Video was founded in 1977 by Reese Communications publisher Jay Rosenfield with a small team including editors Rena Adler and Deeny Kaplan, marketing director Thomas Koger, circulation director Max H. Wolff, and contributors including Kenneth Lorber, Dee Shannon, Wayne Hyde, and Ivan Berger and Lancelot Braithwaite.
In 1980, Bruce Apar became editor-in-chief and co-publisher alongside Rosenfield, and a number of structural and distribution changes took place for the magazine.