Classic TV sitcoms fuel growth in DVD sales

DSN Retailing Today, May 9, 2005 by Doug Desjardins

The TV genre has exceeded all expectations on DVD, generating $2.3 billion in sales in 2004 and accounting for 17% of total DVD sales. But even though growth in the genre is beginning to slow, sales will continue to build for at least the next few years.

Analyst Tom Adams said TV sales grew by 52% last year but will rise only 17% this year. "We expect the growth rate will continue to decline," said Adams, president of Adams Media Research. "That's because most of the most popular shows have already been released but there's still plenty of old TV classics that haven't come out yet."

Major studios with network ties have scored the biggest hits with shows like "Friends" and "The Simpsons" but a few independent studios have managed to acquire the rights to some top-rated sitcoms. A good example is Urban Works Entertainment, a division of Ventura Entertainment, that nabbed the rights to "The Cosby Show" and will release the first two seasons on DVD on Aug. 2.

"We had a relationship with Carsey-Werner, the company that owns 'The Cosby Show,' from when we released 'Fat Albert' for them last year," said Urban Works President Jeff Clanagan. "So now we have the rights to release 'The Cosby Show' and the spin-off 'A Different World.'"

Lion's Gate Entertainment scored a coup of its own when it nabbed the rights to "Moonlighting," the hit comedy that launched the career of Bruce Willis. The studio will release Seasons 1 and 2 of "Moonlighting" on May 31

"It's a great title because all the stars of the show participated in the making of the DVD," said Kajsa Vikman, marketing director for Lion's Gate. "We're doing a major promotion for the release in the top 20 U.S. markets and we think it's going to be one of the biggest titles of the year."

But the major studios still control the vast majority of TV programming and will fuel most of the growth going forward. 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment scored one of the first big TV DVD hits with its release of "The X-Files" and will mine that series once again on June 7 with the first installment in the "X-Files Mythology" series.

"It will be the first of four, four-disc sets that trace the basic story of the series from the beginning and tell it in a concise way," said Todd Rowan, vp of marketing for 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. The studio also has "Remington Steele: Season One" due July 26.

Buena Vista Home Entertainment will release Season 1 of the comedy "Scrubs" on May 17 and has Season 2 of "Home Improvement" due out June 7. Warner Home Video will release Season 1 of "Lois & Clark" on June 7 and the third season of Wonder Woman on the same date.