ALL IN THE FAMILY NBC, UNIVERSAL TAP INTO COMBINED RESOURCES FOR GREATER PRODUCTS, PROFIT.

Byline: Greg Hernandez Staff Writer

When the entire cast of ``Meet the Fockers'' including Barbra Streisand sat down with Matt Lauer for a ``Dateline NBC'' interview last December, it ended up as one of the most popular bonus materials on the ``Fockers'' DVD when it was released in April.

The year-old merger of NBC and Vivendi Universal has resulted in corporate synergy benefiting the home video division of NBC Universal, with unique additions to DVD titles ranging from the one-hour NBC drama ``Las Vegas'' to a collection of Marx Bros. movies to new release features like ``Fockers.''

``We didn't realize that until we started having conversations what the opportunities would be,'' said Ken Graffeo, Universal Studio Home Entertainment's executive vice president of marketing. ``(NBC has) so much in the archives through their news and entertainment shows and there are new things they are able to produce.''

The NBC-Universal synergy has been apparent in other DVD releases such as the recent special edition version of ``Apollo 13,'' which included a ``Dateline NBC'' segment on the real-life Apollo 13 crew among its bonus materials.

The network and home video division actively collaborated on the DVD release of the Monday night drama ``Las Vegas'' by including on the discs a promotion featuring singer-actor Jon Bon Jovi and retired football star John Elway.

Bon Jovi and Elway co-starred with a trio of cast members from the show in a mini-movie titled ``Rumble in the Montecito,'' which ran in theaters in December and was used as a portion of a television commercial. A longer director's cut of ``Montecito'' was featured on ``Las Vegas: Season 1.''

After the deaths of Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II, ``NBC News Presents'' specials that aired were quickly made available on DVD.

``We never could have thought of that if we didn't have NBC,'' Graffeo said. ```NBC News Presents'' has led to a whole new branded line and the opportunities have been there for us. It comes down to how creative we can be. We are already in discussions about the Olympics and what are the opportunities there.''

The merger put NBC and Universal Pictures in the position to pool their distribution and programming assets for greater profit and greater competitiveness with such rivals as CBS parent Viacom, ABC parent The Walt Disney Co., Fox parent News Corp., and Time Warner Inc.

The other conglomerates are also clearly adept at using various synergies between various divisions to boost the content of their DVD titles.

``It certainly has weight, especially when you are re-issuing a product,'' said Ralph Tribbey, editor of DVD Release Report, a weekly industry newsletter. ``It's nice to have something more than just the movie or television show to offer consumers.''

``You are charging a premium for these titles, $29 suggested retail in most cases,'' Tribbey added. ``Audio commentary, outtakes, gag reels, and 'Making of' featurettes are a kind of insurance policy. What you want to do is load it up with extras.''

As one of its extras, Fox Home Entertainment included a special ``bridge'' episode of the Fox broadcast network hit ``24'' when it released the second season boxed set of the series that linked it to the upcoming season.

``We pioneered the idea of releasing the DVD prior to the second season,'' said Steve Feldstein, Fox's senior vice president of marketing. ``The television and DVD divisions work really closely together all time. We've been doing it forever.''

Other home video divisions have indeed followed suit and the timing of DVD boxed sets of such current shows as ``Arrested Development, ``CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,'' ``Desperate Housewives,'' ``Lost'' and ``Alias'' are set up to hit stores in the weeks before the premieres of their new seasons this fall.

Fox Home Entertainment will also be releasing a direct-to-DVD movie version of the Fox broadcast network's ``Family Guy'' this fall that will be connected to fall episodes of the animated series. It will also be partnering with the FX cable channel to release the pilot episode of Steven Bochco's new drama series ``Over There'' just two weeks after its July 27 television premiere.

``We play together all the time,'' Feldstein said of the various Fox divisions.

Disney, which bought broadcast network ABC and cable's ESPN 10 years ago, will put to use similar synergy when it releases its ``Platinum DVD Edition'' of the animated classic ``Cinderella.''

As part of the DVD extras, the company's Buena Vista Home Entertainment division will include footage from its ESPN Classics channel of ``Cinderella Story'' sporting moments such as the 1985 NCAA Basketball Final victory of heavy underdog Villanova over Georgetown.

Buena Vista has also released on DVD such ESPN original programming as ``3: The Dale Earnhardt Story'' and ``Playmakers - The Complete Series.''

Warner Home Video has been provided with a treasure trove of bonus material for the release of its classic movie titles due to a partnership with fellow Time Warner-owned entity Turner Movie Channel.

On May 31, Warner will release ``The Essential Steve McQueen Collection'' which will include on a bonus disc the documentary ``Steve McQueen: The Essence of Cool'' airing on TMC. Similar tie-ins have been done with Errol Flynn, Lana Turner and Joan Crawford collections.

The two divisions co-finance the documentaries and Warner provides the clips. TMC has television broadcast rights while Warner has DVD rights.

``It's an obvious marriage of cousins,'' said George Feltenstein, senior vice president of classic catalogs for Warner Home Video. ``It's one of those rare examples of something within a large conglomerate that is really making a difference. We have been doing it without a lot of fanfare for years and we are very proud of it.''

Greg Hernandez, [phone]

greg.hernandez(at)dailynews.com

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2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) no caption (``Meet the Fockers'')

(2 -- color) John Elway, Josh Duhamel and Jon Bon Jovi, from left, appear in a mini-movie based on the NBC drama ``Las Vegas'' - in which Duhamel co-stars - that played briefly in theaters and was included in the DVD release of the series.