Spenser for hire

[Jimbuna]

I'm still awaiting the release of Hill Street Blues.

[vienna]

Hill Street has been available here in the US for some time. In fact, there is a box set of the entire series for sale on Amazon. My guess is there is some sort of rights hassle if the series is not available in the UK...

Some TV series are not available for a number of reasons: the source material is gone or is not in good condition, the series was produced on videotape and the quality/resolution is very dodgy, the original producers or production companies are no longer around and there is a question of who has the rights, the series may have used published music and did not secure the rights for all media (past, present, future), etc. The number of possibilities is large and usually involves lawyers and we all know how convoluted and drawn out anything involving lawyers can be...


<O>

[Eichhörnchen]

Maybe it just hasn't been released in Region 2 format so far. I've got caught out before, finding a DVD that won't play, then a closer look at the box reveals "Region 1"... don't know how they turn up in the UK though...

[Sailor Steve]

This says region 2.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hill-Street-...l+street+blues

[vienna]

The region issue is not the main reason for TV series not being released in countries outside of the US. Rights is the really big issue. When some of the most loved or wished for series were originally created, there was not an internet or DVDs; in some cases, there was not even VHS. When a series is made, the main objective of the producers is to make the series as cheaply as possible and pocket the savings. Since there was no sales of series on the open market to consumers at the time, producers looked to syndication (reruns) as a source of continuing revenue from series that had concluded their 'first run'. In order to keep costs down, they went cheap on rights securement. For example, if it cost extra to secure song rights in perpetuity across all media, past present or future, then the producer was most likely to settle for only paying for rights for the 'first run' and the broadcast of the series in syndication on TV. When VHS, DVDs, and the internet came along, they were not contingencies imagined or prepared for by the producers at the time of the series creation, Thus, when the new media came up, all manner of players popped up to claim a piece of the new pie. Songwriters demanded royalties (usually at a rate far higher than paid for the original production), writers, directors, and almost any other personnel involved in the production were there with hands out. Actors also chimed in with claims their original contracts only covered 'first run' and syndication, not any new media. Producers also started to battle over their cut since a lot of the series had been made by production companies no longer in existence or subsumed by larger , newer entities. All in all, it can be a huge mess and the more successful a series is, the more likely it will be bound up in legal tussles. There are some series not yet released or released in modified form because satisfying all the rights claims would push the final price to the consumers to a level they would not want to pay. In fact, some of the claims exceed the cost of the total for the original production...


<O>

[Eichhörnchen]

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by vienna

Hill Street has been available here in the US for some time. In fact, there is a box set of the entire series for sale on Amazon. My guess is there is some sort of rights hassle if the series is not available in the UK...

Some TV series are not available for a number of reasons: the source material is gone or is not in good condition, the series was produced on videotape and the quality/resolution is very dodgy, the original producers or production companies are no longer around and there is a question of who has the rights, the series may have used published music and did not secure the rights for all media (past, present, future), etc. The number of possibilities is large and usually involves lawyers and we all know how convoluted and drawn out anything involving lawyers can be...


<O>

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

This says region 2.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hill-Street-...l+street+blues

Thanks chaps...will be having a word with the bride when the correct moment presents itself

[em2nought]

My brother liked Spencer for Hire. Anything close to John D. McDonald I guess. I'm not quite sure why we haven't had a Travis McGee series instead of just a few made for TV movies.