Fox to launch TV-to-DVD starter set campaign Tuesday

March 18, 2005

In an effort to entice folks to drop a bundle on their favorite TV series that have come to DVD, Fox is selling teasers of a couple episodes for around 10 bucks. This is to show those that have TiVo that a DVD is even a better if much more expensive entertainment experience.

Beginning on March 22, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment will make available at checkout counters nationwide, TV series DVD "starter sets". They will contain two episodes, sell for less than $10 and carry a $10 coupon for the purchase of a higher-priced Fox TV-DVD boxed set.

"Buy it, try it and pass it along to a friend," Fox executive vp marketing Peter Staddon said. "We see this strategy as a way to expose more people to the experience of watching a television series on DVD, which is very different than watching television, even if you have a TiVo-type recording device."
Fox is launching its TV-to-DVD starter set campaign Tuesday (March 22) with episodes from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "24," "The Pretender" and "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," Staddon said.
TV-to-DVD multidisc boxed sets have been the fastest-growing phenomenon in the home video industry for the past two years, generating more than $1.7 billion in consumer sales last year. Industry analysts and Hollywood studio chiefs predict the genre will generate more than $4 billion this year.