Licensed Content – from the Olympics to Bosco

Licensed content was where Scanarama started. Our first ever project was one we initiated. DVD reissues of 1980s Irish children’s TV programmes Bosco and Wanderly Wagon. We realised that a whole generation of Irish people who had grown up on the shows didn’t have the chance to see them anymore. We went to Willie Kavanagh at EMI Records Ireland with the idea. EMI had previously released other RTE content which is why we approached them. The DVDs were a huge hit, were certified gold and both spawned follow up DVDs. In total the four DVD releases sold almost 100,000 copies. A great start for Scanarama.

This working alliance between EMI, RTE and Scanarama led to us being asked to license all of the video content for the DVD release of the Irish TV archive programme Reeling In The Years. This was the TV series which the industry never expected to be cleared for DVD because there was so much licensed content to contend with. Although RTE footage was prominent in the series there were vast amounts of content owned by a myriad of owners spread all over the world.

Scanarama tracked down all of the licensed content owners from the biggest to the smallest. We negotiated rights with the BBC, ITN Source, APTN, The Olympics, FIFA, SVT, the IAAF - the list goes on and on. In all there were three decades of Reeling In The Years released – the 70s,80s and 90s.

It was a massive undertaking for us but hugely satisfying. At times it was like detective work, trying to figure out who had owned a particular clip. Other aspects involved haggling, trying to drive the best deal possible for the footage needed.

What seemed from the outset to be incredibly daunting is now something that we take in our stride.

We know where to start looking for licensed content, we know how to approach the owners and we know what deals they are likely to accept.