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Tough Pigs Journal
Doll-Wigglers join the anti-DVD resistance
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A Suggestion for Action Oct 5, 2001
Great article! I hope everbody will stick together on this, and let Henson and Columbia-Tristar know that this is unacceptable. I encourage people to refrain from buying the DVD's as they are clearly not worth it. I also encourage people to be vocal about their opinions so that Henson and Columbia-Tristar will think twice about trying to sell us a sloppy product. Post your reviews on Amazon.com. There are a few up there already, but we need to see more. This would stop people from buying the DVD, and would also provide an outlet to express our discontent.
PipNPop
"Price Fixing" Oct 5, 2001
Not that I am sticking up for these people, but I think a lot of "price fixing" goes on with DVD's. So if a DVD is between 15 and 60 minutes, they have to charge so much, if it's 120 minutes they charge more, etc. The Simpsons is a special case. They want people to get all the seasons, so they put the first out (which just have 12 ep's) at a special price, but all the other seasons are 22-24 ep kinda things and will cost lots more. Saying that, though, personally I feel that children's DVD's should cost WAY less than adult ones anyway.
Luke Robbins
Danny responds to Luke: Luke, I agree that this is "price fixing"... but price fixing is a bad thing, an unethical thing, especially when the prices that are being fixed are so out of line with production costs, market demands, and quality. DVD producers are still figuring out the value of a 30-minute DVD. But these prices are obviously over-inflated, and there needs to be a serious supply-and-demand market correction. I disagree that The Simpsons is a special case. Yes, 20th-C. Fox has a marketing strategy aimed at getting people to collect the set. But why doesn't Columbia-Tristar or Sony Wonder have a similar marketing strategy? The strategy that they're currently pursuing suggests that they want to drive customers away. There are two things that completely offend me about these DVD's. First, Sony is putting out two 30-minute volumes of "Kids' Favorite Songs" for $16.98 each. Is there any reason why they couldn't put out both volumes on the same DVD, and sell a 60-minute DVD for $16.98? Nope. It's just plain ol' greed. The second problem is that Columbia-Tristar is selling hacked-up edited specials for $19.95 -- premium prices for a decidedly inferior product. I have zero problem with spending $19.95 for a Time-Life DVD of 3 unedited Muppet Show episodes. In fact, I'd be willing to pay even more than that, if they continued the series and made a complete set. Premium, collector's-edition prices for premium, collector's-edition product. No problem. I'd even be happy to shell out $19.95 for an unedited Muppet Family Christmas DVD. But premium prices for ten-year-old bargain-basement direct-to-video public-domain material like Kids' Favorite Songs? In two volumes? There's simply no excuse for it. It's not good marketing, it's not ethical, and I would be terribly surprised if it made them any money.
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