Doctor Who fans get hosed

[Allyn Gibson]

The first season of Merlin is out on DVD in North America.

I hadn't planned to buy it; I just assumed it would run about the same price as a Doctor Who season set, around eighty or ninety dollars. Both BBC Wales productions, both thirteen episode seasons. I actually thought that [i}Merlin[/i] would be more expensive than Who, because it's not a known quantity, because the audience is much smaller.

I paid thirty-five for Merlin.

I always knew that BBC Worldwide knew that Who fans would pay through the nose; I didn't think they would make the fact so bloody apparent. If BBC Worldwide can justify a lower price point for Merlin, then clearly they're just gouging the Whovian for similar product with similar specs.

[sojourner]

Economics 101 - Demand drives value. Fewer people want Merlin, lower the price to draw in sales.

[Neroon]

And you can get Doctor Who season sets for $30-$40 on Amazon.com

[23skidoo]

I have to agree that the demand issue is a major factor. They just issued the first season of Relic Hunter - 6 DVD set - for $17. But the most recent season of Mad Men was $55. Merlin is not considered a going concern in North America -- hell, we should consider ourselves lucky they even bothered releasing it at all here after the thud it landed with on NBC -- so they lowered the price to make blind-buys more attractive since most consumers in North America will not have seen it. Doctor Who has a bigger fan base, so therefore it's not expected to draw the same "blind buy" purchases, so they can up the cost.

Alex

[Kelso]

Damn, I was hoping for a video of a bunch of Who fans being sprayed by a fire house (like they sometimes do to rioters).

Disappointing.

[The]

^Share you own, then...

[The]

.....or is it more of a fetish-thing?

[Josan]

It's a fetish thing.

And I always felt that the DVD sets were grossly over-priced. But if they've come down that much on Amazon, they're worth picking up now.

[cultcross]

Who has always been overpriced on DVD. It's a mistake the BBC seem to enjoy making, actually. All their popular shows get priced grossly over the odds when they reach DVD. I assume people must pay these ludicrous prices or they wouldn't still be using them - when US imports are selling at half the price, you wonder how they get away with it.

[Cutter John]

Oh hell they all do it. I remember paying $79 for the first couple of Babylon 5 boxes. And for the longest time Star Trek:TOS was over $100.

I guess they figure genre fans are rabid enough that we'll pay through the nose to own our favorite shows.

[Checkmate]

Allyn Gibson wrote:

---

I actually thought that Merlin would be more expensive than Who, because it's not a known quantity, because the audience is much smaller.

That logic just boggles my mind. "Hmm, do we want to overcharge for the product that people will be buying in droves, or the one that we'll basically have to beg people to buy? I vote the latter!"

[Steve Mollmann]

Is it worth pointing out that Doctor Who probably costs a fair bit more than Merlin to make?

[I am not Spock]

Ah, so that's why Star Trek DVD boxsets are/were so goddamn expensive.

[Cutter John]

To be fair, if you think about it it really is up to the studios.

"Our show is really popular, so lets jack up the price because we know the fans will pay it."

or

"Our show is really popular, so lets sell it at a reasonabble price. We'll make our money through volume sales."


And of course,


"Not many people know about our show. Lets sell it cheap to encourage sales."

or

"Not many people know about our show. Lets sell it at a premium to make up for all the extra work and expense we went through to bring this hard to find program over. Besides. How else are you going to see it?"