Warner Home Video to Sell Discount DVDs...In China!

[JimJohnD]

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=528637

Basic DVDs, to be available shortly after a film's theatrical release, will sell in China for as little as 22 yuan ($2.65), the company announced. That's still more than the pirated versions readily available in China for 8 yuan ($1).

As for how Warner would justify charging U.S. consumers far more for DVDs, "I don't that's an issue," Caldwell said. "I think that historically, prices of entertainment around the world have always been different country to country."

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Break the law...get a deal. What more can you say?

[AlecWest]

As for how Warner would justify charging U.S. consumers far more for DVDs, "I don't think that's an issue," Caldwell said. "I think that historically, prices of entertainment around the world have always been different country to country."

There is some truth to what Caldwell said. Prices are always determined by what sellers think the market will bear. You can even see that locally. I caught one store selling a leather jacket for one price at their downtown store ... but found the exact same jacket cheaper at their store in an eastside mall. Even catalogs do it. One time, Lerner was caught sending two different catalogs to different people in the same city ... with higher prices in catalogs that went to neighborhoods considered affluent and lower prices for the exact same merchandise in catalogs that went to working-class neighborhoods.

But, I suspect you're right ... that they're also trying to "make nice" with the customers of video pirates. Who knows, it might work. It was the same rationale Hollywood used years ago when they lowered their prices for movies on VHS tape from the $40-$50 range to the $15-$30 range. Pirates could still make copies cheaper than $15 ... but Hollywood bet that the average consumer would "like" to be legal if given the incentive to do so. And for the most part, it worked.