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RCA Press Release for June 1, 1981

 

M*A*S*H Top Selling RCA Video Disc in Initial Telephone Survey of Disc Owners

CHICAGO, May 31 -- A telephone interview of RCA video disc owners showed that M*A*S*H was the best-selling disc in RCA's opening catalog of 100 titles.

Stuart Gray, staff vice president, program and market research for RCA "SelectaVision" VideoDiscs, said the interviews took place between April 29 and May 3, therefore reflecting disc activity as of five to six weeks after the national launch of the RCA video disc system.

M*A*S*H was closely followed on the best-selling list by "Heaven Can Wait," "The Godfather -- Part 1" and "The Muppet Movie."

Rounding out the top 10 titles were: "The Black Stallion," "Fiddler On The Roof," "Grease," "Casablanca," "Escape From Alcatraz" and "Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid."

Owners were also asked about their interest in some of the 26 new titles announced in May for summer availability. Mr. Gray noted that "The Pink Panther," "Goldfinger," "Ordinary People" and "Airplane!" rated especially high in "intent to buy."

Mr. Gray said the telephone survey showed that buyers are very pleased with their purchases, accumulating discs at a faster than anticipated pace, and are also very positive about RCA's future releases.

He said future surveys are planned on a quarterly or bimonthly basis.

"Each wave will provide us with title by title sales data, and future buying intentions, which will give us a way of projecting the long-term potential of each title," he said in releasing results of the survey at the start of the Consumer Electronics Show.

"This data also will help us to pinpoint our inventory needs, enabling us to maximize the use of our production facilities."

The 10 top selling titles in RCA's VideoDisc catalog, based on telephone interviews, were:

Title Percent of Homes Owning
1. M*A*S*H 38%
2. Heaven Can Wait 37%
3. The Godfather -- Part 1 36%
4. The Muppet Movie 36%
5. The Black Stallion 30%
6. Fiddler On The Roof 29%
7. Grease 29%
8. Casablanca 28%
9. Escape From Alcatraz 28%
10. Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid 26%

 

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