By Gordon Cairns

THE number of DVD titles released in the UK is expected to have fallen after figures were published showing a 15% decline in titles released in the US in 2007.

According to new figures from analyst Screen Digest, 8748 titles were released in the US in the first three-quarters of 2007, which is 1601 fewer than in the previous year. Although this was partly the result of 18 fewer medium-budget cinema releases, partly offset by a rise in big-budget releases, it was mostly because programme producers have run out of attractive TV boxed sets.

Screen Digest analyst Richard Cooper told the Sunday Herald: "The back catalogue of TV has been thoroughly mined. You can now buy every single title of everything from Happy Days to Brush Strokes. There is very little left in that pot to bring out as a big release."

Although the figures are not yet available for the UK market, he said the same thing was almost certainly happening here. "It is highly likely that when the British Video Association figures are published sometime fairly soon, we are likely to see a similar drop in the number of DVD releases in the UK.

"With all the best-known titles released they will have to look at the less obvious choices, away from the Blackadders and Only Fools And Horses, and so we will be left buying titles such as Clarence and Sorry!"

He said there was also likely to have been similar falls in the numbers of feature film releases in the UK across the different levels of box offices.

He stressed, however, that on both sides of the Atlantic fewer titles does not mean lower sales. In fact, new figures released by the British Video Association show a year-on-year rise in the number of discs sold, despite the growing concerns from television producers about the threat from illegal video file-sharing online. In 2007, 248 million units were sold, a 10% increase on the 227 million units sold in 2006, with sales in 2007 generating an estimated £2.3 billion.

As Cooper put it, "10 strong film titles will sell more copies than 100 weak titles".

He played down the effect that downloading films and TV programmes from the internet has had on the DVD market, suggesting it was a niche rather than a mass-market activity. "It could happen down the line, but at present downloading products is not a mass activity. It's only for people who have invested in the technology and the time to educate themselves how to download programmes online.

"The industry is very vocal about piracy, but from an analyst's point of view, I can't substantiate an amount that is lost through piracy. The level of impact on actual sales is a very contentious issue," he said.