A couple of things

[Supersonic Lorry]

Hi folks,
Firstly, Knight Rider 2000 is on Channel 5 (a UK channel) on Saturday at 5.40PM. Don't miss it. For a reunion movie, it's pretty good.

Secondly, on the subject of Knight Rider DVD releases through Universal Playback. Now, I have built up a rapport with Universal Playback and have phoned them on several occassions (about KR, Airwolf and The A-Team). Believe me, they are listening. Their releases of shows such as KR may seem erratic but it's not all down to them...

Most of it is down to the dreaded copyright clearance of music used on the KR show. Also, when shows such as KR aired in the 80's, contracts were signed meaning they were to be broadcast on TV channels only. With the advent of DVD, this became redundant. Universal Playback are fighting to clear various copyright stuff but believe me, they would like nothing better than to release DVD season boxsets.

If we're patient, we may get it. It could be 2004 at the earliest. These things take time. Keep our fingers crossed. And things could be worse. Miami Vice for example will almost never get anymore DVD releases and no season boxsets because it will cost $1m to clear all the music copyright.

So, keep your fingers crossed and let's hope that sooner of later, we see some KR DVD boxsets.

Supersonic Lorry

[Knight Industries 3000]

Thanks for the info. It makes sense, although it still sucks.

[Army_F_Body]

Great about KR...too bad about MV. That is one series, aside from KR of course that I would kill to get the entire run on DVD.

[neps]

Thanks for the update!

[Supersonic Lorry]

Can I just say, don't be afraid to ring Universal Playback. They're always enthusiastic to help and always pass you on to someone who can deal with your query. I believe different people are allocated different shows to be in charge of. Also, they've started releasing classic British comedies recently so everything else has been pushed to the back.

Universal are as frustrated as us with regards to releases, believe me. They don't answer letters due to the volume of mail but they do read ALL mail and each show has it's own file where letters/e-mails are placed.

So, get ringing and writing if you want to make things happen. And let's hope this greedy music companies and lawyers situation is sorted out soon.

Supersonic Lorry

[Rockatteer]

Thanks for the info Supersonic. I never realized that the music had a separate copy right.

I always thought that once it was in a TV show it too came under the copyright of that episode....

Go figure

[Supersonic Lorry]

Thanks for the info Supersonic. I never realized that the music had a separate copy right.

I always thought that once it was in a TV show it too came under the copyright of that episode....

Go figure

Yeah, it's one of those unfortunate things with regards to 80's shows. It's like what I said about Miami Vice which used hundreds of songs during it's run. They can't release it because it'll cost $1 million to clear all the copyright and theres no way they could gamble on such a big amount and getting their money back.

If things don't improve, then I vote that KR edits out the music and/or replaces it with music which won't cost so much.

It's funny really, you'd think some of these singers would appreciate the shot in the arm it could give their career, having their songs heard. I mean, some of them aren't exactly setting the world alight, are they?

Supersonic Lorry

[Rockatteer]

It's funny really, you'd think some of these singers would appreciate the shot in the arm it could give their career, having their songs heard. I mean, some of them aren't exactly setting the world alight, are they?

Some of them aren't even alive any more!

[Knight Industries 3000]

Aside from the sheer quantity of '80s songs being lower in Knight Rider than in Miami Vice, another advantage that KR has is that most of its songs weren't performed by the actual bands that made the songs famous, but by less expensive cover bands, so the copyright fees should be even lower for KR.

I look forward to buying the complete Knight Rider series on DVD... whenever it's released.

[Tony]

Someone had mentioned to me once before about copyrighted music.
If the song is more than 15 years old, there is no more copyrights to
that song or music.
But I don't know if this is true or not. I am just stating that, thats what
someone had told me..
You would think that, after so many years since the songs original
air play, That there would be no problems getting permission from either
the artist or the record company.

It's now due for us ALL Knight Rider fans to get our DVD box set or
VHS box set. (Season box set that is) The UK already has box sets
avalible to them (Cheers to you guys in the UK) from Universal Playback.

Tony

[Knight Industries 3000]

Someone had mentioned to me once before about copyrighted music.
If the song is more than 15 years old, there is no more copyrights to
that song or music.

I can't speak for international copyright law, but that's not the case in the US. For all productions made during or after 1978, copyrights are "life-plus-fifty," meaning that the original author of a work (and his or her estate) maintains copyright ownership for the lifetime of the author, plus fifty years. Since most recorded music is owned by the record company, which as a corporation has a similar legal status as an individual in many ways, the corporation owns the work for "life plus fifty." Since corporations can theoretically "live" forever, their copyright ownership is effectively indefinite.

[Supersonic Lorry]

Someone had mentioned to me once before about copyrighted music.
If the song is more than 15 years old, there is no more copyrights to
that song or music.
But I don't know if this is true or not. I am just stating that, thats what
someone had told me..
You would think that, after so many years since the songs original
air play, That there would be no problems getting permission from either
the artist or the record company.

It's now due for us ALL Knight Rider fans to get our DVD box set or
VHS box set. (Season box set that is) The UK already has box sets
avalible to them (Cheers to you guys in the UK) from Universal Playback.

Tony

I guess in a way, us UK fans are lucky to have KR boxsets...sort of.

It's been May 2002 since the last KR boxset and there's no sign of another one until early 2004 at the earliest. Furthermore, there are missing episodes and not all of them in order. Plus, no extras.

What I'd really like to see for every country is season boxsets with plenty of extras. But, it may not happen. It's different with a show such as Star Trek Deep Space Nine or Buffy, which-I hate to say it-probably make more sales than KR (even though KR is better). It could be expensive to cram a KR DVD with extras but we'll see.

The other problem is music. Like I said, Miami Vice won't get season releases because of the $1 million it will cost to clear copyright of music-no company in the world could gamble $1 million on this. KR isn't in the same situation as Miami Vice but the copyright is still a problem.

If it were up to me, I'd edit the damn music out. The music was integral to Miami Vice but as far as KR goes, I could live without the music.

There are so many issues for Universal to clear. For example, another one is this-back in the 80's, shows such as Airwolf signed contracts limiting them to TV showings only. This was because video was in it's infancy and DVD wasn't even a thought. Now, with DVD, that has all changed and it's all about getting permission. There are so many things to clear. For example, there is an A-Team episode called 'The Beast In The Belly Of A Boeing' which cannot yet be released. Firstly, because it uses stock footage from 'Airplane' and there's a problem with that. Secondly, there is some contention over the use of the word 'Boeing' in the title (beyond belief, I know).

See what Universal is up against? But, we must remain positive and hope it one day becomes a dream. The two most important things you can do is let Universal know your thoughts (via e-mail or letter) and make sure you buy any KR releases that come out.

Supersonic Lorry