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CBS to significantly increase TV show releases on DVD this year

6 January 2008 2:36 by Rich "vurbal" Fiscus | 1 comment

Despite concerns in the TV industry that the Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike will give networks problems packaging and selling TV series box sets from the current season, at least one home entertainment division has decided the future lies in the past. That division is CBS DVD, and as the name suggests they're part of CBS Corp., owners of the CBS television network. The past consists of TV shows owned by Paramount Home Entertainment, a division of Viacom, which formerly owned CBS as well. In 2008 CBS plans to release 105 to 110 titles, resulting in an increase of at least 13% over last year.

Despite no longer being part of the same corporate giant, CBS DVD and Paramount Home Video are still partners in TV series packaging, with the Viacom division taking responsibility for sales and distribution and both companies providing marketing support. CBS retains creative control over the packages, just as before the split from Viacom more than two years ago.

�The [overall] category does show flattening growth compared to previous years, but that is not a testament to how viable the business is,� said Ken Ross, executive VP and general manager at CBS DVD. �We have lots of titles that we will put out that will do substantial volume.�

Ross is also confident that the two companies' will sell at least 100,000 copies of their first HD DVD box set, Star Trek: Season One. �I think that when we are looking at catalog and some sitcoms, we don�t see [high-def] moving the dial that much, but with some of our sci-fi and action-adventure, it can be a very positive format change for us,� said Ross.

Of course any HD DVD release news at this point seems to be overshadowed by Warner Brothers' announcement that they'll be throwing their support behind Blu-ray exclusively, but it's hard to overstate the possible interest for TV franchises like Star Trek or CSI, which would also be on HD DVD (being a CBS property) if it were released any time soon.

Source: Video Business

Permalink to this article

Is it too late to avoid long term affects from WGA strike? (19 January 2008)

CES 2008: LionsGate exec agrees Blu-ray copy protections won't stop pirates (10 January 2008)

Hauppauge unveils USB world's first tuner stick at CES (7 January 2008)

Retailers not impressed with 2007 HD DVD or Blu-ray numbers (7 January 2008)

New Line confirms Blu-ray exclusivity (6 January 2008)

Toshiba and CBS promote new Star Trek hybrid disc box set (26 November 2007)

CBS is happy to keep selling television shows through iTunes (18 September 2007)

Hi-def formats marketed heavily at comic convention (30 July 2007)

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borhan9 (AfterDawn Addict) 9 January 2008 1:13
This is the way to go. I feel that this strike has its place and is needed and will be dealt with and I am sure TV shows will be back better than ever. [ + quote]