The Big Finish News Thread - The War Doctor!

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

A new ongoing thread for Big Finish news announcements:

To start the ball rolling. The new look Big Finish website previewed:

Big Finish is pleased to announce that our new website will be launched on the evening of 11th April 2012, and you can get a sneak peek of the homepage over to the left!

The new site has been carefully designed and built with the user in mind. We have taken on board many of our customers’ comments and have tested the new site to ensure that you can do the things you want to do and find the things you want to find quickly and simply.

'We're in the final phases of testing and there are exciting times ahead,’ says executive producer Nick Briggs. ‘Richard and his team have done a fantastic job. I'd also like to pay tribute to Paul Wilson, who has done such fantastic work for us over the years and has been brilliant and so helpful in facilitating the changeover to the new site.'

While the site has been completely overhauled, we have tried to keep as many things familiar as possible. So your choices on the top menu will be very similar and there will be several ways for you to find what you’re after, including a drop down menu of ranges, a page displaying all the ranges Big Finish produces and an ‘any word’ search function.

Within each range, releases will be displayed in both Forthcoming and Out Now sections, with the latest release the first thing you see. Most ranges also have the new ‘Find and filter’ functionality, primarily the Doctor Who main range. This will permit you to filter releases so that you can view only those that feature a certain Doctor or enemy. Subscription options and processes have also been simplified and clarified.

We have also introduced the idea of Hubs, where you will find all ranges pertaining to a character or franchise; Doctor Who, Bernice Summerfield and Dark Shadows are the first.

Richard Dinnick will be in charge of the new site, taking over as Web Producer from Paul Wilson, who has moved on to become Head of Development.

‘I am thrilled to be the new Web Producer for Big Finish,’ says Richard. ‘Even more so as we have such an excellent site! I hope all Big Finish fans will find the new site as exciting as I do. I’m sure they’ll be letting us know!’

You’ll be able to email Richard on richard.dinnick@bigfinish.com

The new site represents several months’ worth of work but we haven’t finished yet. We have more plans in the pipeline for exciting, additional and interactive aspects to the new site plus a host of extra features.

In the meantime, you’ll find that there is a great deal more on the site – even for releases you already know about. One aspect of the site is that each release will have its own behind the scenes area where we will be adding images and interviews, alternative covers and blogs.

When we do launch, we will also have a helpful video here on the site and on YouTube to explain where you’ll find things and how you can get the most from bigfinish.com.

[Rob McCow]

Probably a good idea, with their ranges expanding all the time it was getting tricky to track down individual stories.

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

The new website has been delayed and will now launch at the end of April, more details as follows:

As Nick said might be the case in last week's podcast, we are sorry to have to announce a delay to the launch of our new website.

At Big Finish we are always striving to make things better for you, our loyal listeners, and while in the final phase of testing the new site we realised that we had an opportunity to do just that.

“It will be like Big Finish offering the same level of ecommerce as Amazon or something!” new Web Producer Richard Dinnick says. “We’re sad to have to delay the launch but when it comes to doing things fast or doing things right, Big Finish prefers the latter."

That doesn’t mean we can't be both right and relatively fast, though. We’ll need new merchant codes and time to integrate the currencies with the improved ecommerce system, but we’re pleased to say that the new site will now launch on Monday 30th April. So you won’t have to wait too much longer for all those bells and whistles!

“The extra time also gives us a chance to give you more of a heads-up on the new site,” Richard adds. “We’ve already outlined the site in general and looked at ranges and hubs in specific, but we can let you know about other aspects of the new site such as the new subscription process. Every cloud...!”

Watch this space for further information and updates, and apologies for the slight delay. The current website will continue to operate as normal in the interim.

In the First April Podcast Nick Briggs also mentioned that due to the (much higher than inflation) increases in the cost of postage by Royal Mail, Big Finish will shortly have to introduce an extra charge for towards postage costs on CD orders. This will be the first significant price increase on Big Finish products since 2004.

[Rob McCow]

They've been doing well to hold the prices down this long! Perhaps this will increase their download sales?

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

Hopefully that's the positive side. Also giving free download access at the point of sale to everyone who buys CDs directly from Big Finish is still a significant selling point but anyone who likes hard copies may be once again tempted to give their custom to amazon and play to save the pennies.

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

This week Big Finish are offering their first 50 Doctor Who releases from 1999-2003 for £5 each over a five day period.

The promotion starts today with releases 1-10 which are all £5 each or £45 for all 10.

Main Range Special Offer Day 1

[Rob McCow]

It's a shame we've got all those! That's quite a bargain.

[brandynigma]

They did these last year too! Surely time to expand it to include some later ones...!

Perhaps it would be good to have one pre-trilogy (c. 115) story a week for a fiver?

[Nyder]

It's good for BF virgins like me ;-) But yes, they should have extended the discount a bit for you BF old-timers :-)

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

Today sees the turn of releases 21-30:

Main Range Special Offer Day 3

Also news about the postage cost increase as mentioned previously:

The Rising Cost of Postage and Production

As Nick mentioned in a recent podcast and those in the UK may well be aware, the British Post Office in the UK has put up its prices by a very substantial amount. In the case of first class, this rise is over 30% and for second class it’s over 38%.

At Big Finish we have always done everything we can do to keep the prices you pay as low as possible. However, almost everything that goes into making one of our productions has risen in price and we have kept prices down for as long as we can. Indeed, our last price increase was in 2004. We even weathered a 2.5% rise in VAT.

Unfortunately, this rise in postage costs really is the final blow and we have therefore taken the decision to add a token postage charge to each physical release. These new prices come into effect on 30th April and so when the new site launches, it will be accompanied by the new postage contributions.

Despite the actual cost of postage being considerably higher, we will be adding 51p to each jewel case release. There will also be charges made for box sets, but these will vary depending on size/weight.

Despite the fact that our customers abroad already pay a contributory postage fee, this will be changing to a standard £1 for each jewel case release as opposed to the varied charges that currently apply.

However, in order to keep things as affordable as we can NO postage fees will be made for pre-orders. And NO postage fees will be applied to any form of subscription or bundle order.

We are very sorry to have to make these changes but we have held the prices of our products down for as long as we can. There have been so many increases in costs that we have managed to absorb for you by making as many economies on the productions as possible without compromising the quality.

The new 'Postage Contribution' will appear in the My Basket part of the new web site.

We hope that should you wish to, you can take advantage of the lower prices on the current site until 30th April – particularly with the special offers available on the first fifty Doctor Who Main Range releases this week.

[Si Hunt]

I think they are still being too generous. Significant postal prices and they are still sending pre-orders and subscriptions for free? They arn't a charity.

Ironically, the post service itself is only having to hike prices so much because they were too generous in the past and conditioned people to the fact that their prices could stay perpetually low.

Si.

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

I agree that not charging postage for CD subscriptions seems very generous but the advance orders and subscriptions are what help Big Finish keep producing their plays up to a year in advance so I guess they don't want to risk seeing a drop-off from their regular income. JH-E is an extremely shrewd businessman and the last thing he wants is for BF to lose any of its existing customers.

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

Last day of the main range special offers

Today including the rather wonderful Doctor Who and the Pirates, The super villains trilogy (Omega, Davros and Master), the rather awful Nekromanteia and the 40th anniversary pudding that is Zagreus.

[Rob McCow]

Probably some of the strongest plays in the range in this lot!

[Nyder]

Look what landed on my doormat today

Only a few decades till I've caught up!

[Rob McCow]

Honestly couldn't you have put them in the right order Dave?!

[Anthony Williams]

And the new Big Finish website is up!

Check it out!

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

Rather helpfully some of the cross range offers haven't yet been added - specifically the Boxset and book bundles for the Benny Summerfield range. I haven't yet checked if the same is true for Blake's 7.
Otherwise it does seem a lot easier to navigate than the old one but having had an extra three weeks since the originally planned launch to get it right it would be nice if they'd finished it before going live.

[Anthony Williams]

I think that the site itself is lovely - WAY easier to navigate than the old one.

It'll be great when it's 100% running

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

Special offers on Dark Shadows releases

For this weekend only (starting on Friday 11th through to Sunday 13th) Big Finish are marking the release of the Tim Burton Dark Shadows film with a free preview of the first half of their latest release The House by the Sea starring Colin Baker and a selection of releases at discounted prices (£6 per CD, £5 per download).

I heartily recommend the Dark Shadows series as one of the best things Big Finish have done since they lost the jewel in their crown that was The Tomorrow People audios. Oh and don't let the fact that the trailer for the Tim Burton film makes the whole thing look like a crap vampire comedy put you off. The audios are much more dark and sinister...

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

This weekend only on Saturday 26th and Sunday 27th May - the Klein trilogy, the first of which is currently being broadcast on Radio 4 Extra, featuring the return of Tracy Childs as Dr Elizabeth Klein from Colditz will be available for £9 each or as a bundle of three plays for only £25.

Special Klein Offer!

[Si Hunt]

To celebrate the transmission of the Seventh Doctor and Klein trilogy on BBC Radio 4 Extra, Big Finish is providing a limited time offer on the stories. For the coming weekend of May 26 and 27, the three stories will be available complete and uncut for just £9 each or £25 as a bundle, on CD and download.

£9 for a CD that's been out two and a half years and is also now on the radio doesn't sound like a huge steal to me...

Si.

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

Well they seem to be implying that the radio broadcast versions have been slightly cut for time but yes regarding price I take your point.

[Si Hunt]

They are cheaper than that new from Play!

Si.

[Simon R]

Coldtits has been out for a decade!