Universal Pictures Home Entertainment, The Walt Disney Company, The Weinstein Company, World Wrestling Entertainment, The Jim Henson Company, Salient Media, NFL Films, DHX Cookie Jar, Shout! Factory, GoodTimes Entertainment, DreamWorks Animation, Random House, Nickelodeon, DreamWorks Classics, Hallmark Channel, Indomina Releasing, Nasser Entertainment, Event Film, Sonar Entertainment, Polychrome Pictures, Sid and Marty Krofft, PorchLight Entertainment, Sundance TV, Genius Brands, Sesame Street, Sesame Workshop, NBC News, Eagle Rock Entertainment, Discovery Family, Discovery Inc., Big Idea Entertainment, Viz Media, VCI Entertainment, Hasbro Studios, ImaginAsian, Entertainment Rights, IFC Films, Cartoon Network, Discovery Channel, NCircle Entertainment, Blowtorch Entertainment, Mill Creek Entertainment, WildBrain, Saban Capital Group/Hasbro Studios, HIT Entertainment, Mattel Creations, Barney and Friends, Penguin Random House, BVS Entertainment, Palisades Tartan, Palm Pictures, Nelvana, BKN, ESPN, Razor & Tie, Dargaud Media, Pure Flix Entertainment, Codeblack Entertainment, Melee Entertainment, Dimension Extreme, and Genius Products.
Visual Entertainment was founded in 2004 to distribute DVDs as a division of Universal Music Group Distribution, which in turn is a subsidiary of Vivendi. In 2006, Visual Entertainment was renamed Vivendi Visual Entertainment. In 2008, Vivendi Entertainment expanded from home video into theatrical distribution. On April 3, 2012, Universal disvested Vivendi Entertainment because of the buyout of EMI, and the company was acquired by Gaiam and merged with its home entertainment division, renaming the combined subsidiary Gaiam Vivendi Entertainment. It was one of the three units of Universal Music, never fully owned by EMI, that were forced to be sold; other such units were Sanctuary Records and V2 Records. On October 17, 2013, Cinedigm announced it was purchasing Gaiam Vivendi Entertainment for $51.5 million. Cinedigm plans to combine Gaiam Vivendi Entertainment with their existing home video business, New Video. The acquisition closed on October 21, 2013.
