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"I don't know if you know this, but both the MGM and Universal film library have been fully converted to HD format," a friend writes. "Many of the titles (including some of the films that you mentioned earlier today) are being withheld from consumer distribution so that they can be shown exclusively on HD cable channels that Universal owns."

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on April 9, 2009 at 3:09 PM

comment #1

bmcintire says ...

Um, no.
Neither library has been "fully converted to HD" (I'd be surprised if either have reached even 50% at this point). The primary reason many of these titles appear only on the studios' HD channels is because of the wildly divergent expenses between the two distribution formats. Once a film has been transferred to HD (roughly a $40K expenditure on the low end), it is ready to go for broadcast once clean-up is complete. That, unfortunately, is just the beginning for DVD / Blu-Ray expenditures. When you factor in the profitabilty of then having these titles available for worldwide television servicing in HD (at no additional cost outside creating dubs) vs. trying to track the potential profitability in individual disc replication, promotion and sales, TV wins. This gap will only continue to widen as DVD sales decline, with the exception of digital downloads possibly picking up the expansion of catalog titles being released to own.

Posted by bmcintire at April 9, 2009 3:35 PM

comment #2

bmcintire says ...

As much as I like and admire Warner's step into one-off DVD burns through their website, I am curious to see if it is profitable enough for the other studios to follow suit. My hope is that is works and everyone jumps in. Stat. I'm still old-school enough to want a physical copy in my hands/on my shelves as opposed to simply having a file buried somewhere in my computer.

Posted by bmcintire at April 9, 2009 4:38 PM

comment #3

Alan Spencer says ...

Um, yeah. With only a mild difference in semantics, the poster made the same exact statement... with the exception that they're still in the process of converting those libraries. I was given an HD DVD of a film from Universal that's neither been broadcast nor is available on DVD. They did claim that in the near future is will be made available for download or rental exclusively.

Posted by Alan Spencer at April 9, 2009 8:33 PM

comment #4

bmcintire says ...

". . . some of the films that you mentioned earlier today) are being withheld from consumer distribution so that they can be shown exclusively on HD cable channels that Universal owns."

That would be the second point that is inaccurate. Films are transferred (generally at the behest of one servicing group or the other - TV or Home Entertainment) and made available to whichever group can profit on it. If DVD/Blu-Ray thinks it will sell, they'll move forward. If television wants it as well, so will they (assuming the studio has rights in both domains which many times is not the case). There's no big conspiracy to withhold a title from the consumer market. It simply costs a great deal more to produce and market a title for DVD than it does to air it on a network they already own and control.

Posted by bmcintire at April 11, 2009 8:53 AM

comment #5

Alan Spencer says ...

"There's no big conspiracy to withhold a title from the consumer market. It simply costs a great deal more to produce and market a title for DVD than it does to air it on a network they already own and control."

I haven't seen anyone say there was. Many library titles don't sell well enough to warrant DVD release, but are being broadcast as well as offered for legal download. You're both saying the same thing in different words, as DVD manufacturing and marketing costs more than a download site. I was astonished to learn for my own title how much a company pays to secure shelf space in the new release aisle.

Posted by Alan Spencer at April 11, 2009 5:30 PM

comment #6

bmcintire says ...

Alan - I get that we are saying essentially the same thing, but the wording from Jeff's unnamed friend (". . .being withheld from consumer distribution so that they can be shown exclusively on HD cable channels . . .") smacks of disgruntled consumer consipracy.

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