From
Video Buisness Online:
Leading up to today's video premiere of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Warner Home Video officials said there has been a "tenfold" decrease in the number of complains they've received about street-date violations when compared to the release of the first Potter picture last May.
"Warner has been great about contacting people when they break street date," said a top executive for a major video retailer who claims his chain lost at least $500,000 in revenue last year because rival retailers began selling Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone before its May 28 street date. "They've definitely policed things better than last year. I figure there'd be a lot of breaks by now, but I'm not really hearing that."
Trevor Drinkwater, senior VP, domestic sales for Warner, attributes the company's improved policing on the second Harry Potter installment to an extensive post-mortem of the first release. "We went back to those who violated street date the first time, and we tracked them very closely," he said. "We also started a huge e-mail campaign to make sure everybody clearly understood our policy."
As a result, Drinkwater added, Chamber of Secrets violations have been "significantly lower" than Sorcerer's Stone, while those on My Big Fat Greek Wedding--another high-profile title recently distributed by Warner--were "nil."
Still, primarily among non-specialty video retailers, there were sporadic reports of Chamber of Secrets hitting shelves early.
On the East Coast, for example, an employee for Pathmark Stores said a memo arrived from the supermarket chain's headquarters on April 7 authorizing store managers to begin selling the title immediately after it had turned up on competitor ShopRite's shelves that day. On April 8, this employee added, Warner officials called her store and asked management to remove Chamber of Secrets from the shelves.
Pathmark corporate officials referred VB to a company spokesman, who declined comment pending an investigation into the matter.
Calls to ShopRite outlets, meanwhile, did confirm that a number of stores in the chain were selling the title before street date. In fact, asked April 10 if Chamber of Secrets were available at her store, one employee asked VB, "Are you from Warner Bros.?"
Said a ShopRite company spokeswoman: "Corporately, we're adhering to street date," pointing to the chain's circulars, which advertise the correct April 11 premiere date for the title. She added that any instances in which ShopRite stores were selling the title early were "an anomaly" and would be investigated.
"If a grocery store breaks street date, that's a lot of our customers shopping there, and they come back to our store wanting a refund on their preorder," said the official for the entertainment specialty chain. "Are [the supermarkets] doing it intentionally and playing dumb? Or are they making a mistake? I happen to believe they're not that dumb."
Some retailers priced the title below MRP. Fry's Electronics advertised the DVD for $13.99 in today's Los Angeles Times, well below its $22.95 MAP, on debut day only. A WHV spokeswoman said the studio does not comment on pricing.
