Starz-owned Anchor Bay Entertainment, which has distributed
two seasons of AMC's The Walking Dead, one of the top TV titles on DVD
and Blu-ray, is broadening its relationship with AMC Networks to include AMC, IFC
and Sundance Channel series, including the upcoming Rectify and Low
Winter Sun.
The deal covers all US and Canadian distribution on DVD, Blu-ray
and certain transactional digital distribution rights. Rectify, due in
April on Sundance Channel, was created by Ray McKinnon, a writer, director and
actor who appears as a series regular on FX's Sons of Anarchy. Mark
Johnson and Melissa Bernstein, executive producers of Breaking Bad, are
EPs on Rectify. Low Winter Sun is an AMC crime drama expected to
air later this year that is based on a British series from several years ago.
Physical disc revenue is off its turn-of-the-century peak,
but overall industry home entertainment revenue arrested a seven-year decline
in 2012, finishing flat with 2011 at $18 billion. While significant new revenue
comes from digital, sales and rentals of physical discs still account for about
two-thirds of the industry total.
Walking Dead, befitting a top-rated series, has
ranked as one of the biggest sellers on disc over the past two years. Its rabid
fan base is such that a collectors-edition boxed set with special packaging
designed by McFarlane Toys (retail: $100) sold out of its run of 35,000 copies.
Starz Digital Media has handled electronic
sell-through and transactional VOD for The Walking Dead.
