Fantasy Island season 2 is on the way. (1 Viewer)

[Bryan^H]

Then the MOD model must be part of the digital package. I'm just stating what Shout Factory's response was. Make of it what you will.

 

[TV_Fan]

Sounds a typical Shout (or any comapny for that matter) standard reply for something they don't have an answer to. I still think its just an error and Shout probably doesn't even know about it. I've learned not to put much stock in Shout's answers anyway.

 

[TVonDVDJunkie05]

I think its an error as well. Shout! licenses titles from the studios for a set period of time as has been stated elsewhere. I doubt the rights would expire so soon. I also doubt Sony would yank the rights if something went wrong with their relationship with Shout. It just doens't make sense. Also Diff'rent Strokes S3 is still coming next month.

I don't see any listing on Amazon for S2 MOD release so this does look like its some sort of error?! It would be a big blow to Shout! Factory if Sony severs ties with them as most of their classic TV releases in the past year or so have been coming from the Sony catalog. They have released a total of 18 shows from Sony, including 9 new releases in the past year alone (Barney Miller, Diff'rent Strokes, Fantasy Island, Hazel, Here Come the Brides, Police Story, Police Woman, The Rookies & S.W.A.T.) Without Sony their options are limited- they are not on good terms with Fox, Warner Bros. & Paramount do not sub-license out, which leaves Universal and possibly some independent companies as options to find content to release.

Hopefully they can finish off Hazel as that one seem to be doing very well judging by the pace at which the box sets are being released.

 

[vnisanian2001]

they are not on good terms with Fox, Warner Bros. & Paramount do not sub-license out, which leaves Universal and possibly some independent companies as options to find content to release.

And Brian Ward, known for his delightful works of fiction, had the nerve to deny the dispute between them and Fox.
Brian's comments are the equivalent of Obama's "The private sector is doing fine".

 

[skees53]

They have licensed SOME stuff from Paramount and Warner... but not on the scale of Universal and Sony (and formerly Fox). They acquired Webster from CBS, not to mention the Nickelodeon series (which would have ultimately been released by Paramount had they not licensed them). And two years ago, Warner broke tradition a little bit and they were able to license Norm (which I doubt many people were truly excited about) and Max Headroom (a very long awaited release which I'm surprised Warner didn't do themselves). As for the whole "good terms" on Fox, I don't know what the situation is, but in any event, that argument is being blown way out of proportion. Clearly, Fox just stopped licensing stuff to anybody. People are dramatizing this like it was some big fight, lawsuit, knock him out, drag 'em down, stop selling our product now battle. If that were true, then it would seem awfully peculiar that every single one of the Fox releases from Shout! is still in print and readily available.
And yes, I know that many Fox series, such as L.A. Law and more, are coming out through other studios in the UK and people are using that to say "but see, Fox IS licensing them the stuff, so it is just Shout! Factory's fault!"... but nobody is reading the fine print on those sets. Those studios releasing those DVDs are not licensing those series directly from Fox. Fox has handed over distribution of many series in the UK to another entity (Hollywood Classics LTD, they handle all rights, including television distribution and home media distribution, for series from several American studios), and studios such as Revelation Films have acquired those series from that entities such as those, NOT from Fox.

 

[vnisanian2001]

Is there anything we can do to get Fox to license out again? Or are they simply too ignorant and arrogant to listen to us?

 

[Ethan Riley]

It was a dumb response. It wasn't even an answer to his actual question. Bryan wasn't asking--or even implying--that Shout! should distribute Fantasy Island digitally, and yet that's the question they answered.
I don't even care what they do anymore. I'm getting Fantasy Island from them, but that's the end of it. I was pretty much done with them after the whole "Peyton Place" fiasco anyway.

 

[TVonDVDJunkie05]

As for the whole "good terms" on Fox, I don't know what the situation is, but in any event, that argument is being blown way out of proportion. Clearly, Fox just stopped licensing stuff to anybody. People are dramatizing this like it was some big fight, lawsuit, knock him out, drag 'em down, stop selling our product now battle. If that were true, then it would seem awfully peculiar that every single one of the Fox releases from Shout! is still in print and readily available.

Not sure if you are referring to me regarding the 'blowing things out of proportion' comment but my comment was merely alluding to the fact that Shout! has not continued with any further releases of any Fox shows they had the rights to nor have they acquired the rights to any others. I think the reasoning behind this is very simple- Fox & Shout! have not been able to reach a deal on any further releases for the series that Shout! might want to continue releasing, its all about $$ and not about the two companies having a falling out or disliking each other- at least IMO.

Like some of the other members have stated, they are still releasing a few other shows in the coming weeks

The series they have released recently or will be releasing soon are from previous agreements that were finalized a long time ago. They acquired the rights to Police Story, Police Woman, S.W.A.T., The Rookies & Hazel last year yet they did not make it on the schedule until this year. Fantasy Island & Diff'rent Strokes are more recent acquisitions but we do not know what the agreements entail and how many seasons of these shows they have acquired the rights to?! I would wait and see what releases Shout! has coming down the pipe for the rest of this year and into the first part of next year before jumping to conclusions regarding their relationship with Sony.

 

[Bryan^H]

Not satisfied with the response I received, I tweeted them again.....only to get another vague response. I'm not sure why they just can't give yes or no answers.
Sorry guys, I tried.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bryan
Do you have more Sony titles planned for this year? Some say your Sony deal has ended.
ShoutFactory
don't know that that's true. You'll have to stay tuned for future announcements.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[Bryan^H]

Thanks Richard.
I just asked Brian Ward about the Sony/Shout status(he didn't even know about the Sony MOD FI sn2). Here is his response on learning about it today:
"Yeah, just saw it. I can say that relations with Sony are fine. But not sure about the MOD. Of course, I'm just a producer."

 

[Jack P]

In other words, Brian can only give us his best Sergeant Schultz impression ("I know NOTHING, NOTHING!")

 

[vnisanian2001]

Brian Ward is nothing but a phony two-faced poseur.
And, yes I am gonna keep on bashing him, until he grows a brain. He has done nothing but spew delightful works of fiction on the Internet, the oldest being "We have the rights to all eight seasons of "Ironside". He can't even program a message board properly. That's how dumb he really is.
Don't like it? Too bad.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Let's keep the personal bashing to a minimal. I already
deleted a post here because it was over-the-top.

 

[Bryan^H]

I'm a bit confused about the Brian Ward hate myself. When I used to post at the forums on Shoutfactory, he was always helpful, and answered everything I asked him(unless it interfered with the business). But at the Shout forums he had many people bad mouthing him. I don't understrand it.
I'm not saying that Shout is as consumer friendly as BCI was(I don't think we will ever see that kind of studio/consumer relationship again unfortunately) but Shout isn't too far behind.

 

[Bryan^H]

I'm a bit confused about the Brian Ward hate myself. When I used to post at the forums on Shoutfactory, he was always helpful, and answered everything I asked him(unless it interfered with the business). He was always polite, and helpful, But at the Shout forums he had many people bad mouthing him. I didn't understand it then, and I don't now.
I'm not saying that Shout is as consumer friendly as BCI was(I don't think we will ever see that kind of studio/consumer relationship again unfortunately) but Shout isn't too far behind.

 

[Jack P]

Whatever negative comments Brian Ward gets are ones he earned based on his own words in public forums. He has a track record of saying things about Shout titles that turned out to be not true, and he has also allowed the Shout message board to fall into a state where its infested with endless spam posts not to mention frequent cases of imposters posing as Brian that he can't get a handle on banning promptly.

 

[Kasey]

Brian Ward is a producer for Shout, not an IT professional, so I doubt it's his job to keep the website's message boards spam-free. I don't understand the hate either, since he always tried to answer customer inquiries there, when in truth, he and his co-workers have really no obligation to converse with the public or give away company information on a message board. When did you ever see DVD producers from Sony, Fox or Warner's interacting with the public, aside from maybe a bi-annual live chat that Warners have had in the past?

 

[Jack P]

Even if it isn't his job to run the message board, the company that puts it up should have enough care to delegate that responsibility to someone. Which of course still wouldn't explain the statements about releases that turned out to be not true or were misleading in the extreme.

 

[smithb]

Jack, you certainly do have a lot of venom towards Shout! (and Brian Ward in particular). I'm sure in part based on your feelings about Shout!'s treatment of some of your favorite shows. I can't help but think how the roles would be reversed if this was a WB related thread. The very thing you complain about happening in those threads you seem to fully patrticipate in when in comes to a Shout! thread. It's gotten to the point where it becomes difficult to particpate in either one anymore because it doesn't usually take long for the threads to take a quick detour from the stated subject matter to a general bashing of the organization itself. Why these two take the brunt of it, I don't really know since perfection (if that is what is expected) seems a ways a way from all of them.

 

[Bryan^H]

The way I see it, Shout releases many, many classic tv shows that Big studios wouldn't dream of releasing. I spend a lot of money on their releases, and with good reason....I love classic tv.
Just in the past year, I have bought:
-Barney Miller complete
-Hazel
-Father Knows Best
-Fantasy Island
-Different Strokes(pre-ordered)
-Dragnet
-Here Come the Brides
-Leave It To Beaver complete
We should be thankful they are the company they are and be happy someone like Brian takes time to chat with us.