Supermallet

I suspect it's for the usual reasons they did combo packs with DVDs. Helps to entice people who haven't gotten a BD player yet but plan on doing so in the future, gives people copies they can watch when they're in situations where they can play DVD but not Blu-ray, they're already printing plenty of DVDs so it likely doesn't cost them much to add them to the set and then charge a premium for it, etc. I don't see the existence of combo packs as a death knell for TV on BD at all. WB doesn't release all of their shows on BD, but they release a lot.

hanshotfirst1138

I'd imagine that the expense of putting out combo packs for TV is more pricey than film though, simply by virtue of physically having more discs.

Supermallet

They're already pressing large quantities of these discs, and they're pressing them as full sets. What's a few more thousand? That's the point of mass producing things, it gets cheaper per unit the more units you make.

morriscroy

What is the unit cost per dvd disc that Warner is paying?

DJariya

The Following season 2

http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Fol...Season-2/20029


The 100 season 1

http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/100...-Box-Art/20028


Sleepy Hollow season 1

http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Sle...-Release/20031


Homeland season 3

http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Hom...-Release/19996


Hell on Wheels season 3

http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Hel...-Release/19995



Are all getting Blu-Ray releases. HD programs getting released on BD is far from dead. It really just depends IMO on the popularity of the program, the ratings it gets, and obviously previous sales.

The 100 was one of the most talked about, buzzed new shows on The CW from this past season. It also got decent ratings, so I think getting a BD release isn't entirely surprising.

morriscroy

At the present time, the only current tv on bluray shows left which are outside of (more broadly) fantasy/sci-fi/superhero/nerdy/geeky + cable series, are:

(Sony)
- The Blacklist


(Fox)
- The Simpsons
- 24

(assuming the blurays are not officially discontinued yet)
- Modern Family
- Glee
- Bones


(Warner)
- The Following
- Person of Interest

(Lionsgate)
- Hannibal

(Paramount) (assuming the bluray is not officially discontinued yet)
- the revived Hawaii Five-0

morriscroy

Warner must be confident about the upcoming season 1 bluray of The 100, considering the bluray is not being "piggybacked" with a dvd copy.

morriscroy

For generic episodic procedural type shows (such as CSI, NCIS, etc ...), tv on bluray appears to be largely dead. (At least in america).

Though one could hope for possible future bluray titles of generic procedural shows, such as the upcoming "CSI: Cyber" spinoff. (I know, I know. Wishful thinking on my part).


I strongly suspect previous sales is the prime motivation for subsequent seasons, while genre + ratings/popularity may be the prime motivators for first seasons (ie. no previous sales data to go on).

There's very popular shows with decent ratings which don't have any bluray releases, such as NCIS. (NCIS still pulls in around 17-18 million viewers).

morriscroy

The movie companies seem to be willing to roll the dice on first season blurays for some cable shows (both premium and basic), such as (recently):


Fox
- The Bridge
- The Americans
- Fargo (no release date)

MGM
- Vikings

Paramount
- Ray Donovan

Sony
- Masters of Sex
- Helix

Universal
- Bates Motel

E-one
- From Dusk Till Dawn
- Bitten


The hope is to have a big hit on bluray like a Breaking Bad, Sons of Anarchy, etc ... and not a bluray flop like "The Killing" or "Damages".

Josh Z

Despite its (inexplicable) huge popularity, NCIS has abysmal production values. HD broadcasts look like they were shot on 8mm film with thick goops of Vaseline smeared over the camera lens.

This would not be a very good candidate for Blu-ray.

morriscroy

I agree.

Even watching recent seasons of NCIS in reruns (in hd resolution), the picture quality still looks soft and crappy. 24 hour news channels and live sports broadcasts in hd look a lot better than NCIS!

Another recent show that was like this, was "Burn Notice".

morriscroy

Another one possibly bites the dust.

Rumblings of Modern Family season 5 being possibly dvd-only.

http://tvshowsondvd.com/news/Modern-...Season-5/20074

hanshotfirst1138

I suppose the only saving grace is that they'll come with UV codes for HD, but hate not much consolation.

morriscroy

With season 6 of Glee being trimmed to 13 episodes, and the season 5 ratings cratering to 2-3 million viewers, it wouldn't be too surprising if Glee is the next casualty of Fox's bluray discontinuation rampage.

http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/201...isodes/281545/
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/liv...e-count-717775

slop101

Bob's Burgers (a show I love) had a legit season 1 dvd, but DVD-Rs of it's 2nd & 3rd seasons.

Besides them being cheaply produced shit, these DVD-Rs (and especially the Archive sets) are super expensive.

Shannon Nutt

It's going to suck if they stop releasing MODERN FAMILY on Blu-ray...one of the few TV comedies I actually collect on Blu-ray. I was surprised that BROOKLYN NINE-NINE is only getting the DVD treatment. I would have bought a Blu-ray release.

My Other Self

Yep, me too. I ended up buying the first season on iTunes instead.

davidh777

The music performances lend themselves well to BD, but yeah, I can't imagine the total sales as well as the buying demographic (I can see digital being especially high for this series) justifying the two formats.

maxfisher

Well, that sucks. That brings me up to five shows I'm stopping buying, including It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, The League, Wilfred & Louie.

mattysemo247

The League Season 5 will have a blu ray release

http://www.amazon.com/The-League-Sea...rds=The+league

maxfisher

I doubt it, but we'll see. They've got placeholders up for blu-rays of the other four shows as well, but nothing's been announced and the DVD versions are out for Wilfred & Louie. Since they're doing MoD for some of these Fox shows, maybe they're taking preorders to report back if they get enough to make Blu-ray versions viable.

TheMovieman

Yeah, Amazon has a placeholder for Hawaii Five-0 as well but I spoke with a PR rep working on Paramount TV titles and for w/e reason, season four is not, at this time, getting a Blu-ray release. I also checked Paramount's press site and there is no mention of a Blu-ray release, only DVD.

TheMovieman

Well, it's not a good candidate for Blu-ray because it skews older.

Texan26

I'm glad to see American Horror Story: Coven is coming out on blu-ray.

http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=14525

PhantomStranger

I think expecting anything from television beyond fantasy and sci-fi is going to end in disappointment. This is a move away from packaged media for the studio. I shudder to think if this is just the initial foray into sweeping changes for Blu-ray by the studio.