How can papers afford to give away DVDs?

So how can papers afford to give away all those DVDs? A fine question by any standard (except saltiness). The BBC, in its queenly wisdom, claims that the answer is that the newspapers get each DVD very, very cheaply, even as low as 16p according to an Anonymous Industry Source [I wish I knew more of those]. An obvious response-question, at least to a middle-class boy, is, "Why the hell do we pay so much for the DVDs ourselves then?", assuming "we" actually buy DVDs. As a professional journalist can't give the correct answer, "Because you're idiots who agree to it", the need to blame someone else has to be satisfied. If the scapegoat is also an idiot, this helps. Much help was given on this occasion by Gennaro Castaldo, an "HMV spokesman" [I wish I knew more of those too].

"DVDs should be aspirational but if you see them being tossed around it sends out a negative message," says HMV spokesman Gennaro Castaldo. "It devalues the medium in the minds of the public."

So because people find out just how cheap a DVD really is, they won't want to own one any more? The horror! Maybe retailers shouldn't be depending on DVDs being "aspirational" in the first place, especially because no-one actually thinks so. Disingenuously pretending they are won't do much good for the brand, will it? So will HMV et al now face reality and price DVDs more cheaply?

Mr Castaldo rejects it as a "facile argument". The cost of DVDs sold in shops reflects the "full costs of creating a film, distribution, marketing and selling it."

Just like the ones given away free with the newspapers, no? How facile of us to notice. Bloody consumers and their demanding demands. The world moves on.