Licensed Stocking Fillers - Dodgy Branding

Also red versions (4 hours?) :
http://i.ebayimg.com/t/3-x-4-HOUR-BBC-VHS-E240-BLANK-VIDEO-VCR-TAPE-CASSETTE-/00/s/MTIwMFgxNjAw/z/Ms8AAMXQL99SbUhZ/$T2eC16F,!zcFIeL2Vf7NBSbUhYljGw~~60_35.JPG

Also audio tapes:
http://i.ebayimg.com/t/BBC-FX-C90-FERRIC-BLANK-AUDIO-CASSETTE-TAPE-BRAND-NEW-SEALED-STOCK-/00/s/MTE0NlgxNjAw/z/XTwAAOxyAs9SSuuX/$T2eC16VHJHgFFlwcWnZVBSSuuWwqY!~~60_12.JPG

Scotch will honour the lifetime warranty on their VHS tapes, just as the advert said they would.

I have some BBC Tapes with the 1988 logo on, the information on the back of the box says they were made by a company called Strand Europe Limited. They seem to specialise in Kodak Batteries now.

They no doubt do the Sky branded batteries too.

Why would a broadcaster market blank tapes under its brand?

For money .

But the BBC is in the content business. It can make huge amounts of money by marketing its diverse programming. Was attaching its name to a blank tape made by someone else really that profitable?

I'm not sure they cannibalised that particularly. The market for home-recorded video and properly mastered/produced video have never really been proven to interfere with one another.


It would be like saying why should the BBC offer on demand services on a plate when they can also market that content on iTunes or wherever.

I wasn't thinking of cannibalization, it just strikes me as odd that the BBC would get involved in something that is quite far removed from its core business -- the business of producing and marketing content , which is very profitable. Marketing blank tapes is something that companies with expertise in electronics accessories (Sony, TDK, Fuji, etc.) typically specialized in.

Oh, they didn't market it - it was done by another company. The BBC (Worldwide, presumably) just licensed their brand.

The BBC had a few decidedly non-core businesses in the 80s and 90s - a couple of rather fancy hotels, for example.

They had hotels? I know they owned what is now The Langham, but wasn't that more staff accommodation?

As for the tapes, yes they just marketed the logos to a manufacturer. Didn't the Sport globe also appear on the View From clothing brand too? I know it was what the presenters and reporters wore on air but I'm sure it made it into the shops too

I don't think blank tapes is that odd a thing for the BBC to brand, after all the chances are they would have contained BBC content. Plus they had/have a reputation for their technical quality