Granada Video

Background

Granada Video was the home video imprint of Granada Television. It closed in 1990, and Granada instead resorted to distributing through companies such as PolyGram Video or Warner Vision International.

In March 1998, Granada Media Group signed a five-year agreement with Video Collection International to launch the "Granada Video" label beginning in September 1998.

In September 2004, following the merger of Granada Media and Carlton Communications in February, ITV plc ended their existing contract with VCI, with Granada Video folding into Carlton's home video unit and rebranding as Granada Ventures. This was because of VCI being renamed to 2 Entertain after it merged with BBC Video.

Contents

1st Logo (1983-1990)	2nd Logo (September 1998-1999)	3rd Logo (1999-2001)

1st Logo (1983-1990)

Visuals: Same as the 1968 Granada Television ident of that time, with the text now reading "GRANADA VIDEO", and the G-Arrow logo set on top of the text. The logo is also much bigger, taking up the whole screen.

Variant: At the end of the tapes, a copyright notice is shown below the logo. The logo is also smaller and set at the top of the screen.

Technique: A printed graphic card.

Audio: None.

Availability: Seen at the beginning of older Granada VHS releases in the UK, such as Coronation Street.

2nd Logo (September 1998-1999)

Visuals: On the same background of the 1995 Granada Television ident, a giant outline of the Granada logo at the time, which is just "GRANADA" in a customized version of Optima, take up the entire screen width all the way off-screen, and then starts to slowly zoom out. In front of it, a hazy copy of "GRANADA" stretches in while fading in, followed by another copy rotating into view, and they merge together into a single "GRANADA" in white. Meanwhile, two copies of "VIDEO" in the same font slide through each other and intersect, while a 3rd copy rises up barely visible and then fades in fully under "GRANADA". The background continues to move and the outline zooms out until the entire name can be seen.

Variant: On Yorkshire's programmes, the text "A YORKSHIRE TELEVISION PRODUCTION" fades in below the logo.

Technique: Computer effects.

Audio: None.

Availability: This logo was only used for one year, making it short-lived.

Seen on VCI-distributed releases.
Titles include Helpful Titch, The Tyne Tees TV Time Capsule, and Emmerdale: Revenge, respectively, among others.
Most releases use the next logo on the packaging, but have this logo on-screen.

3rd Logo (1999-2001)

Visuals: On a black background, light blue spotlights shine across to reveal the Granada Media logo in 3D. It contains an abstract "G" in blue, along with the white word "GRANADA" and the blue word "MEDIA", all set to the right. As the lights swerve across the screen, another spotlight shines on "GRANADA" and then the entire thing brightens up as the spotlights disappear. A lens flare then scans across the top of the screen briefly, before the logo animation plays in reverse.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: A mysterious tubular bell theme, with chimes playing after the fact, all with a warbling synth melody underneath.

Availability: This was merely a de-facto home video logo, once again spotted on VCI-distributed releases.

While a lot of releases had this logo (almost 200 titles), a majority of them are pretty hard to find nowadays.
Releases that have it include Stars in Their Eyes, The Royale Family: The Complete Series 1, various An Audience With... releases, Emmerdale - Don't Look Now! The Dingles in Venice and Coronation Street: The Rover Returns, among others.
It can also be found on early Cold Feet and some Poirot releases from the time.
It is also seen on children's releases such as Sooty & Co. and Tom & Vicky, among others.
Early releases that use this logo on the VHS label or back may have the previous logo, or no logo at all.
It is also preserved on very early DVD releases such as the first two series of The Royle Family and Cold Feet, An Audience With... Tom Jones and Jeeves and Wooster: The Complete Series 1, however, the entire packaging for all these releases use the 2001 Granada logo.

Final Note

Releases from 2001 to November 30, 2004 use the 2001 Granada Media International logo as a de-facto home video logo for VCI releases.

Granada Video

Granada Ventures

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