meshershark

Why are HBO series and Star Trek series so overpriced compared to other series (X-Files used to be, too)? Just because they can? Obviously HBO trades on their name and Star Trek has a rather dedicated fan base, but $80-$90 per season versus $40-$50 is a huge difference. I've bought several HBO series in the past (all the "Sopranos", for instance), but I'm finding it harder to justify after all the series I've gotten for under $45 in the last year. I'm actually not planning to buy Star Trek seasons, but they seem to be priced up in the stratosphere like HBO, for no apparent reason beyond greed. On a per episode basis HBO comes off even worse; with typically 12-14 episodes, that $80 season comes out to over $6 per episode, while "Lost" has twice the episodes at half the cost. Granted some like "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives" will sell enough copies to warrant volume-like pricing, but surely "Sopranos" and "Six Feet Under" don't need to be priced like Lamborghinis.

canaryfarmer

Because people are willing to pay that much, no matter how much they complain about it.

Chew

This question has been discussed a lot. Here are just a couple I found by searching:

http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=427933
http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=399193
http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=376064

meshershark

Ah. My apparent error was in using HBO as a keyword, thus missing two of those three, because that's where my primary concern is. The third I missed because the title seemed too general in my search results.

And to canaryfarmer: well, here's at least one person who is no longer willing to pay that much. I skipped "Six Feet Under" season 4 at release due to price (although I own the other 3 already), and I'm holding off on others like "Carnivale" that I've been eyeing.

auto

It seems like the best move these days is to be patient and wait for the complete series set ala Buffy. Much cheaper if you want them all.

MovieExchange

As I've said before, it all boils down to 3 letters - STG. Screw The Geeks. The studios know that where there is a hardcore fan following there are people that will pay top dollar for the DVD's. That's why most sci-fi and pay-tv shows are expensive, just like anime.

MrBlud

Once HD and/or Blue-ray take off, I'd wager on finding ST season sets done as three discs and priced around $45-$50.

Same transfer, extras, and so on, maybe even the Best Buy bonus stuff to try and make the people who bought the DVDs double dip.

critterdvd

The reason the HBO discs are more expsensive too is because over 90% of TV shows are shown with commercals which generate most of the profit from the show, yet HBO doesn't have commercals, so to offset the budget for the next season.

Ravid

I guess I've lucked out on buying HBO sets!

Band of Brothers- bought for $5.99 at Target's price mistake
Curb Your Enthusiasm 1 & 2- gift card decreased the price I paid out of pocket
Curb Your Enthusiasm 3- bought wholly with gift card
Curb Your Enthusiasm 4- see 1 & 2

Curb is particularly expensive at $35-40, since there are only ten half-hour episodes on two discs. But even without the gift cards I would have bought them, since I absolutely love the show.

conscience

I agree with MovieExchange about the fan base deal.

I would happily pay a high price for my precious Six Feet Under. No show, IMO, is better. And I am a true fan that loved EVERY episode. Therefore, I cannot go without have the show on dvd.

The thing is you have to think about the economics of the whole deal. Instead of buying other dvds around the same time - put them off until later. Or - save up, say, $10-20 dollars every week/two weeks/month until you have enough to get the set(s).

For upcoming releases, try to figure out when the set will be released (of course that is easy because of the internet) and start saving A.S.A.P. so you will have the extra cash to get it on release week (which is usually 10-15 bucks cheaper than it would be after the first sale week.)

Peep

True. And most HBO titles are never sold into syndication, another money maker.

Mr. Cinema

Another reason is HBO shows are much better than most of the crap on the major networks.

slop101

But then why are the region 2 versions of the same HBO shows about half the price of the R1s?

andicus

And some region 3 editions are almost 1/4 the price... (Carnivale)

I would speculate that they charge what they think they can get. In R3 areas, they probably figure if they charge much more, they'll sell very few, so why not charge a lot less, but still enough to make a profit, and sell a whole bunch.

otmetrud

I understand the reasoning behind the HBO shows being so expensive -- but as a consumer, I'm not buying them for that price. Loved the first two seasons of the Sopranos, but have not bought an HBO since because of the price. I would love to see 6FU, but I don't want to see it badly enough to pay those hefty prices.

Detective Thorn

My thinking was that one reason for the high prices for HBO shows is to encourage people to subscribe to HBO rather than just waiting for the DVD releases.

calhoun07

I recall reading an article, I believe in the Minneapolis news paper, about DVDs and TV music rights and one of the reasons HBO sets are spendy are due to they clear the rights for all the music they use in the shows. I am nore sure how true that is, but music rights has a lot to do with higher prices on certain sets for sure.

MovieExchange

It sounds like something an HBO rep would say because he doesn't want to say "we charge that much because we know you people will pay it." :-)

Thunderball

I also find the Adult Swim boxsets to be a bit ridiculous as well. Yet I buy the ones I like anyway.

$28 for 13 18 minutes episodes??

MovieExchange

If they were 13 / 18, the price would be fine. That's 234 minutes, almost 4 hours of material.

Unfortunately, the average Sealab / Aqua Teen releases time in at 150 minutes.

Skoobooz

Which is why The Simpsons sets cost $80...oh, wait....

In my opinion, it has little or nothing to do with music licensing. In regards to something like Six Feet Under, there are certainly songs involved, but I think certain episodes of Friends had more licensed songs than an entire season of SFU.

Of course, that comparison still probably goes to show why the sets are so expensive: while Friends will sell hundreds of thousands of copies (or whatever), Six Feet Under won't. Still, I think the "real" explanation for the high prices on HBO sets is just the fact that HBO has to make money on these shows somehow (after they initially air), and so they tried it out at $100+, people bought them, the end.

At least they do a good job with the sets, though.

devynal

'Tis why I waited for DDD's 20% off sale.

calhoun07

It may not have anything to do with it, who knows for sure? You certainly can't say Paramount charges what they do for the Trek sets due to music licensing. However, it DOES have an effect on the overall price of some sets. You mentioned Simpsons (and I am at a complete loss in trying to remember excessive use of popular songs in this series...they alwasy seem to have their own original music in the sound track)...I am confident Simpsons will sell more than Six Feet Under. Assuming both series had the same amount of music uses in each episode and cost just as much to clear those rights, it's conceivable that Fox could charge less for Simpsons because they could sell more copies.

The reason SCTV sets came out with 89.99 SRPs is because of music rights. If WKRP was ever released on DVD, the price of each season would be prohibitively expensive to get the costs back. There are examples of music increasing the price of certain sets.

And the excuse that HBO won't make money back in syndication on these shows is weak. Sex and the City is in syndication and Sopranos is on the way to syndication as well, and stand to make the studio tons of money ijn syndication. Have the price points gone down on the season sets?

The first answer, I think, is the best answer: they charge what they do because they can and know people will pay it.

Jah-Wren Ryel

And, for those looking for a good deal on Carnivale, that R3 set is R1 and R4 too. I bought it, and other than a few extra korean characters on the cases, it is just about impossible to tell that it is a korean release.

http://koreandvds.com/dvddetail.html?id=27680

I recommend that anyone thinking about buying carnivale pick up the korean set, you've got nothing to lose.

andicus

Ahh yes. I'd forgotten about that since I play it on my region free player anyway. I may also pick up Sopranos S2 from them, since I was so pleased with the Carnivale purchase.