Petition for White Collar on Blu-Ray (1 Viewer)

[Faber]

I've started a petition asking the current owner of Fox Entertainment (Disney) to release the whole series on Blu-Ray. DVD is OK, but Blu-Ray is way better and White Collar would really benefit from it. I have the first season Blu-Ray, and it's really quite good. It's a shame they didn't continue. Unfortunately, Fox only releases seasons on Blu-Ray if the preceding seasons did well. What they must not realize, or at least they must not have realized at the time, is that 2009 was a horrible time for a Blu-Ray release. For starters, much of the country had been struggling for the past year. Also, Blu-Ray players were still pretty new and expensive, costing upwards of $1,000. It wasn't until December of 2009 that affordable Blu-Ray players came along. Even then, Blu-Rays themselves were still expensive. I have to admit that I don't remember what they cost by late 2009, but I remember that they were double the cost of DVDs. Between the financial difficulty, very high cost of players, and the high cost of Blu-Rays, it's very understandable that the first season of White Collar didn't sell well. Plus, it was available on cable and satellite at the time. Until 4-5 years ago, it was even on Netflix. Between $100 Blu-Ray players and the Blu-Ray players built into video game consoles, a lot more people have Blu-Ray players than back 2009. Plus, we're in the UHD era and larger screens are also becoming more popular, so why wouldn't we want the best video quality possible?

Here's a link to the petition: https://www.change.org/p/the-walt-disney-company-release-seasons-1-6-on-blu-ray

 

[Mark-P]

Oh good lord, don’t waste your time with petitions, just buy the complete series in digital HD and be done with it. Disney knows where the money is to be made, and it isn’t from Blu-ray releases of catalog TV seasons.

 

[Faber]

Oh good lord, don’t waste your time with petitions, just buy the complete series in digital HD and be done with it. Disney knows where the money is to be made, and it isn’t from Blu-ray releases of catalog TV seasons.

Yeah...I've been stuck in that mire from 2008 onward. I'm trying to get out, and I'm making progress. How hard would it be for Disney to make say, 100 MOD copies of White Collar?

 

[Mark-P]

Yeah...I've been stuck in that mire from 2008 onward. I'm trying to get out, and I'm making progress. How hard would it be for Disney to make say, 100 MOD copies of White Collar?

It wouldn’t be hard at all, but it also wouldn‘t be profitable, because the per unit price of burned media is so much more expensive than pressed media. No one is willing to spend $50 per season for MOD when they can get it digitally for less than $20 per season. MOD manufacturing is also getting ready to exit the stage as Amazon has recently started to discontinue their own burn-on-demand facilities by no longer accepting new titles to be added to their site.

 

[jcroy]

Ever since the Disney/Fox merger, I just assume that any tv shows they owned/released are now "lost causes".

For example, Disney stopped releasing Grey's Anatomy on dvd after season 13 in region1. (Grey's Anatomy is currently on season 17).

 

[Faber]

Ever since the Disney/Fox merger, I just assume that any tv shows they owned/released are now "lost causes".

For example, Disney stopped releasing Grey's Anatomy on dvd after season 13 in region1. (Grey's Anatomy is currently on season 17).

I share much of your pessimism. I'm afraid there's only a 15-20% chance it will work. But why not just sign it? If you don't have an account at Change.org, then yes, I can see that being a bit of a hurdle. But once you make your account and have it keep you logged in, you'll be able to sign petitions very easily.

 

[jcroy]

I share much of your pessimism. I'm afraid there's only a 15-20% chance it will work.

Nowadays I would put the odds at less than 1%.

The only current scenario I can think where I might change the odds to 15-20% or higher, is if Disney outsources such dvd/bluray releases to third party companies like Shout Factory, VEI, Mill Creek, etc ...

But why not just sign it? If you don't have an account at Change.org, then yes, I can see that being a bit of a hurdle. But once you make your account and have it keep you logged in, you'll be able to sign petitions very easily.

I won't get into specifics, but it is personal reasons.

 

[Faber]

Nowadays I would put the odds at less than 1%.

The only current scenario I can think where I might change the odds to 15-20% or higher, is if Disney outsources such dvd/bluray releases to third party companies like Shout Factory, VEI, Mill Creek, etc ...

I'll settle for Shout Factory. VEI or Mill Creek, not so much - unless Disney stipulates that they can't cut corners by using higher compression to reduce the number of discs.

I won't get into specifics, but it is personal reasons.

Okay.

 

[Guardyan]

[...]

The only current scenario I can think where I might change the odds to 15-20% or higher, is if Disney outsources such dvd/bluray releases to third party companies like Shout Factory, VEI, Mill Creek, etc ...

[...]

Hey jr,

I confess that a secret dream of mine is starting my own Blu-ray Boutique company just like the ones you mentioned. Would you be able to explain their business model? Do you have any idea how much they spend on each title to get a license to release them on DVD/BD? Shout I know that has found a niche releasing some "old" stuff and even some obscure cult titles, but I wonder if the juice is worth the squeeze when it comes to big properties owned by Disney. I feel Disney would find a way to get the biggest cut possible. But if this pandemic has taught me anything is that owing official copies of the shows + films you love is one of the best investments in life. Not having to subscribe to streamers is a blessing at times.

 

[jcroy]

I'm not an insider in the tv/movie business at all.

I can only make half-assed speculations which are not much different than flipping a coin.

You might want to ask these same questions on the shoutfactory forums, if their forums still exist.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

From what some of the boutique labels who have or have had a presence on this forum have previously stated, it can be very difficult to license content from Disney. In general, they are pursuing fewer licensing deals than in years past, and the ones they do tend to require the licensee to take on an entire grouping of content of varying degrees of quality and demand in order to make a deal.

For instance, when Kino did a licensing deal with Disney a few years ago, Kino could not simply say “we would like to license X title from you.” Instead, Kino had to license a large package of films, including many which had limited or no sales potential, and was contractually obligated to release those titles in addition to the ones on the list they were more interested in. That was something a company like Kino was capable of doing as they had an established business model and history of doing similar volume deals, but would be much more difficult for a new entity to pull off. On top of that, Disney strongly prefers to work with established entities in this market, which makes it nearly impossible for new people to get their feet in the door. There have been many posts here over the years from independent disc producers talking about how Disney didn’t even respond to their inquiries.

My best advice for anyone who wants to own a show controlled by Disney, that’s not on physical media, but does not want to be tied to a subscription service, is to entertain the idea of making a digital purchase at a storefront like iTunes or Vudu. There’s no monthly fee to use those services - they are a la carte rather than subscription, the 21st century equivalent to buying a physical object.

 

[jcroy]

On top of that, Disney strongly prefers to work with established entities in this market, which makes it nearly impossible for new people to get their feet in the door.

Perhaps this shouldn't be too surprising.

A hardcore gatekeeper doesn't want to lend their "crown jewels" to somebody they can't vouch for easily.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

It may not even be that - the licensing payment just might be so small that it’s not worth it to Disney to put the effort in.

I think on the whole Disney is a wonderful studio putting out an outstanding array of high quality content. But their mission statement these days is to appeal to the widest possible audience, and something that might only sell a few hundred copies on disc doesn’t match up with what their corporate goals are.

I get both sides - I get why it doesn’t interest Disney but I also get the disappointment when you’re a collector that can’t easily get the copy of the thing you like in the format you prefer.