Yeah, but they already have a completed version that doesn't cost them a dime. It is all profit at this point, minus residuals.
DS9 on blu ray?
- Thread starter borgboy
- Start date
Yeah, but they already have a completed version that doesn't cost them a dime. It is all profit at this point, minus residuals.
There is another show CBS hasnt remastered in HD: "Frasier". Also the same problem: shot with film, edited on video. And this one is much easier to remaster: No special effects and only 22 minutes per episode. But still CBS does nothing with it. If CBS isnt willing to invest in "Frasier" in HD, much more successfull than DS9 and VOY, there will be no DS9 in HD.
Ironically, the whole reason sitcoms started to go back to film in the 1990s was to future proof for eventual HD and better upgrades.
Why DVDs and Blu-rays remain essential in the age of streaming
Physical media, which isn’t beholden to the vagaries of internet connections and underpowered home wifi networks, is clearly preferable in most circumstances — even when viewing the highest-quality streaming content on the newest televisions.
http://www.vox.com/culture/2016/12/27/14057894/physical-media-essential-streaming-dvd-bluray-netflix
Physical media, which isn’t beholden to the vagaries of internet connections and underpowered home wifi networks, is clearly preferable in most circumstances — even when viewing the highest-quality streaming content on the newest televisions.
Yep. I have 100+Mb/s connection and the 4K stuff from Netflix looks like a regular Blu-ray. Their 1080p stuff looks like DVD quality.
Most. But "most" means there is still a market for those of us that want physical copies.
Personally I tend to watch the broadcast trailer and listen to the commentaries more than sit through the documentaries. So if they were going to add bonuses to DS9 and Voyager Blu-Rays, I would prefer "the money" go to audio commentaries and digitizing the trailers.
Even though it's not on air yet, it's been reported that Discovery has already made a profit from international sales, such as the Bell Media/CTV (which owns SPACE) network in Canada. So already CBS is working on a profitable series before even taking into account US domestic sales. Not to mention, but I think it was in Susan Sackett's book, but Gene Roddenberry had had to fight with Paramount back in the late-80's to acknowledge that both TOS and TNG had made a profit, because Roddenberry had a clause in his contract saying that he would get a share of any profits from the TV series, but because of Hollywood accounting, Paramount was able to claim that neither series had made a profit.
Quite frankly, I don't buy complete series unless they are put out before the individual sets (unless we are talking about series that only lasted a season or less, or produced only a few episodes a season). The only series that I bought on Blu-Ray as a Complete series is the 1966 Batman: of course in that case Warner Brothers was only releasing the Blu Rays in the complete set, while the individual season sets were DVD only.
But with Lay, and even the Okuda's, I don't trust what they say about future HD upgrades for one reason: they are not employees or board members of CBS. They are contractors, or third-party employees. And if CBS has promised to share any profits with them, then it might be in CBS's interest to tell them that the Blu Rays haven't been selling (Hollywood Accounting) and they haven't made a profit, when in fact CBS has made a profit from TNG's Blu Rays and downloads/streams.
Roddenberry had profit participation in the original Star Trek (so did William Shatner, NBC, and Desilu). Paramount paid out in the 1980s, per David Alexander's biography of Roddenberry, although it took the threat of a lawsuit.
I have no idea about Roddenberry's terms on Star Trek: The Next Generation, although I doubt it would have turned a profit before entering second-run syndication (given that it is still widely syndicated, the back end on that series must have been pretty lucrative to whoever had profit participation on it).
Anyone with a subscription can use Video Scan, and although the numbers do not reflect all sales (from experience, the actual number of sales tends to be a bit higher), it gives you a good picture.
Having seen the numbers, I can confirm that there's no "Hollywood accounting" going on here -- Star Trek: The Next Generation was not a strong seller on Blu-Ray. (It sold okay, mind you, but given the investment, and given CBS' expectations as a major studio for home video, I would be very surprised if it met their expectations -- and, given the public statements of those involved, it seems that it did not).
Sorry but I don't trust you, since those figures are only the Blu-Ray figures in the US, and do not reflect all streams of revenue. We don't know how well the HD masters have done on iTunes, Amazon Video or CBS All-Access, not to mention all the international sales.
But CBS is probably cooking the books someway, since whether it's the original creators, or the estate of Gene Roddenberry, CBS is probably trying to keep as much profit for themselves as possible without having to pay out. And considering that TNG, DS9 and Voyager have been airing quite bit since the signed off, Paramount/CBS have most likely paid off the original production costs over 10 years ago, and have been generating profit from the three shows since then, but are probably putting the bills for newer shows against the profits of TNG/DS9/Voyager and they are claiming a loss for each series. Even other producers, such as J. Michael Straczynski have mentioned that this is industry standards, when asked why Warner Brothers says "Babylon 5" is still in the hole, even though it's had VHS/Laserdisc/DVD sales of over $500 million. (Just off the top of my head, for comparison it cost $900k to produce 1 B5 episode, so roughly I would estimate that in the 90's it cost about $100-120 million to produces the entire main B5 series, not including "The Gathering" or any other movies or "Crusade", whereas TNG/DS9/Voyager, using the $2 million per episode average for production from pre- to post-production, you would be looking at about $360 million for TNG's 179 episodes originally, and then for the HD upgrade, using 50%, so $180 - $200 million for TNG's upgrade, TNG is upto $540-$560 million.). If a cult classic like B5 can make $500 million just from home video sales alone (and that's based on 10-year-old figures), then Trek had surely paid off its production costs years ago.
If there was a windfall of profits from remastering Star Trek: The Next Generation in high definition...surely CBS would be trying to make even more money by remastering Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, no?
The best indicator that TNG under-performed is the fact that DS9 in HD is not happening.
I've never seen any official word that DS9 in HD was not happening. Also, based on how long it took CBS to announce TNG-R in September 2011 after TOS-R was finished in April 2008, we are still in the "41-month window" where CBS took its time evaluating TOS-R. The earliest that I'm expecting to hear anything from CBS in regards to DS9-R and/or Voyager-R is February of 2018.
Similar threads
