Fox: WKRP In Cincinnati Rumor - Confirm or Deny? (1 Viewer)

[Joseph DeMartino]

doing on DVD with its soundtrack intact?

FM was a feature film. Feature films are (and were then) routinely released in some form on home video. So the contracts would likely have covered that. In some cases contract language is so specific ("VHS video tape or laserdisc") that music has to be relicensed for DVD, but in other cases it is broad enough that a DVD release is included in the original agreement. WKRP is a TV show produced at a time when TV shows were almost never released on home video - and music rights agreements therefore didn't cover a use that no one anticipated.
Let's all remember that apart from Twilight Zone and the various Treks hardly any adult TV series (kid's shows were another matter) ever did well on home video in this country. A cult hit might see a release on LD, but on VHS there really was something to the conventional wisdom that "TV shows don't sell." (Even X-Files was released in "best of" sets on VHS.) It has taken DVD, a shift in the marketplace, and Fox's huge gamble with X-Files S1 to change this picture. But most of the shows we are all clamoring for now were created in the Dark Ages when the only future a TV series had was syndication. That means their contracts may not have covered a DVD release, and there is lots of legal stuff to be dealt with. (Just researching this stuff costs money, and those costs go right to the total cost of the project. A smart company manages things so that each individual release is expected to return a profit based on its own costs and sales. You don't cannibalize profits from project "A" to cover a loss on project "B" in advance. You plan project "B" to be profitable in the first place. If you lose money on it it's an accident. If Fox crunches the numbers and decides that it can't release WKRP at a reasonable price where it will sell enough copies to return a profit, they won't do it. That simple.)
Regards,
Joe

 

[Jaime_Weinman]

FM was a feature film. Feature films are (and were then) routinely released in some form on home video. So the contracts would likely have covered that.

Actually, FM came out in 1978 (it appeared around the same time that CBS announced they'd picked up the WKRP pilot, actually, leading to confusion about which quirky fictional rock station came first), when feature films were not routinely released on home video.

I agree with the rest of your points, while repeating that if Fox absolutely cannot release the complete series, I would hope that they could at least release some episodes ("best-of" collections stink, but they're better than nothing) for the show's 25th anniversary next year.

And of course, whether it's released on DVD or not, Fox's television division should at least remaster the series for reruns so as to correct the complete botch job that's currently running in syndication (there have been rumors for at least two years now that a remastering was in the works, and Fox has remastered other MTM series like St. Elsewhere, but still no word on 'KRP).

 

[Peter Staddon]

No plans to release the show, the music clearances still remain wildly prohibitive!

Sorry dash your expectations.

Thanks for your interest,

Peter Staddon

 

[Jaime_Weinman]

Thanks very much for the reply. And my expectations aren't dash so much as restored (since I expected all along that the music rights would stand in the way of a DVD, but the obviously false rumors led me astray).

This isn't your department, but do you know whether Fox's TV division at least has plans to remaster WKRP as it did with St. Elsewhere and some other MTM shows? Even if a DVD release is out of the question, this show is one that badly needs a remastering and more intelligently-done music changes...

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Mr Staddon, thanks for at least keeping us on the level
I hope one day you CAN work out the music issues, but I'll understand if you just can't make it work
However, after hearing a former hit song in tonight's Angel (Gangsta's Paradise) it better be on the DVD
Speaking of which, I hope that this mystery trailer on the Season 2 set will answer our questions about it's US fate. R2s are calling to me....must...hold...out!

 

[george kaplan]

Peter,

Thanks for the info. Major bummer. WKRP is one tv show I'd buy every single episode of. Of course, it's a wise decision not to put it out if you can't get the music, because I certainly wouldn't buy it at all without the original music.

 

[MatthewA]

Well, try and bargain with them, believe me it is worth the expense and time spent to get it done!

 

[Peter Staddon]

Believe me Mathew, it is not.

Last post on this subject.

Thanks for your interest,

Peter Staddon

 

[MatthewA]

Are some artists refusing to renegotiate for artistic/moral reasons?

 

[Jaime_Weinman]

Are some artists refusing to renegotiate for artistic/moral reasons?

It has nothing to do with art or morality and everything to do with money. Music licensing fees are so astronomically high that the cost of licensing the music for home video would probably be beyond anything a DVD set could hope to make (even if it sold well).

Sad but true. The best we can hope for now is a remastered version in TV reruns. Any news on whether Fox is at least planning to remaster WKRP purely for TV reruns, Mr. Staddon?

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

Well, try and bargain with them

Great suggestion. I'm sure that never occurred to anyone at Fox. I can just hear the meeting: "Bargain with them? Do you really think that will work better than our current strategy of driving past their offices and hurling rocks?"
Regards,
Joe

 

[MatthewA]

I want to know exactly what it would cost to re-license the songs for ALL media (US and international TV reruns and home video releases especially).

Jaime, do NOT, under any circumstances, give up lobbying Fox to do what is right. Don't sit idly by and watch your favorite show get treated like this.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

We're not giving up

HOWEVER

Unless you've got a couple million bucks lying around to buy those rights, it's just not happening

 

[MatthewA]

I don't, but Fox may have. Would it kill them to spend money on this?

Why isn't there a petition trying, first of all, to make sure the tapes are restored (if necessary) and the music relicensed for all media, THEN a DVD release?

 

[Brian McHale]

I don't (have a couple million bucks lying around), but Fox may have. Would it kill them to spend money on this?

No, it wouldn't kill them, but it wouldn't make business sense. They're not going to spend the money just because there are fans out there that want this. If Fox were to do this, they would never recoup their investment. Never. They couldn't possibly sell enough DVDs to cover their costs.

The first and foremost goal of any large, publicly held company is to provide return for their shareholders. Would you want to own stock in a company that spent money without a hope of recovering expenses?

Peter, thanks for letting us know what the deal is, even if the news is bleak.

 

[Peter Staddon]

Last and final post on this matter

Matthew, God help you if ever you had to run a studio!!

Peter Staddon

 

[Jaime_Weinman]

Mr. Staddon, if you've heard anything about whether Fox TV ever intends to circulate this show in a remastered version (I'm talking now about a remastering purely for TV reruns like St. Elsewhere got) do you think you could make one more "final post" and mention it?

Anyway, thanks again for posting in this thread.

And Matthew: Look, as the organizer of a WKRP-on-DVD campaign, I'm disappointed (though not surprised). But a studio is not a charity operation. Though I am as frustrated as anyone when a studio declines to release a favorite old movie because they don't think they'll make enough money, I don't expect a studio to go into a project that they think is likely to lose money. This would be one of those projects.

Maybe someday, if Fox TV ever gets the show properly remastered, they'll give it to Columbia House or some such service that can release the show on a subscription basis.

 

[PienSavaca]

This is a really wacky thought..... why can't Fox abandon their 'season at a time' sales model for a WKRP release?

Release 3-4 episodes per DVD so that the cost of music rights and mastering is spread out over more product. (3-4 episodes should have a comparative runtime and music content to that of a theatrical feature.)

Of course, since Joe Six-Pack will only see the price per minute ratio and cry 'rip-off', There should be some acknowledgement on the packaging about attaining music rights, and they can even add some "warm and fuzzy" comments as to why they took this method deliver the product in its original form at a higher cost rather than hack up their product to satisfy the corporate coffers.