Some TV series go from Blu-ray to DVD only

[towergrove]

http://www.videobusiness.com/article/CA6709928.html

[GizmoDVD]

Old news?

Nip/Tuck, Damages, Rescue Me, Grey's Anatomy....

[towergrove]

Does this mean that my hopes of a High Def Bluray release of "That's My Mamma" are shattered?

[comixguru]

I wonder what the deal is on the price difference.

Authoring probably has a modest difference, but the content itself is available in HD for broadcast. How different could be between doing the Blu-ray encode and taking the source and making SD DVD?

It must be replication costs and economy of scale. I beleive Blu-rays remain cheap to produce, but probably 50%-150% more than a SD DVD. Even if DVDs are 30-50 cents, and Blu-rays are 80-1.10 per disc, this could easily add up to $10-15 delta in MSRP. Your 5 disc set would be SD DVD 1.50-2.50 while BR would be 4.00-5.50. You roll that into a wholesale model and a $3 cost increase easily turns into $10-15 MSRP delta.

If SD DVD Tv shows run significantly larger runs while BR version run 10% or less of those, the costs are even higher. The BRs, inserts, color cover, everything gets more expensive per unit the lower the run size. Also, it changes the model you use for pricing so you can profit.

[ack_bak]

I think the studios want the premium and people just are not willing to pay it for TV series vs movies. I am just glad all of the Lost Seasons are on Blu-Ray. I really don't buy too many shows on optical media, I much prefer to rent them.

[chipvideo]

I have never bought a tv series on disc. I have two HD TIVOS and have no reason to buy something I already have and will likely see very little difference in pic quality. I have great cable with high bitrate. CSI Miami is absolutely gorgeous on my screen.

[Malanthius]

I think the studios want the premium and people just are not willing to pay it for TV series vs movies. I am just glad all of the Lost Seasons are on Blu-Ray. I really don't buy too many shows on optical media, I much prefer to rent them.

I agree. I expect to see series like Heroes, BSG, lost, stuff like that to be released on BR. But for the most part I think this is the "Good Enough" argument working here. What worries me is that as BR moves into mainstream status. This might bleed over onto some genres of BR titles. A little off topic sorry.

[h0mi]

There's a few things going on. My takes:

A-Price is a major factor but it's not just MSRP. Take any "major" (top 50 or so) TV show and I'll bet it follows this pattern:

-Release pricing is $40 at some retailers but at Best Buy or Target or Walmart sell the DVD for $25-30 for 1 week
-Price rebounds to $40 and stays at this price outside of other times of the year where 1 retailer or another opts to discount it for a week. These discs rarely hit those $10 bins
-Similar titles or new seasons are released and as part of the promotion this title gets discounted again. Usually you'll see "All Fox" or "All Comedy Central/Adult Swim" or "All NBC" shows discounted.
-Black Friday tends to be a day where a lot of TV shows are heavily discounted and other major holidays tend to have similar, significant sales.

I've not seen many TV shows stay at a $20 price point and when TV shows are under that price point, they usually sell quickly (and sell out). Those that don't sell out are marginal titles that are discounted for the same reason DVD movies are in the $5 bin; interest is minimal in those titles.

B- Gotta wonder if the TV DVD buyers are the same people who buy a lot of movies. I used to buy a lot of DVDs that were tv shows and bought very few movies; in the last 3 years I've bought fewer DVDs and as a result fewer tv shows (I stopped buying family guy and simpsons but did stock up on South Park in 2007's black friday sales... and since then I've just bought the season 12 blu-ray of South Park). TV shows don't really have the same cache as movies and to boot, there's the mentality that DVD is good enough for many genres especially comedy.

C- Is blu-ray big enough right now to support niche products like TV on DVD? (Yes, TV on DVD is niche IMO). It might be too early in Blu-ray's life for every studio to release everything on blu (can't flood the marketplace with content... too few dollars chasing too many products).

[Kosty]

I think the studios want the premium and people just are not willing to pay it for TV series vs movies. I am just glad all of the Lost Seasons are on Blu-Ray. I really don't buy too many shows on optical media, I much prefer to rent them.

I don't think its the cost so much as less Blu-ray Discs can hold the same content.

I think its the current sales of the DVD versus Blu-ray sets and retail inventory and maybe a possibility of re releasing on Blu-ray when the market is larger.

Except for science fiction and epic mini series I think most TV content will stay on DVD only for a while yet.

[Malanthius]

I don't think its the cost so much as less Blu-ray Discs can hold the same content.

I think its the current sales of the DVD versus Blu-ray sets and retail inventory and maybe a possibility of re releasing on Blu-ray when the market is larger.

Except for science fiction and epic mini series I think most TV content will stay on DVD only for a while yet.

I think that's exactly right.

[nextoo]

If I remember correctly 8 out of the top 10 most popular netflix streaming choices are television series. Most available in HD.

My guess is that this is a Reed Hastings play. Start with the series.

[towergrove]

I think the studios want the premium and people just are not willing to pay it for TV series vs movies. I am just glad all of the Lost Seasons are on Blu-Ray. I really don't buy too many shows on optical media, I much prefer to rent them.

Im glad Star Trek is in Bluray!

[HD Goofnut]

The only TV series I own on Blu-ray are Band of Brothers and John Adams and they are mini series at that. I will eventually pick up all three seasons of Star Trek on BD though as well as The Pacific whenever it is released in the next year or so. The Pacific is supposed air on HBO in March according to IMDB so we only have to wait 4 months for the HBO HD version and then another 3-4 months for the Blu-ray release.

[Forge]

I don't think its the cost so much as less Blu-ray Discs can hold the same content.

I think its the current sales of the DVD versus Blu-ray sets and retail inventory and maybe a possibility of re releasing on Blu-ray when the market is larger.

Except for science fiction and epic mini series I think most TV content will stay on DVD only for a while yet.

Yeah I think that's a fair assesment. I think a lot of early adopters are Sci-Fi fans, so selling those particular series on BD would probably have a built in base to tap.

[CaptainCanuck]

Most series don't have a high rewatch value so i don't buy many on dvd much less pay the bigger bucks for blu. Look at the Rome series.They want $83 for the blu rays on amazon.com and anywhere from $130-$150 in bm stores.
Wayyyyyyyy too much for 20 episodes. I don't care how much it cost to make.