Haw Haw and Mik-Mik. Friendster and Jingle Magazine. VHS and Betamax. If any of these things ring a bell, then chances are you probably also heard of Video City–a once-popular video retail hub that brought popular movie titles straight to our living rooms.
From Video City Official Facebook Page
“Ang Videoshop Ng Bayan”
After becoming the exclusive distributor of video products for local and international studios in the Philippines, Viva Home Entertainment launched its retail arm in 1986 called Video City. What initially started as a video rental shop would eventually grow in numbers. In the 2000s, Video City had close to 300 branches nationwide, thanks to franchising.
Video City’s success hinged heavily on its affordable rental fee and vast library of popular movie titles. This combination made it a more viable option than going to the cinema or buying your own copy of the film. What’s more, the company’s subscription-based business model–along with charging fees for late returns–allowed the video rental hub to make additional profit on the side.
A torrent of piracy
Throughout its stint, Video City weathered many storms, including tight competition from other video rental service providers. And although there were already some road signs, it still wasn’t enough to prepare Video City from the first devastating blow courtesy of bootlegged VCDs and DVDs–which cost nearly as cheap as renting from the store.
It also didn’t help that DSL Internet was starting to gain traction in the market around that time. This faster Internet connection meant that movie titles were now readily available for consumers to stream or download to their computers through torrent sites.
Video City was caught between a rock and a hard place. On one end, they were working with law enforcement agencies to squash piracy dead in its tracks. Meanwhile, they were trying to win back their patrons who were already illegally downloading copies of movies and TV series.
From a Torrent to Stream
Catching small fries on the street selling bootlegged DVD movies is one thing. Cracking down on torrent websites is another beast. If the joint effort between various law enforcement agencies couldn’t entirely shut down the operation of torrent websites, what chance does a video rental chain have?
Things only got worse for Video City with the rise in popularity of streaming sites. Coincidentally, Netflix also started out as a video rental company in 1997–but the company managed to adapt to the changes in time to become one of the biggest streaming service providers worldwide.
At this point, there’s really not much that Video City can do to stay competitive. When broadband and fiber Internet became widely available, most of us took advantage of the added bandwidth to stream or download content online.
Be kind, please rewind
In 2015, the few remaining Video City chains finally closed their doors. It was the end of an era– one that made Tuesdays a day to look forward to, one that is filled with anxiety whenever we forgot to return a rented movie on its due date, and one that serves as a reminder that all good things must come to an end.
To be fair, Video City’s fall from grace was not an isolated case. Other video rental services like Blockbuster also suffered a huge hit from movie piracy. In the end, though, it was the accessibility to faster Internet connection and the subsequent rise of video streaming platforms that served as the final nail in the coffin for the video rental industry.
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