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MST3K DVD Rights Get a New Home

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Mystery Science Theater 3000 courtesy Best Brains, Inc.
Earlier this week we reported that Universal Studios is going to re-release Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie on DVD this coming May 6th. Now we've got brand new DVD news for you, but concerning the DVD rights for episodes of the TV series.

This morning Big Brains, Inc. (the folks behind MST3K) announced that they were moving the DVD license for the television episodes to Shout! Factory. The show has previously been distributed on home video by Rhino, but the folks there have moved their focus away from TV-DVDs and more onto music in the years since founder Garson and Richard Foos sold the company to Time Warner. Time Warner placed Rhino with the Warner Music Group, which has since spun off into their own organization. Meanwhile, the Foos brothers left Rhino and started Shout! Factory several years ago, and over the years several of the people who worked for them at Rhino moved over to Shout!

Now Mystery Science Theater 3000 makes the same journey. Rhino's final MST3K release will happen in less than two weeks, and then later this year Shout! Factory will take over the reins and begin releasing episodes never seen on DVD before. For a lot more detail on this, read the complete story at TVShowsOnDVD.com! — David Lambert

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Posted by The DVD Team
Jan 24, 2008 1:02 PM
I love Shout! releases! Can't wait to see which episodes get the DVD treatment.
Posted by soundscene
Jan 24, 2008 3:02 PM
Does this mean that we might see more titles make the jump from Rhino to Shout! Factory?

What about titles already being distributed by Rhino ("The Monkees" for example)? Will these get new life at Shout! Factory too?
Posted by BobO'Link
Jan 26, 2008 10:08 AM
Does this mean that we might see more titles make the jump from Rhino to Shout! Factory?

What about titles already being distributed by Rhino ("The Monkees" for example)? Will these get new life at Shout! Factory too?
Posted by BobO'Link
Jan 26, 2008 10:08 AM
That's entirely up to individual rights-holders, Bob.

For example, Rhino has the license to put out Sid & Marty Krofft stuff, and Jack Chertok's My Favorite Martian. The contract for Martian runs through August, and I don't know when the Krofft license expires but as of right now it's still at Rhino.

When those licenses run out, both companies will certainly decide to take their business elsewhere, since Rhino's pretty much out of the TV-on-DVD biz now.

Whether those licenses - or any others like The Monkees - go to Shout! Factory is a matter of who negotiates the best offer. For example, Shout! is possible a great place to take Martian, but then again S'More Entertainment does good stuff, too. A&E's been looking at bargaining for stuff like that (they recently released Weird Science, after all). BCI's another possibility, of course. There are others; no need to list them all here.

We'll see where each goes, and post it at TVShowsOnDVD, of course! :)

— David Lambert
Posted by The DVD Team
Jan 26, 2008 11:17 AM
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