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RCA Press Release for September 14, 1982

The video disc is becoming its own best salesman, according to an RCA survey.

The longer a consumer owns his player, the more sales he generates among his acquaintances. The RCA survey of video disc player owners showed that 30 percent of those owning their players a year or more have influenced a friend or relative to buy one.

Thomas G. Kuhn, Division Vice President, RCA VideoDiscs, said, "Seeing the video disc player in operation is the strongest selling tool of all. People are amazed at the quality of the picture and sound produced by the RCA discs."

He noted that in the latest survey of 1,200 player owners, the respondents had accumulated an average of approximately 30 discs in the first full year of ownership, which corroborates the findings of earlier surveys. Those with their players four months or less already owned an average of 13 discs.

Mr. Kuhn said the survey showed that nearly half the sample buys new discs at least every four weeks, which accounts for the growing optimism among video disc dealers. "The video disc generates repeat business for dealers who stock and display a wide variety of titles," he added.

He said cable television and video cassette recorders do not deter consumers from buying video discs. According to the survey, 20 percent of the respondents had pay cable (compared with 18 percent of the general population) and 17 percent had VCR's (vs. 5 percent of the general population). The survey also showed that 56 percent of the households had children, which is the highest since these surveys began.

"The video disc is playing an increasingly important role in home entertainment, because it is an inexpensive, reliable, easy-to-operate system. With approximately 400 diverse titles available by year-end, consumers will be able to tailor programming to their own tastes and interests," Mr. Kuhn added.

Mr. Kuhn said the survey also showed that video disc player owners are motivated by low prices, ease of operation, and program selection and availability. "As a result of holding a competitive edge in all three areas," Mr. Kuhn added, "the RCA-developed CED video disc system has dominated the disc business since its introduction in March 1981."

The top albums owned according to the latest survey are: "Airplane!", "The Muppet Movie", "The Black Stallion", "Goldfinger", "M*A*S*H", "Star Trek -- The Motion Picture", "20,000 Leagues Under The Sea", "Heaven Can Wait" and "Fiddler On The Roof."

"On Golden Pond", which became available on video disc in May 1982, was the best-selling title in the April-July period covered by the survey. It was followed by "Diamonds Are Forever" and "Close Encounters of The Third Kind: The Special Edition."

In the non-feature film category, "Star Trek -- The Menagerie" has been the best seller since the system was launched 17 months ago, and "Star Trek III -- The Trouble With Tribbles/The Tholian Web" was the volume leader in the April-July period.