Budget-priced BBC DVD collection includes Jane Austen adaptations
BBC Video is launching its new line of affordably-priced DVDs with a collection of six Jane Austen adaptations from the 1970s and 1980s.
BBC Video vp Burton Cromer said the company hopes to attract a whole new audience to these titles with their release at an attractive pricing. While many of the female, slightly older-skewing viewers who make up the core audience for such programs on PBS now have DVD players, BBC is counting on other groups such as college-age viewers and families to further boost sales.
Cromer admitted BBC isn’t looking at “huge” sales numbers in comparison to the “Spider-Mans” and “Finding Nemos” of the world. But to date, the Jane Austen adaptations have sold nearly half a million copies as double-VHS sets over the course of a decade — not exactly a pittance.
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The Austen titles — “Sense and Sensibility,” “Emma,” “Mansfield Park,” “Persuasion,” “Pride and Prejudice” and “Northanger Abbey” — will be available as a set for hard-core fans at a suggested price of $59.98, and by individual title.
