December 27, 2004 01:25
PM US Eastern Timezone 
Warner Home Video Celebrates 50 Years of Television History from Warner
Bros. Television with a Year-Long Promotion Featuring Today's Hit Shows and
All-Time Classic Series
BURBANK,
Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 27, 2004--In 2005, as Warner Bros. Television
(WBTV) celebrates 50 years as the leader in television entertainment, Warner
Home Video (WHV) is launching a year-long promotion featuring
first-time-available and catalog DVD releases of WBTV hits. The studio-wide
campaign will include DVD releases of series that date back to Maverick, one of
WBTV's earliest series, continuing through to recent hits, and will feature
special promotions for retailers and consumers.
Warner Bros. Television is the #1 supplier of scripted series programming
with 1,700 television properties, including episodic series, telefilms and
miniseries. WBTV supplies two or more shows to each of the six broadcast
networks and produced 25 series on the primetime 2003-2004 schedule -- a record
for the television industry.
Warner Home Video has been a market leader in DVD since the inception in 1997
and is the market share leader of TV on DVD.
Showcasing more than 30 television series from WBTV's historical run, the
2005 DVD campaign includes star-making shows like The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,
which catapulted Will Smith to fame, and Full House, which debuted Mary-Kate and
Ashley Olsen. The first time release of highly rated shows such as Night Court
and Murphy Brown, as well as subsequent season releases of Friends, West Wing
and Smallville are included in the yearlong promotion.
"Warner Bros. has been a leader in producing exceptional television since the
medium's inception," said Mike Saksa, WHV Senior Vice President, US Marketing.
"Now, with the market growth of TV on DVD, retailers participating in the WBTV
50th Anniversary will benefit from a new generation of consumers who will
experience these shows for the first time on DVD. TV on DVD offers retailers a
unique commercial proposition of fast turning inventory with healthy margins.
The 50th Anniversary is a retail solution to establishing dedicated space for
the fastest growing segment of the packaged entertainment department."
WHV's year-long promotion will be driven by four promotional waves throughout
2005, each backed by comprehensive marketing efforts. The February 8th release
of sitcoms from the '80s and '90s comprises the first wave and includes the
complete first seasons of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Full House, The Jamie
Foxx Show, Murphy Brown, Night Court and The Wayans Bros. Additional promotional
waves will follow in June, September and November.
The promotion, branded as "50 Years of Quality Television," will enable
retailers to bring together large quantities of WBTV titles in 24- and 36-unit
corrugate merchandisers. Permanent fixtures will also be made available to
create in-store excitement.
Saksa commented, "Limited retail shelf space has challenged retailers to find
unique ways to drive continued DVD category growth and profitability. These
colorful WBTV 50th Anniversary displays will enable retailers with limited space
to merchandise large quantities of TV on DVD titles without cannibalizing other
DVD segments. Additionally, the unprecedented marketing support will drive
awareness for these displays and enable a wide consumer demographic to
effectively shop for their favorite TV on DVD title."
Consumers will be motivated to purchase multiple titles as they can earn up
to $50 in mail-in rebates with specially marked DVD sets.
The excitement of the WBTV 50th Anniversary continues for consumers as WHV
will feature free commemorative TV compilation DVDs, on pack select new releases
throughout 2005 that contain never-before-released WBTV episodes. These
commemorative discs will contain up to one hour of content and will feature
episodes from top-rated WBTV classic and contemporary series to showcase the
breadth of WBTV's library.
The studio-wide campaign will leverage the strengths of other Time Warner
divisions with WHV to extend awareness for the expanding WBTV on DVD library.
-- AOL will create a destination site to include a variety of interactive
content and streaming clips.
-- WBTV will execute "programming stunts" including an all-day marathon that
features some of the top-rated shows from the 50 years of WBTV.
-- Warner Bros. Consumer Products and WHV will partner to cross-promote the
newly licensed "Scene-It" trivia game, exclusively themed to the 50 years of
WBTV, through radio promotions.
WHV has developed a multi-million dollar advertising campaign to reach the
core TV on DVD consumers including:
TV: NBC, Fox, The WB, Nick at Nite, TV Land, TBS
Print: People, Entertainment Weekly
Online: AOL, yahoo.com, thewb.com
With operations in 89 international territories, Warner Home Video, a Warner
Bros. Entertainment Company, commands the largest distribution infrastructure in
the global video marketplace. Warner Home Video's film library is the largest of
any studio, offering top quality new and vintage titles from the repertoires of
Warner Bros. Pictures, Turner Entertainment, Castle Rock Entertainment, HBO Home
Video and New Line Home Entertainment.
For more information on this and other titles distributed by Warner Home
Video, visit www.whvdirect.com.
Source: BusinessWire
