HBO May Miss a Good Bet by Not Releasing Tyson Fight

Don’t expect to see a videocassette of the Tyson-Douglas heavyweight championship fight in your video store any time soon.

A source at HBO Video said that the company has no plans to put one out. Nor does Big Fights Inc., the company that got the rights after HBO carried the fight live on Feb. 10 and replayed it once last Friday.

The companies have offered no explanation for their decision.

They seem to be missing a chance to cash in on tremendous interest in the historic bout, in which long-shot James (Buster) Douglas knocked out champion Mike Tyson in the 10th round. Many people don’t get HBO and still haven’t seen the fight--or even news footage of it, since HBO didn’t allow news organizations to obtain highlights.

Some industry observers suggest that this was one of those strike-while-the-iron-is-hot situations. To take advantage of the interest in the fight, the cassette would have to be in the stores no longer than a few weeks after the fight. After that, the appeal drops dramatically.

Video retailers are reporting that Warner’s “Lethal Weapon 2,” the violent cop film starring Mel Gibson and Danny Glover, is doing startling rental business. Many say that “Lethal Weapon 2,” released two weeks ago, is beating out the other current blockbuster, Paramount’s “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,” which came out three weeks ago.

“ ‘Lethal Weapon 2” is renting at twice the pace of ‘Indy,’ said Peter Margo, executive vice president of the 170-store Palmer Video chain. “What’s even more surprising, it’s also selling at twice the pace.”

“Indiana Jones” is No. 3 on the Billboard rental chart, while “Lethal Weapon 2” debuted at No. 5. The way it’s renting, “Lethal” might take over the top spot next week.

Paramount reportedly shipped 5.5 million “Indian Jones” cassettes to retailers and distributors, while Warner shipped 3 million copies of “Lethal.”

Margo suggested that, because of the R-rating, discount stores stocked fewer copies of “Lethal Weapon 2,” which meant that those people who wanted it had to go to video stores--where they would tend to rent rather than buy because of the higher prices.

He also speculated that Warner’s TV ad blitz for “Lethal Weapon 2” has been a big factor in its rental success.

“You see a lot more ads for ‘Lethal’ than for ‘Indy,’ ” he said. “Also, the ads for ‘Lethal’ are very effective--the kind that make people take notice. These are the kind of ads that brings people in the stores to rent.”

The revolutionary dual-deck VCR, marketed by Go-Video and manufactured by Samsung, might not be on the market in March after all, as the company had announced at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last month.

The machine, which has one slot for a prerecorded cassette and another for a blank tape, makes it possible to copy the prerecorded cassette--something previously possible only by hooking up two VCRs.

Go-Video Chairman Terren Dunlap said that the delay has nothing to do with a second antitrust suit that the company filed against Japanese manufacturers on Jan. 24, charging them with conspiracy to keep the dual-deck VCR off the market.

“We may delay the introduction a bit to fine-tune the machine,” he said. “We want to make sure it’s perfect before we put it out. It may not be until May or June.”

Dunlap added that there are more than 30,000 orders for the machine, which is priced at about $1,000.