It’s a lot cheaper to buy old friends this week.
Make that cheaper to buy old “Friends” as Warner Home Video has slashed the price of the DVD boxed sets of the sitcom’s first nine seasons in conjunction with this week’s release of the 10th and final season on home video.
Most major retailers, including Target, Best Buy and amazon.com, are selling the boxed sets for less than $20.
This discount pricing strategy of earlier seasons has become increasingly commonplace in recent months for TV-on-DVD collections that have traditionally had a far higher price tag than movie titles because they contain many more hours of content.
“The key thing is to bring people into the franchise,” said Jeff Brown, Warner Home Video senior vice president and general manager.
“Only 30 percent of those fans of ‘Friends’ have bought it on DVD.”
Overall, sales of TV-DVD titles in 2005 are expected to surpass the $3 billion mark for the first time. This once-niche home-video category is experiencing explosive growth as sales of other types of DVD titles, mainly feature films, have begun to flatten out after years of unprecedented sales.
The popularity of the TV titles has resulted in a proliferation of the genre with current shows and titles from the ’50s, ’60s, ’70s, ’80s and ’90s all competing for customers.
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AMONG THE CURRENT SALE TITLES
Old and currents network shows priced near $60 are under $20
– “Law & Order”
– “The West Wing”
– “ER”
– “NYPD Blue”
– “Arrested Development”
– “The Bernie Mac Show”
– “M*A*S*H”
– “In Living Color”
– “The Mary Tyler Moore Show”
– “The Bob Newhart Show”
Pay cable shows usually priced around $100 are under $50
– “The Sopranos”
– “Six Feet Under”
– “Oz” (right)
– “Queer as Folk”
– “Curb Your Enthusiasm”
– “The Wire”