ABC News taps long tail with DVDs

Cory Bergman July 12th, 2007

In a deal with CustomFlix, ABC News will make hundreds of hours of historic programming available on DVDs here on Amazon.com and ABCNews.com. For example, you can buy ABC News’ coverage of the JFK assassination, Princess Diana’s royal wedding and old Nightline episodes. The DVDs are priced from $9.95 to $19.95. “ABC News owns an amazing archive of content capturing pivotal moments of our era, but the high cost of traditional DVD manufacturing and distribution has kept many of these gems locked away,” said Dana LoPiccolo-Giles, co-founder and managing director of CustomFlix Labs. “Our DVD on Demand solution is the perfect way to unlock this content and make it broadly available to news buffs everywhere.” Press release…

SCOTTS VALLEY, Calif. & NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–ABC News today announced an agreement with CustomFlix Labs, part of the Amazon.com, Inc., (NASDAQ:AMZN) group of companies, to make hundreds of hours of historic and award-winning programming available for purchase on Amazon.com and ABCNews.com. Through the CustomFlix Labs DVD on Demand service, ABC News Classics, ABC News Specials and programming from ABC News broadcasts, including “World News with Charles Gibson,” “Good Morning America,” “Nightline,” “20/20” and “Primetime,” are now available for purchase.

“We are excited to work with CustomFlix Labs to provide Amazon.com customers with another opportunity to access quality ABC News content,” said Bernard Gershon, senior vice president and general manager, ABC News Digital Media. “Through CustomFlix Labs, ABC News will offer exclusive interviews, historical moments and classic documentaries on Amazon.com, some of which will be available for the first time.”

“ABC News owns an amazing archive of content capturing pivotal moments of our era, but the high cost of traditional DVD manufacturing and distribution has kept many of these gems locked away,” said Dana LoPiccolo-Giles, co-founder and managing director of CustomFlix Labs. “Our DVD on Demand solution is the perfect way to unlock this content and make it broadly available to news buffs everywhere.”

ABC News fans can now purchase and collect ABC News Classics and ABC News Specials such as the “Royal Wedding: Prince Charles & Lady Diana,” “The Assassination of President Kennedy,” “Celebrity Flashback” interviews with The Rolling Stones or Director Steven Spielberg and many Presidential Farewell and State of the Union speeches over the past few decades.

The inventory-free CustomFlix Labs DVD on Demand program enables large content owners like ABC News to offer DVDs to millions of Amazon.com customers with 24-hour availability, while eliminating the upfront costs of traditional distribution and ensuring that titles always remain in stock. DVD on Demand gives content owners a new way to monetize content, and leverages the purchasing power of tens of millions of customers on Amazon.com.

DVDs from ABC News can be purchased at www.amazon.com/abcnews and www.ABCNews.com. For more information on the CustomFlix Labs DVD on Demand program, please visit www.customflix.com.