Commander In Chief DVD Set Splits

Purchasing TV shows on DVD has become more and more popular over the last few years. Some of you may have noticed that with the increase in popularity, there’s also been an increase in prices. What used to cost $40 to $50 on amazon.com, now costs $60 or more, and that’s the pre-order price! (See ‘Grey’s Anatomy: Season 2’ and ‘Lost: Season 2’). Well Disney/ABC recently found a way to get even more money out of the pockets of consumers.

TVShowsOnDVD.com reported earlier this month that the DVD set of Season 1 of ‘Commander In Chief' would go on sale on October 3, 2006 for the very reasonable suggested price of $39.99. Not bad for a four disc set. Now, instead of selling the whole set for a decent price, Disney has decided to split the set into two volumes. The first volume (episodes 1 through 10) will be released June 27th. The second set (episodes 11 through 18) will be released on the original date of October 3rd. The suggested retail price for each set is $29.99.

Amazon.com doesn’t appear to be discounting the sets as of yet, which means that for viewers to own the whole set, they’ll have to shell out $60. That’s a big jump from $40! The only upside that I can see is that viewers will get the first half of the season a few months earlier but honestly, I cant see that being worth $20.

Its possible after the cancellation of the show, ABC/Disney felt that by October viewers would have lost interest in the show so they’re putting out the first half a few months early. Perhaps they hope that if people buy the first half in June, they’ll want the 2nd volume eventually even if their interest in the show has diminished by then. As much as this seems like a way to coerce viewers into spending an extra $20 on the set, I’m hoping that’s their reasoning because it would be very annoying if this “volume” idea becomes a trend among TV DVD sets.

Would you be interested in only owning half a set?