Doctor Who News, Articles, Cast and Crew Interviews

[Willow'sCat]

The BBC have uploaded some images from The Christmas Invasion

Click here to view them.

Ooh yes pretty pictures and nice that they have a few of David still wearing Chris's Jacket. I have one as my Wallpaper, the T.A.R.D.I.S looks great as a Wallpaper but I have the one with the Dr, Rose and the T.A.R.D.I.S and the snow.

[NowIWillDestroyAbydos]

Cool, still not much to go by though, cant wait to see this

agree with ya there.

[Deputy-Assistant-Second-Prime]

The reason PBS or Sci-Fi or whoever else they showed it to didn't pick it up is this: cost. BBC-WA was asking for WAY more than any network here was willing to pay for an untested property in which they have no financial stake. They essentially priced themselves out of the market.

Now they are compounding the problem by overcharging gfor the DVD set, just because they think they can. The only thing this all shows was that the BBC has absolutely no understanding of the US market. They could have gotten Doctor Who onto a US network like Sci-Fi by offering a bargain price for series 1, subject to renegotiation if it did well. They could have created a backdoor market with the DVD release, if they hit that magic $45 "blind buy" price. They chose not to. They like to come up with one pricing the shop to all markets equally, which to my mind is just flat out lazy. It requires no market research.

I completely agree.

It's like they think, "Of course it'll do well...it's Doctor Who. So why shouldn't we charge that much?" Not realizing most Americans don't even know what Doctor Who is.

Think about it...what audiences are they targetting?

The show was cancelled 16 years ago.

Most PBS stations stopped playing it ten years ago.

The 1996 movie bombed.

Most of the younger audiences haven't been exposed to it, except through the odd family member.

So they targetting young people who don't even know it exists and older audiences that watched PBS in the 80's and 90's.

Plus, there is a serious culture gap between the United States and...well, every other nation on the planet. Hell, many Americans think Canada is a quasi-communist nation.

The British accents alone will make many people change the channel.

"Hey...why are they talking funny? They're foreigners! They shouldn't show life outside our borders or challenge us with new ideas...it's unpatriotic!"

I'm not sure the BBC couldn't even pay the American broadcasters to air it in today's society.

[Willow'sCat]

I think they should have released it just as the episodes, 13 eps at say $35/45 at least some people who may know of the show say from being on GW could buy it but at the ridiculous price only die hard fans will really fork out that kind of money.

[Willow'sCat]

I really dont know what to say to that

Sexterminate! lol

Wow some folk are just wrong. Why are they blue? *Oh right*

[shazzboy]

Yes but you live on the Mainland. I always pay more for these things.

Did I say $109? I don't know where I got that from because the ABC shop has it as $150.95!!! *.95 yes lets not forget the .95 cents*

http://shop.abc.net.au/browse/produc...oductid=734716


What the ****. That is way too much for the equivalent of half a series of any other show, what is the BBC thinking? Oh that's right lets make lots of money out of the die hard fans. Is this really worth that much? And why does it state it is limited edition? I thought it was a normal version of the box set. Is it because it is LE that it is so pricey then? At least it has the DW confidential specials we didn't get to see them here. I guess if you add up all the single volumes it is much the same price but still wow!

So UK fans is this the same as the UK version?

Yep it is one expensive bugger!!!!! its listed as $150, but i think you will be able to get it for about $120 at BIG W. They usually have things for around that price. the BBC makes good shows in my opinion, however they have very little understanding of the profit making side of the entertainment industry considering its a govt corp. they always release things expensive, small and with very little added value. they need to get a new marketing dept in my view.

[creed462]

They need to learn how to cut prices.

[Whitster]

The reason PBS or Sci-Fi or whoever else they showed it to didn't pick it up is this: cost. BBC-WA was asking for WAY more than any network here was willing to pay for an untested property in which they have no financial stake. They essentially priced themselves out of the market.

Now they are compounding the problem by overcharging gfor the DVD set, just because they think they can. The only thing this all shows was that the BBC has absolutely no understanding of the US market. They could have gotten Doctor Who onto a US network like Sci-Fi by offering a bargain price for series 1, subject to renegotiation if it did well. They could have created a backdoor market with the DVD release, if they hit that magic $45 "blind buy" price. They chose not to. They like to come up with one pricing the shop to all markets equally, which to my mind is just flat out lazy. It requires no market research.

Thing is BBC can't really afford to sell on it's biggest IPs on the cheap. I dunno if any of you from america know but the BBC is funded directly from the British public, not via advertising or subscription but TV licencing. Which means anyone who watches TV in the UK has to pay for the upkeep of the BBC.

Now DW was a big production by our TV standards, and probably took a large chunk of the BBCs budget to make. Now the idea of the licencing fee is that if everyone pays it the BBC will funnel it into making programs for all demographics. So obviously DW needs to offset it's huge production costs by making it's money back through other markets, whether thats selling the program to forigen networks or DVD sales. It has to recoup money otherwise we could see budget cuts for the show, possibly making it look like it's earlier series .

Besides it's not like $100 is alot considering the boxset is 60 quid over here anyway, besides you know if you hold out buying it buy the time the 2nd series has finished it'll be about half price in a summer sale somewhere.

[Deputy-Assistant-Second-Prime]

Thing is BBC can't really afford to sell on it's biggest IPs on the cheap.

Then most likely, it isn't going to get purchased at all.

As far as the broadcast rights go, the BBC can't really expect much enthusiasm from the American broadcasters for reasons I already mentioned.

I dunno if any of you from america know but the BBC is funded directly from the British public, not via advertising or subscription but TV licencing. Which means anyone who watches TV in the UK has to pay for the upkeep of the BBC.

I wish we did it that way too, but we don't.

I think Doctor Who has the potential to do okay (1 to 2 million viewers without aggressive targeting maybe) in the U.S. because there has long been a disconnect between broadcasters and viewers, but it's still a big risk and the most important thing is to get their foot in the door of the market. It's these television executives who are the real hurdle. Give me a good reason why they should bother, because I sure can't think of one...certainly not one they would believe.

I don't know if you know how American television works, but it has nothing to do with providing a public service. It's all about maximizing profits. The culture of American broadcasters is the very antithesis of the message of Doctor Who. So, right from the get-go you've got a conflict of interests.

I can't imagine those executives purchasing a British series...they're too insular and so are many Amercian viewers. You know, to us Doctor Who is wonderful magical thing. To them, it's an unmarketable commodity.

Now DW was a big production by our TV standards, and probably took a large chunk of the BBCs budget to make. Now the idea of the licencing fee is that if everyone pays it the BBC will funnel it into making programs for all demographics. So obviously DW needs to offset it's huge production costs by making it's money back through other markets, whether thats selling the program to forigen networks or DVD sales. It has to recoup money otherwise we could see budget cuts for the show, possibly making it look like it's earlier series.

Doctor Who hasn't recouped its investment with being sold to Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Korea, and Sweden? I wasn't aware of that.

In any case, to make it profitable in America, they need to market it. Personally, I agree with the previous poster that discounting the price of the first season is the way to do it. Get the American audience hooked first. Then sell the merchandise and up the price of the second season.

Besides it's not like $100 is alot considering the boxset is 60 quid over here anyway, besides you know if you hold out buying it buy the time the 2nd series has finished it'll be about half price in a summer sale somewhere.

The DVD price is a bit high by American standards and I've heard many Brits complain about the price of DVDs. But hey I'm a big Doctor Who fan and I'll pay it. Most people won't...because they never heard of it or can't afford it.

Unless the BBC realizes American television is a different animal and requires a different approach, they stand to make zilch.

And that's a shame. I waited so long for this show to come back. I think it has the possibility to garner new fans (especially in colleges) and be very successful with some aggressive marketing.

[Egeria]

I honestly can't believe how much you chaps are being ripped off..it's scandalous. I've been sat here today looking for the best deal for my daughters christmas prezzie...and I'm shocked at how much it's retailing at outside the UK.

[Deputy-Assistant-Second-Prime]

Back when the original Doctor Who aired on PBS, as a kid, I didn't realize how important public broadcast was.

Now, years later, the American airwaves and press are controlled by a few conglomerates and PBS is under attack by the very organization that's supposed to protect it.

It's not that I'm insensitive to the financial needs of the BBC, it's that I'm deeply ashamed that I must explain how my democracy is so diminished that the content of our own airwaves doesn't represent the interest of the American people. We avoid certain topics of conversation, limit viewpoints, and focus on trivia.

That is a bigger topic than Doctor Who, but it is part of the backdrop of this debate. If you listen to the consistent message of Doctor Who, it's always about reevaluation and broadening one's mind. Also, it's often been about populist movements and social justice.

And I think people of influence are threatened by such messages, so I am not optimistic.

[Deputy-Assistant-Second-Prime]

I honestly can't believe how much you chaps are being ripped off..it's scandalous. I've been sat here today looking for the best deal for my daughters christmas prezzie...and I'm shocked at how much it's retailing at outside the UK.

Well, I paid $73 (including shipping) for the Region 2 version from Amazon.co.uk .

That's just the retail price. Amazon will probably have it cheaper.

[Egeria]

Flippin 'eck...thats's not bad.

[Deputy-Assistant-Second-Prime]

Flippin 'eck...thats's not bad.

Yeah, all I had to do was first buy a multi-region player with built-in PAL-to-NTSC converter(mid-range model-$183.00).

Still, I'm curious how much Amazon will charge for the region 1 boxset.

Also, I'm guessing Blake's 7 will be coming out soon on region 1, and I'm thinking it's going to be cheaper than the region 2 sets...just a guess, but I can't see them justifying that same price here.

We always seem to have cheaper boxsets here.

[Egeria]

Maybe we need to take advantage of our 'friends' in the UK more, especially the Aussies. I'm not adverse to helping out.