Is direct to dvd "tv" feasible ?
 

A bunch of great tv shows have been cancelled recently, angel, firefly, dead like me, veronica mars .....There was an audience for all these shows, and I think the dvd sales have done well.
Is it financially feasible to make a series solely for dvd releases ?
The dvds would of course need be priced higher than regular shows. How much would the price need to be ?

The marketing for a new show would be rough. They might have to air one episode as a commercial. Internet and store/magazine giveway probably wouldn't be enough saturation to create series interest.

I think DVD series have proven that they can sell, but they are well established shows.

FYI, Dead Like Me is already coming back as a movie. You can read about it over on the IMDB.

Yeah, Dead Like Me, Stargate, I think Babylon 5 are all diving into the direct to DVD market, we will see how those sell. I don't think a full season's worth at once would work, but mini-series type releases might have a chance.

I dunno about this. It seems to me what makes TV shows on DVD of interest to studios is that they're pretty much ALL profit by the time the DVD is released. A network has already purchased, paid for and aired the episodes so the studio still owns them. So putting them on DVD to sell aside from production costs of the physical product is all money in the bank. If "direct to DVD 'tv'" (a misnomer - it would be simply direct to video/DVD - just because it isn't a movie doesn't mean it is TV programming if it never aired on TV) were to happen, the studio bears the entire expense of the production and no commericals to offset that (like regular TV networks get in order to pay the studios for the shows). Seems almost too risky to bother considering there is so much TV out there that would be guaranteed to garner some instant revenue for studios.

:thumbsup: This is the first I have heard of this news! Fantastic!

I can't wait for the direct-to-DVD movie of Dead like me & I am thrilled all the original cast members are coming back!

I think it could work if they promote the hell out of it and offer a subscription, where new episodes are automatically mailed to your house every week, as well as having season sets available for sales and rental. Some DVDs don't even sell 10,000 copies yet are still manufactured, but if a show has fewer than 4 million viewers, it's cancelled.

It will be interesting to keep an eye on Sanctuary, as it is an online only show that they said they will be releasing on DVD as well. (I think they are shooting themselves in the foot by not offering the first episode for free though)

Most of these shows have budgets in the millions, so they'd need to sell a LOT of DVDs.

I could see yearly movies coming out though.

People "test the waters" with a new show by watching the first couple of eps. Nobody wants to "test the waters" by purchasing an entire season.

This is why they should post the first 3 episodes for free online, or offer them for free via mail. That would be enough to get people hooked if it was good.

I don't see an actual IMDB listing for it. is it just a news item right now?

If they're going to produce a show to begin with, why would they not at least want to try broadcasting it to see how it does? Why would they give up the potential advertising revenue by dumping it to DVD? If it's a success, they can get the DVD revenue anyway, in addition to advertising revenue.

The only way I could see this being considered is maybe to continue a cancelled show that has a loyal (but obviously not large enough) fanbase.

And even if the first 3 or so episodes were offered for free, either via the internet or by free mail, people will still be investing money in the last 9 eps on faith alone that the quality will stay high, which they have no way of knowing. And if these sets are higher-priced than normal, I don't see who would go for it.

Well, I don't think buying the TV sets on faith is anything new. These threads are littered with people who have did blind-buys on various television series, myself included.

If it's the right subject, I can see a show taking off as DVD only. And I can see where certain subjects may still be too taboo for network television, thus making it a DVD-exclusive show. It's something I'm sure we'll see eventually.

I think movies like the above are feasible to release because they probably wouldnt make the money the studio wants in the theater but will do much better on DVD.
I hope they continue to do it.

The discussion is under the series listing for Dead Like Me, where they link out to the sources for the info, etc.