VHS Rides Off Into The Sunset

The venerable VHS tape is finally vanishing in the rear-view mirror as the last major supplier stop distribution.

VHS tape, the format that for better—and worse—brought video into untold millions of households around the world is finally going the way of the dinosaur…at least in the United States. After the 2008 holiday season, Distribution Audio Video—the last major distributor of VHS tapes in the United States—is finally calling it quits, and will stop distributing VHS tapes. Although Hollywood hasn’t released a movie in VHS format since 2006, a number of bargain retailers were still stocking the format, and it’s also lived on in a number of isolated markets like cruise ships, public libraries, military bases, and care facilities.

"It’s dead, this is it, this is the last Christmas, without a doubt," said Distribution Video Audio president Ryan J. Kugler, to the L.A. Times. "I was the last one buying VHS and the last one selling it, and I’m done. Anything left in warehouse we’ll just give away or throw away."

Consumers have long since indicated their preference for DVD over VHS tapes, and Distribution Audio Video is now in the DVD distribution business…although it predicts DVDs are also on their way out, to be replaced by Blu-ray.

Nonetheless, the shutdown of the last major VHS distributor in the United States doesn’t mean the world has finally embraced digital video. Countless titles and content that have been available on VHS has yet to be released on DVD, whether it be classic films from pre-war Hollywood or simply performances by under-appreciated bands and artists, the amount of material available on DVD has yet to encompass everything that was available on VHS. And, of course, VHS will continue to live for some time in developing markets around the world.