Network Distribution reportedly in liquidation
#1

Not sure exactly where to post this but I felt it would probably be newsworthy to a lot of people here. There's no official word as of yet, but Twitter folk are reporting that Network, the folks famed for their classic TV releases, have gone under. Their website is currently offline with a message saying their hosting account has been suspended.

I always felt Network was something of a UK Gold/Granada Plus-by-DVD, given some of the gems they'd archived and made available for release. It'll be a real shame if nobody manages to pick up the baton.

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#2

(31-05-2023, 05:04 PM)Larry the Loafer Wrote:  Not sure exactly where to post this but I felt it would probably be newsworthy to a lot of people here. There's no official word as of yet, but Twitter folk are reporting that Network, the folks famed for their classic TV releases, have gone under. Their website is currently offline with a message saying their hosting account has been suspended.

I always felt Network was something of a UK Gold/Granada Plus-by-DVD, given some of the gems they'd archived and made available for release. It'll be a real shame if nobody manages to pick up the baton.

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If true, how sad. Some fantastic releases came out by their hand over the years. In some respects I see what they did - preserving this classic TV - as almost a sort of public service. Perhaps their sales have declined due to the rise of Britbox and friends? A real shame, in any case.
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#3

Sad news this evening. Anderson Entertainment are confirming that Network have ceased trading:

(1) Gerry Anderson on Twitter: "Thank you for everything, @networktweets. Anderfans all over the world have a lot to be grateful for. Our thoughts are with everyone affected by the closure of Network Distributing. t.co " / Twitter

Perhaps unparalleled in terms of the attention to detail they put in to their releases and remasters. Another sign that the age of home media is coming to an end.

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#4

(31-05-2023, 10:08 PM)WillPS Wrote:  Another sign that the age of home media is coming to an end.

Network did have a "streaming" service of some sort (similar to the BBC Store by the looks of it), which is still online at this time, so this company wasn't entirely about physical media. Although since the company has now gone, it begs the question of whether that content you paid for to "own" remains available. It probably won't in due course, but whether you get your dosh back for something you can't now play... well that's up to the administrators.
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#5

(31-05-2023, 10:42 PM)Neil Jones Wrote:  Network did have a "streaming" service of some sort (similar to the BBC Store by the looks of it), which is still online at this time, so this company wasn't entirely about physical media.  Although since the company has now gone, it begs the question of whether that content you paid for to "own" remains available.  It probably won't in due course, but whether you get your dosh back for something you can't now play... well that's up to the administrators.

or Visa/Mastercard/Amex, who will likely honour chargebacks. I'm inclined to believe it never really accounted for much of their business, what they had was (mostly) very very niche, even by Network's standards!

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#6

They did the remasters of The Professionals and Series 1 of The Sweeney which gave them new life.
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#7

Very sad on this. I wonder if the BBC making it hard for third parties to produce releases from their archive, didn't help.

(31-05-2023, 11:33 PM)London Lite Wrote:  They did the remasters of The Professionals and Series 1 of The Sweeney which gave them new life.

I was hoping they'd remaster Minder on blu-ray...
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#8

(31-05-2023, 11:33 PM)London Lite Wrote:  They did the remasters of The Professionals and Series 1 of The Sweeney which gave them new life.

Their HD remasters of the Supermarionation series were stunning. Unfortunately Granada Ventures produced a ropey Blu ray of Thunderbirds which subsequently prevented them from doing anything with that particular title.

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#9

Yep, was cropped to 16:9. Same with Fremantle's Blu-Ray of The World At War, but Network very quicky released their own 4:3 version,which shows how valuable they were.

Was hoping for a Corrie 2010s boxset to go with the rest, and a release of Emmerdale Farm like they recently did with Crossroads, but it looks like we can forget that
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#10

I was very surprised to learn this news on Wednesday night. It was very surreal reading the posts on blu-ray.com and on Twitter which confirmed the news at that point.

I did buy a fair few titles from them over the years including the Gerry Anderson series like Captain Scarlet & The Mysterons, Joe 90, SuperCar. I bought some movies from them as well like Flying Scot, Robbery and There was a Crooked Man starring Norman Wisdom.

I had bought the deluxe Blu-ray edition of Stingray and Rome Express on Blu-ray from Tower Records website in Ireland on Wednesday night to try to get them before they sold out.

The one thing that I would say about Network is that they had put in a huge amount of care & dedication into producing a great product for everyone to enjoy. It's such a real shame that they are no longer a key player in providing archive titles in the home video industry in the UK anymore.

They produced something like around 5,000 titles before they officially went to the wall on Wednesday. There is no denial from me here that their closure in the UK is going to be a very devestating one for that industry in the years to come.
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