Interesting tv on dvd article

[robby76]

Longer life sought for TV DVD titles
Warner’s Friends plans closely watched as final season is released
By Susanne Ault 9/2/2005

SEPT. 2 | Studios are performing plenty of tricks to extend the life of aging, successful TV DVD franchises, but results aren’t always magical at retail.

Complete series product such as HBO Video’s upcoming Sex and the City $299.95 box set might boost the canceled series on disc. And 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment similarly is juicing its X-Files and Futurama franchises with repackaged themed episodes.

Other suppliers, such as Anchor Bay Entertainment and Paramount Home Entertainment, like to rush out sets in order to maximize impact on consumers. But some retailers believe that only shows with the most fervent fan bases will support pricey complete-series releases.

Sex and the City has been the top-earning TV DVD franchise, with $251.5 million in revenue, according to Adams Media Research. Friends is an impressive second, with $242.6 million in revenue, but some store owners say they hope Warner Home Video holds back on a complete series set.

The studio launches its 10th and last full season set of Friends on Nov. 15. The studio says it plans to roll out further Friends product in 2006, but a spokeswoman declined to elaborate on title specifics.

“You might be stretching it with Friends,” Tower DVD advertising manager Terrel Porter-Smith said. “There’s only a couple of series that can pull off [ultra premium product]. Fans are so loyal for Sex and the City. They’ll buy anything you make.”

HBO VP marketing Sofia Chang confirms that retailers across the board, including budget conscious mass merchants, are stocking the deluxe set. Many show fans likely own most season sets. But HBO is aiming to offer episodes as if they are brand spanking new.

“Packaging is so important,” Chang said. “It’s [in the spirit] of our metal packaging for Band of Brothers and coffin treatment for Six Feet Under. We have groundbreaking product, so the presentation of it must reflect that.”

With rollout schemes to enhance TV DVD lifespans all over the map, some retailers think studios would be better served by simplifying their efforts.

“Personally, what all the studios need to do is just go back and lower the price on the first seasons,” Porter-Smith said. “There are so many programs, it’s like, give me a break! I think we need to get the first season marked [down] to around $15. Consumers will go for it.”

Themed product is proving hit and miss with retailers.

Newbury Comics has been impressed that a volume of X-Files: Mythology usually manages to sell a third of what a full season of X-Files might. Yet other stores noted that typically themed sets sell just one-tenth of a full season counterpart.

“Themed collections like The X-Files and The Simpsons have a limited appeal,” Virgin Entertainment Group buyer Chris Anstey said. “Occasionally, we’ll see success with themed collections, when the full series aren’t yet available, such as the modern Outer Limits shows.”

Retailers did applaud clipped themed sets that were significantly cheaper than full seasons.

“Family Guy: The Freakin’ Sweet Collection [from Fox] is a good entry-level product,” Newbury buyer Ian Leshin said. “People can pay about $15 for a few quality episodes, rather than $35 for a whole season.”

On Sept. 27, Warner will release best-of sets of Maverick and F-Troop, each holding a handful of episodes at a $9.97 apiece list price. Full seasons have not yet streeted.

“Complete sets are the preferential way to watch TV, but this is a way for Warner to test the waters, to see if it’s even warranted to start bringing them out in a big way,” National Entertainment Buyers Group president Todd Zaganiacz said.

Release timing can make or break the duration of a TV series.

For highly successful series, including The Simpsons and Seinfeld, studios seem to agree to take their time on releases to prolong their fortunes. These two shows have collected $229.5 million and $179 million, in respective revenue.

The Simpsons will start its 17th broadcast season in mid-September but is on its sixth season on DVD. Four of the available nine broadcast Seinfeld seasons have been released on DVD.

But retailers believe that certain shows have been depleted too fast.

Anchor Bay released all three seasons of The Greatest American Hero between February and July of this year. Paramount has been criticized for burning through certain Star Trek shows unnecessarily.

“Stretching out shows gives customers enough time to ingest the shows they bought before they want more, and it will build demand,” Virgin’s Anstey said. “Definitely, Star Trek: The Next Generation was released too close together—everything in the span of one year. Also, [Image Entertainment’s] The Dick Van Dyke Show came out in two-month intervals, which is too close for sets [featuring] 30 episodes.”

Hastings Entertainment reports sales for the second set of Greatest American Hero were too far below its strong first-season sales.

“It tracked half as well as the first,” Hastings marketing director Mason Goodfellow said. “It was basically a month between the two. That doesn’t give the customer enough time to finish the first set.”

E-mail Susanne Ault

[Dean Winchester]

they actually think the Sex And The City set will be a success? I don't know a soul who owns the existing sets who is willing to pawn the current editions and spend $200-300 on a repackaging. I think the Friends and Buffy sets will be far more successful because you're going to be getting a better deal with those than buying them seperately.

[Dean Winchester]

I don't like the concept about bitching about shows being completed "too fast". When people buy season 1, most of the time, THEY WANT the remaining seasons. It's a crime because Anchor Bay pulled no punches and got all 3 Greatest American Hero seasons out over 6 months instead of 18 months like Fox did with Roswell (which also ran 3 seasons)? Companies (Fox will never understand this with The Simpsons) don't realize that people would rather wait 2-3 months per season than 6 months or even a year. I don't know any Seinfeld fan who is actually pissed that season six will be out in time of the one year anniversary of season 1. Do they think we'd rather wait... and wait... and wait... and wait like they've made us do for Diff'rent Strokes, Happy Days, Who's The Boss, Charlie's Angels and beyond?

[Johnny S]

I was actually interested in getting the Sex And The City Complete Set.... until I realized that it was more then buying them individually!!! And as far as releasing a show slowly... it all depends on the show. Ex. Saved By The Bell: The New Class will have released 7 seasons in 6 sets in one year. This show dosen't put up big #'s like Seinfeld or The Simpsons, but the fans are willing to buy it fast and there wont be many casual fans buying them.The Simpsons or Seinfeld have many casual fans that are unsure wether or not they will buy the DVD's.

I hope that made sense.

[robyrob]

Originally Posted by BuffySlayer79

I don't like the concept about bitching about shows being completed "too fast". When people buy season 1, most of the time, THEY WANT the remaining seasons. It's a crime because Anchor Bay pulled no punches and got all 3 Greatest American Hero seasons out over 6 months instead of 18 months like Fox did with Roswell (which also ran 3 seasons)? Companies (Fox will never understand this with The Simpsons) don't realize that people would rather wait 2-3 months per season than 6 months or even a year. I don't know any Seinfeld fan who is actually pissed that season six will be out in time of the one year anniversary of season 1. Do they think we'd rather wait... and wait... and wait... and wait like they've made us do for Diff'rent Strokes, Happy Days, Who's The Boss, Charlie's Angels and beyond?

i agree - there are too many other factors involved than just the time between sets - if you look at Greatest American Hero, the first season averages about $15 less than the second season does, and although it has less episodes than the other seasons it had TONS more extra features and got generally better reviews...

for SOME shows, they probably need to drop first season prices a bit and try doing some advertising or some sort of cross-promotions with them

[Dean Winchester]

Originally Posted by robyrob

i agree - there are too many other factors involved than just the time between sets - if you look at Greatest American Hero, the first season averages about $15 less than the second season does, and although it has less episodes than the other seasons it had TONS more extra features and got generally better reviews...

for SOME shows, they probably need to drop first season prices a bit and try doing some advertising or some sort of cross-promotions with them

very true. Plus with GAH, the show hasn't aired in reruns for so long that a lot of people might've snatched up season 1 for old times sake, and then realized they didn't like the show as much as they used to, so they decided to pass on seasons 2 and 3. And as you said, price is another factor, you can get season 1 for $20, season 2 is over $30 everywhere. The lower price leads to more purchases. I know a lot of people who own Buffy season 1 but not seasons 2-7 even though they agree the latter seasons were better, but since season 1 is considerably cheaper (Best Buy, Wal-Mart and Amazon have all had it for under $15 at one point in time), it was an easier sell than the $50+ seasons 2-7.

[dawsongirl]

These comapnies are so hung up on how much they made with these high-profile shows, that they are going to re-release them 100x until people are so sick of it they don't buy them. All the while, some good older shows sit on the shelf collecting dust.