DVD Prices (For Television)

[Mr. Beef]

I find some TV series to be pretty reasonable on DVD, but I just cannot justify dropping $80 more or less for 13 episodes of a show on DVD from HBO. (I'm only using HBO as an example because they seem to have the highest prices for their seasons, and there's nothing I watch on HBO any more. I think the only thing I watched on HBO was 'From the Earth to the Moon'.)

Paramount is also a major offender in the DVD set cost price per episode and their series. When the box sets for Paramount's Cash Cow, Star Trek, in all it's incarnations, they were like $100-$125 a season. Now I like Voyager, but why pay at a minimum roughly $4 and change an episode when I can watch them on Spike TV starting in January 2007 for about a quarter a day. Granted there are commercials when I watch them on Spike, but that gives me time to go to the bathroom and get food so I can watch and take it in chunks.

If it's something that I like, and the extras are good then I might consider it. The D&D Cartoon was the only thing I got this year on DVD and I got that for like 50% off by ordering early.

Just my 1/4 pound.

Mr. Beef

 

[trancejeremy]

Paramount might gouge on Star Trek, but they not only released War of the Worlds (the TV Show) on DVD, they priced it at $30 for the first season, and they used 6 whole singled sided discs. And dual layer as well, even though the original show's image quality wasn't great, they didn't lower the quality any to stick more episodes on per disc to save money. (Which is something Universal seems to do a lot).

Anyway, considering that manufacturing DVDs basically costs almost nothing, anything that a company gets from its sales is almost like found money. Yet so many companies overcharge, deliver shoddy products, or don't even release series, because they want mega money, not just a fair profit.

 

[WayneLigon]

I wouldn't be surprised if the bean-counters for the studios have hundreds of charts and graphs determing the perfect starting price and the precise time when to reduce the prices after the initial demand dies down.

You would be exactly correct about that. Pricing is an art and a science. Too high and you lose customers. Too low and people write it off as 'cheap' or wonder what's wrong with it.

Most shows I've been interested in are at a decent price. I've seen some amazingly high prices, though. The original Descendents of Darkness anime series, only 12 episodes long, was $99.99. Now they dropped it to $35, I think. Babylon 5 was, for a long time, very expensive per season, but it's come down a great deal.

 

[Jdvn1]

I thought you can't use your Personal Shopping Day discount with any other discount.

Your Personal Shopping Day combines with (almost) every other discount. [/BordersEmployee]

I think TV DVD prices are very odd. For 11 seasons of M*A*S*H, for example, buying season-by-seasons costs you $440. $40 a season. For the complete series, it costs you $200. So, it comes out to better than half price if you wait for the complete series to come out--and you have to assume they're still making a profit.

I don't think it's just Supply v Demand. There are tons of shows that start to release on DVD, but then they stop because they aren't making enough money off of them. Not only are the complete series much cheaper, but they also come in much nicer packages and with plenty of bonus items.

There have to be a lot of other costs hidden in those DVDs.

 

[Ranger REG]

Your Personal Shopping Day combines with (almost) every other discount. [/BordersEmployee]

Does that includes e-mail coupon discounts?

(Missed the boat using the 40% off coupon on any one DVD box set.)

 

[Jdvn1]

Does that includes e-mail coupon discounts?

(Missed the boat using the 40% off coupon on any one DVD box set.)

Yep. You could've combined the 40% Off One DVD Box Set with your Personal Shopping Day to receive a total of 46% off (the 10% applies after everything else; it doesn't stack with anything).

 

[Darth K'Trava]

Well I know Rome was super expensive, so they can price the box sets at whatever and I will buy them (already did in fact) just to help encourage them to make season 2.

I pre-ordered Rome for $62 from Amazon. Haven't seen all of it yet but it is excellent!

 

[The_lurkeR]

When you write that bestselling novel or RPG aid and decide to reprint it down the road, be sure to deny all royalties because it already paid for itself many times over.

No one is saying that they should "deny all royalties", that's silly. We're saying they're over-priced. They've already been paid what they agreed to for the work that was done at the time. Now that there's a new found market for the same old product, no further work is generally required, it's just a matter of splitting this new 'gravy' revenue.

When I do write my bestselling novel for example, and they decide to reprint it 10 years later, it isn't going to be a high-priced hardcover, it will be in a cheap paperback or pdf format. I wouldn't expect to make the same dollar amount per copy.

 

[Ranger REG]

No one is saying that they should "deny all royalties", that's silly. We're saying they're over-priced. They've already been paid what they agreed to for the work that was done at the time. Now that there's a new found market for the same old product, no further work is generally required, it's just a matter of splitting this new 'gravy' revenue.

So, basically you want their royalties to be smaller than one can make a living in this economy.

And I thought Ebenezer is the worst miser.

When I do write my bestselling novel for example, and they decide to reprint it 10 years later, it isn't going to be a high-priced hardcover, it will be in a cheap paperback or pdf format. I wouldn't expect to make the same dollar amount per copy.

You might as well relinquish your copyright in 10 years, so that your children won't benefit from it (assuming you can procreate).

 

[Taelorn76]

Best Buy is having a one day sale today only all HBO Series on DVD are 50% off. Don't know if it's nation wide, but it came in the Sunday Flier in CT.