The Official Network Thread

[RossyG]

Amazing that a series so popular is so badly served on home media. Ditto the Doctor and Norman Wisdom series. They were TV staples in the Eighties. You’d think they’d all be on Blu-Ray by now, but they’re not.

Help us, Network. You’re our only hope.

[ballsofcheese]

Originally Posted by CV19

Brilliant, yes I remember the trailer for those Carry On titles. And I completely agree with you, spending a tenner on a blu-ray today is nothing to what we spent back in the late 80's for a crap pan-and-scan VHS tape.

From memory, The Video Collection titles were the cheapest, but I do remember clearly the Warner Home Video titles (the ones with the very large cases) costing £14.99 - around £40 in today's money according to some inflation calculators.

CBS/FOX and CIC Video were usually around the £12 mark I think, but still quite expensive at that time. Most of my spare cash went on videos, and as you say, the idea of actually owning a film was something to be proud of.

The Video Collection was the first proper attempt at selling a catalogue of movies to collectors at sensible prices.
Started with low key old movies like Its A Wonderful Life at £6.99 available at Woolworths.
Before that collectors relied on ex rentals from video shops or paid extortionate rental tape prices but only available in London or mail order.
During the early years some labels tested the market with some blockbusters. Raiders of the Lost Ark went for £20 but it was still too high to make it pay on a regular basis for movies across the board.
But as The Video Collection did well issuing more titles regularly Polygram got in on that act with Channel 5 Video. Among their titles they licenced a lot of the ITC shows and as the market grew they licenced films from lesser studios.
But as with the rental market which started with most Hollywood studios licencing titles to independent labels the same thing happened with retail and once there were enough sales Hollywood started selling the tapes themselves.
Polygram ended up licencing so much product from ITC they actually bought them out lock stock and barrel.
As the £9.99 market thrived Sky Movies interrupted and over the next few years changes were fast. First we were encouraged to rent then a year later buy for £9.99. Eventually things switched round and we were encouraged to buy on day one which was a bit of problem for the video shops as Hollywood wasn't really interested in letting video shops buy tapes for under a tenner instead of the previous £50 and then rent them out dozens of times so it all became a bit of a mess which slowly killed off the independent video shops leaving Blockbuster/ Ritz who also eventually bit the bullet.

During the rental years of the early to mid 80's many labels reduced the price of catalogue titles in order to see if they could get the collectors market. Only the other day I was looking at Video the Magazine from 1985 with a list of all the Bond films up to that time for around £20 each along with lots of others- these were all in the Warner Rental Big Boxes. Like others they used the small cases for retail copies. Of course none were in widescreen, few were in stereo and all were shitty VHS quality.

I think if SC had any intention of continuing Carry On themselves they would have done.
But with Network in the enviable position of having deals with both owners of the Carry On series I would have thought it would be an ideal project for them to get into.
They've previously released titles which contain a mix of entries from ITV , Studio Canal and Fremantle all on the same disc so that doesn't appear to be a problem.No point in asking Network though- they never divulge anything

[CV19]

Originally Posted by ballsofcheese

I think if SC had any intention of continuing Carry On themselves they would have done.
But with Network in the enviable position of having deals with both owners of the Carry On series I would have thought it would be an ideal project for them to get into.
They've previously released titles which contain a mix of entries from ITV , Studio Canal and Fremantle all on the same disc so that doesn't appear to be a problem.No point in asking Network though- they never divulge anything

You're right, it's almost as if Studio Canal doesn't care at all about its back catalogue and are happy to let films languish in their vaults. It's good that Network has deals with both ITV and SC, so hopefully it does bode well as far as the Carry On films are concerned.

I do remember Channel 5 video as well - they cost about 8 or 9 quid I think. The very first sell-through releases from Warners were still supplied in the large boxes as I recall buying Breakheart Pass and Around The World In 80 Days in these cases for £14.99 - the usual retail price for Warner at this time. However, the regular sized boxes were issued very shortly after as they released the Bond 25th Anniversary set in 1987 using these smaller cases, and the prices were reduced as well.

[CV19]

Originally Posted by RossyG

Amazing that a series so popular is so badly served on home media. Ditto the Doctor and Norman Wisdom series. They were TV staples in the Eighties. You’d think they’d all be on Blu-Ray by now, but they’re not.

Help us, Network. You’re our only hope.

Totally agree with you. Yes, I forgot about the Doctor series - another ideal acquisition for Network as they're all Rank films as well.

Great films.....I think it was Doctor In The House where James Robertson Justice is explaining to a group of student doctors about the medical term referred to as the "bleeding time", and he then asks Dirk Bogarde (thinking that he wasn't paying attention) what the bleeding time is, and he says "ten past ten".

[ballsofcheese]

Originally Posted by CV19

You're right, it's almost as if Studio Canal doesn't care at all about its back catalogue and are happy to let films languish in their vaults. It's good that Network has deals with both ITV and SC, so hopefully it does bode well as far as the Carry On films are concerned.

I do remember Channel 5 video as well - they cost about 8 or 9 quid I think. The very first sell-through releases from Warners were still supplied in the large boxes as I recall buying Breakheart Pass and Around The World In 80 Days in these cases for £14.99 - the usual retail price for Warner at this time. However, the regular sized boxes were issued very shortly after as they released the Bond 25th Anniversary set in 1987 using these smaller cases, and the prices were reduced as well.

I think you'll find that any of the Warner titles that were in the big boxes were not really "sell through" releases. If you check out the video mags of the 80's you can see that before they started a dedicated sell through range they started offloading excess tapes designed for rental. Started with specialist shops and then chains started trying them out. At this time video movies were an obvious item to sell but the rental tape system basically made them too expensive for many beyond Oxford Street. I recall HMV Oxford Street and being so happy I only had to pay £40 for Spartacus.

The Bond Collection was one of Warners earliest entries into the retail market. Unfortunately they used the same crappy transfers including OHMSS with about 10 minutes missing and they reissued them several times in different cases. It wasn't until the 30th Anniversary that they actually remastered and restored the films to make them a bit more presentable. Widescreen versions available too and indicating they were aware of how highly OHMSS was thought of by fans they did a special boxset with a magazine and cards etc.

It would be a few years before Warner officially started selling retail copies of their latest hits at £10 and usually a year after the rental was released. Even later before brand new films came out at £10 on day one without a rental option.

During this period the video trade press would often advertise films as having a "12 month satellite holdback" to convince video shops the films would not turn up on Sky Movies for at least a year.

[CV19]

Originally Posted by ballsofcheese

I think you'll find that any of the Warner titles that were in the big boxes were not really "sell through" releases. If you check out the video mags of the 80's you can see that before they started a dedicated sell through range they started offloading excess tapes designed for rental. Started with specialist shops and then chains started trying them out.

I assumed the Warner titles were new as I wasn't buying them from a video rental shop - in fact I bought most of the videos in Debenhams (Manchester) which was across the road from where I was working, and they had a decent selection of titles from all the various labels.

[ballsofcheese]

Originally Posted by CV19

I assumed the Warner titles were new as I wasn't buying them from a video rental shop - in fact I bought most of the videos in Debenhams (Manchester) which was across the road from where I was working, and they had a decent selection of titles from all the various labels.

I'm not saying the big box tapes were ex rental. They were new but they were intended for rental initially but before they started their proper dedicated service Warner started offloading movies that had been out a while to stores that were interested.
But just as an example - you wouldn't find an ad in a video magazine that would announce the arrival of a particular film to stores as the films being sold were still officially rental and Warner didn't have a retail range at that point. It was basically left overs so what films turned up was hit and miss.
I would say it was these experiments that informed them there was a market for buying movies.
Warner were one of the few Hollywood studios who never licenced their movies out once the video boom hit but they also initially had an unpopular stance in that they would not sell tapes at all and video rental stores had to rent the films off Warner for a limited time then return them. This was why in the early days it was hard to find Warner tapes to rent.
I think it was 1983 or 1984 when this very silly business model was scrapped and Warner started supplying tapes like all other studios.

However - we're digressing way off topic so to kind of connect it to Network. One of my most exciting days was when I found the Norman Wisdom films on 2 films per tape. I think it was Rank who released them. This was in the era when many video shops actually refused to stock any film that had been on tv because they thought everyone would have taped it.
And trying to sell a catalogue of tv titles like Network do was very difficult back then.

Back to Network / Studio Canal. I see that 2 interesting SC titles licenced to Kino Lorber in the US and I had expected would be Network over here are actually being released by SC themselves. "And Soon the Darkness" and Susan George in the excellent "Fright" both come out in October.

I wonder if Networks release of 7-63up on Bluray will all be genuine HD. I'm betting there will be a fair bit of upscaled material

[CV19]

Originally Posted by ballsofcheese

Back to Network / Studio Canal. I see that 2 interesting SC titles licenced to Kino Lorber in the US and I had expected would be Network over here are actually being released by SC themselves. "And Soon the Darkness" and Susan George in the excellent "Fright" both come out in October.

Thanks for the information. I look forward very much to these two titles coming out. You're right, I would have expected Network to obtain these as well, but as long as someone releases them, I'm happy.

[RossyG]

Originally Posted by CV19

ames Robertson Justice is explaining to a group of student doctors about the medical term referred to as the "bleeding time", and he then asks Dirk Bogarde (thinking that he wasn't paying attention) what the bleeding time is, and he says "ten past ten".

And when Dr Sparrow was using a stethoscope of the chest of a teenage girl.

"Big breaths!"
"Yeth, and I'm only Thixteen."

But I digress.

[BigNickUK]

For some reason Network have shipped all the September releases to me early. I ordered all 6 British Film preorders on their website and even the 23rd September releases have arrived. Great effort!

[HotRats]

The Quiller Memorandum is released in Germany on 25.10.19. Standard case or choice of three digibooks. I wonder which transfer it will use, hope it isn't the Network one https://www.amazon.de/Quiller-Memora...s%2C183&sr=8-1

[OceanBlue]

Has anyone got Network's dual format release of Columbus, and how is the transfer? I know there's an essay booklet included, but that's basically it in terms of extras. I was going to ask if there have been releases of it in the States and Europe. Have checked and Oscilloscope have released it in the States (it has a few video extras).

[CelestialAgent]

Originally Posted by OceanBlue

Has anyone got Network's dual format release of Columbus, and how is the transfer? I know there's an essay booklet included, but that's basically it in terms of extras. I was going to ask if there have been releases of it in the States and Europe. Have checked and Oscilloscope have released it in the States (it has a few video extras).

It’s good but only a BD-25, don’t really have anything to compare it against. However of course it’s the cheaper option compared to importing the Oscilloscope.

[Aclea]

With the way the country is going, I say there's a crying need for them to get down to Carrying On in earnest while at least some of us can still afford it.

[Indiana Jonezzz...]

Originally Posted by Randallfan

Apparently Network will be announcing a special treat tomorrow.
The Champions, Stingray or both please

Thunderbirds in the correct aspect ratio please!

[Modman]

Originally Posted by Aclea

With the way the country is going, I say there's a crying need for them to get down to Carrying On in earnest while at least some of us can still afford it.

Let's carry on regardless before we are all up the Khyber!

[Aclea]

Sir Sidney Ruff-Diamond for caretaker PM!

[Modman]

Originally Posted by Aclea

Sir Sidney Ruff-Diamond for caretaker PM!

This is one vote for Tiffin.

[Modman]

Autumn sale - 40% on selected blu-ray and dvd titles (1034 currently) until 3pm on the 30/09/19.

https://networkonair.com/165-autumn-sale

[Aclea]

Though at present everything is still the usual price.