I’ve been continuing my quest for an explanation as to why a new
NCAA Men’s Basketball ChampionshipDVD/Blu-ray is available on a yearly basis, but a corresponding
NCAA Women’s Basketball ChampionshipDVD/Blu-ray hasn’t been seen since 2010. Once again, the men’s DVD was made available for advance purchase within forty-eight hours of that championship. And once again the news from the manufacturers and distributors of the championship DVD/Blu-rays was that there will be no corresponding disc made available for this year’s women’s championship. These sources I’ve spoken with again this year assert that there’s no apparent economic/business/profit reason behind the decision to not publish an electronic version and that this year (2016) would be a great opportunity to capitalize on the large amount of positive publicity the women’s game has gotten.
For those who would recall, the University of Connecticut Huskies won a record fourth consecutive national championship this year, and had a fairly outstanding last few seasons by all accounts.
Yesterday, I received a call from a
CBS Sports representative who explained that, although they would like to produce them again, no DVD would be forthcoming because “The rights holder won’t release the rights to produce and distribute.” He voiced disappointment about “their decision” and said, “Maybe we can release a highlights DVD sometime”. I told CBS Sports that I had been trying to find out the how and why of this withholding decision and there ensued (somewhat edited for brevity):
Me:
“Is there anyone I could talk with about the how and why of this decision?”
CBS Sports: “You should talk with the rights holder.”
Me:
Thank you. Do you have any information you could share about the rights holder -- meaning who I could contact about this?
CBS Sports: “The rights holder has absolute control over what companies can produce and distribute these properties.”
Me:
Thank you. I’m looking more for a person, an individual, I could contact.
CBS Sports: “That would be the rights holder.”
Around the fourth iteration of this byplay, I understood that, although I appreciated Abbott & Costello as much as the next person, I was unlikely to gain any further information regarding an informed source. We cordially ended the call and the CBS Sports representative allowed that he would “…look into it and call me back.” Generally, holding one’s breath is contraindicated in these situations. On further investigation, I ascertained that the rights holder was not Voldemort, but still the NCAA. (And this only because the NCAA helpfully says so at the start of their broadcasts and in print on their DVDs.)
I’ll start this year’s round of calls to the NCAA next week. Hopefully, if I can reach the right person, the NCAA will realize their lapse and correct the disparity immediately.
