Online Petition?

This forum is for questions/discussions about the now sold out first DVD box set by BMG / AnotherUniverse.
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Chiquita Banana
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Online Petition?

Post by Chiquita Banana » Jul 1st 2004, 6:37 pm

Before I start I'm going to apologize to everyone here because this has probably already been addressed, especially considering this is not a very creative idea, you all have probably gone down this avenue before so I apologize if you have to repeat yourself to me, but I'm new here. :)

I was just wondering if there was anyway we could start an online petition to send to Buena Vista. They do own the rights to the DVD now, right? If we got enough signatures it would prove how much interest there is in a special edition box set of the series with special features. The company would see that they could actually make money to compensate on the money it would take to put this together, as well as a great deal of profit.

I was just wondering if maybe this would work. Again, I'd like to apologize, though, because I'm sure this has already come up as an idea.

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Post by Sascha » Jul 2nd 2004, 4:52 am

Is there really any interest apart from this small core fangroup here? Most fans now have all MSCL episodes in good quality on DVD and that is the most important thing for them. Many got screwed by AU in the process and lost a lot of money - so they will most likely not spend money for another MSCL set, just because the new set has extras and a slightly better picture quality. And the fact that the original set is still available in stores and on ebay would hurt the sales of a so-called 2nd edition. I would be very surprised if Buena Vista would even consider re-releasing the show at this time.

Right now, I'm hoping that Buena Vista will finally release season 2 of that other show by the MSCL creators - "Once and Again". And maybe even "thirtysomething". As long as Buena Vista doesn't see any possibility for a success of a season 2 release of the critically acclaimed "Once and Again", they will surely not release a show that's already been published.

Then, in a few years when the AU dust has settled and DVDs in general are getting slowly replaced by some new high-capacity disc, maybe that would be the time to re-release MSCL (and other tv shows). I'd say 2007/2008 the earliest.

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Post by Greybird » Jul 4th 2004, 7:57 am

Online petitions rarely are noticed. Even the one that got the current DVD set going involved commitments to buy the series, not just people who thought it was an excellent idea. (Which it is.)

I demur with Sascha, though, about the audience. You're underestimating the presence of The N and its re-runs over here, even with their omitting three episodes thus far. (The pilot, "So-Called Angels," and "Resolutions.")

The adolescents seeing it are asking "Where's the DVDs?" out of years, already, of habit. And bugging the 'rents for them. How do I know? On-line supplies of the set have nearly dried up. Even frequent sellers on eBay can't get them any more.

Buena Vista is distributing the series for the first time in its run on The N, and it's the best run since the original MTV repeats. Thirteen showings a week. There's going to be a re-release. It's only a matter of when. And they'll get the Tony-nominated Winnie Holzman for commentaries, you can count on it.
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Post by whitespy12 » Jul 11th 2004, 12:41 am

This may be a little off topic, but regarding Greybird's statement that The-N has omitted airing "So-Called Angels", according to TVGuide.com, "So-Called Angels" will be airing this Friday (the 16th of July) at 4:00 am on The-N. I don't remember seeing it as a "new" episode on The-N, but apparently they're still airing it... which i guess is a good thing... or something...

Anyway, I hope Greybird's right abut a new DVD Boxset by Buena Vista. I would love to get a Special Edition DVD Boxset with Extra Features, like commentary by Winnie Holzman (I would prefer if they could also get a portion of the main cast, especially Claire Danes, to do some commentary too... but that's just wishful thinking...). Plus, i've been having trouble trying to find the current out-of-print Boxset on DVD, so I would really like to get something like this.

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Post by Jason R » Oct 29th 2004, 12:35 pm

I have it on good authority BV does have plans to shop the show around for potential release, although they are not actively doing anything right now (the good authority is working for the company in question). All of the music hurdles that existed before continue to exist for future releases. It all has to be cleared again.

A show of interest may or may not influence whether someone would release it again. I think I agree with Sascha, though.

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Post by Greybird » Nov 7th 2004, 9:28 am

[Jason R]
{[...] All of the music hurdles that existed before continue to exist for future releases. It all has to be cleared again. }

That seems highly dubious to me, especially with it having been reported (though I cannot remember where at this Website) that the original music clearances for the VHS release ended up being valid for the DVD release. In BMG's attorneys' final opinion, anyway.

Why would they do this all over again? I don't recall hearing of any such clearances being obtained anew for every release.

Some songs or music were kept out of initial videotape releases due to copyright tangles, but that was due to many decades of film-studio contracts not anticipating the rise of a market for purchased video media -- and consumers owning a copy of (though not the license to) a film.

One example: John Belushi sang [!] "Deep in the Heart of Texas" during the 1978 movie "1941," but that was cut out entirely until the recent "restored director's cut" put it back, on three occasions. If you see "Special Home Video Version" on old VHSs, it's a matter of such incomplete clearances.

With BMG having gotten a sheaf of such permissions nailed down, I doubt they'd have limited it to a single video release. On t'other hand, I've learned never to underestimate the depths of corporate stupidity.
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Post by Jason R » Nov 9th 2004, 11:15 am

Hi Greybird,

BMG's rights expired. Any future releases would not be thru BMG unless BMG entered into new agreements. I don't even think BMG exists now (it's BMG Sony-- or soon will be). Any prior agreements expired including clearances for music. If someone else wanted to release, they'd have to redo what BMG and BV did. Sounds dubious? It's not. The fact that the title is out of print illustrates this. Otherwise, if they had the rights, they'd keep selling it.

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Post by Greybird » Nov 13th 2004, 12:05 pm

Well, I knew that BMG's rights expired. What rights actually went to Buena Vista Home Entertainment, then? Was that a set of rights that Bedford Falls awarded anew to them -- or did they somehow "default" to Buena Vista, with its being in the Disney family, from ABC's (or ABC Productions') interests in the series?

To have such a rights package be passed around without the music clearances, once they're secured, makes little sense to me. I had thought, from allusions to the matter I'd read (including comments from an executive at ABC Productions), that those were kept packaged together.

I also thought from more general reading that such clearances were generally obtained and settled at once, for all future media that are envisioned. (Home video as such was clearly not envisioned for "the future" of movies and TV shows before the late 1970s. How many times does that kind of change occur, though?)

Is the whole industry this stupid, to reinvent the legal-paperwork wheel this many times? It seems that way.

I do think the endless demanding maw of DVD releasing will have a second "MSCL" release come about some day. Yet unless it has all the original music, I'm not buying it.
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Post by wicked » Nov 13th 2004, 1:06 pm

I used to do permissions for a text book company, and i they would have 2 kinds of permissions.Ones that were good for all editions of something and ones that had to be renewed with each edition.

I would think once the rights expired you would have to renegotiate all rights again , music included.:)

well at least untill something falls into the catagorey of public domaine.
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