User blog comment:Jensonk/The Simpsons DVDs discontinued/@comment-25832710-20150412023524/@comment-961279-20150412123333

Each DVD set was released nine years after the season ended. This was probably due to something in the contracts that were signed and was never renegotiated as the market changed so that consumers expected to be able to buy a season of episodes within months of that season finishing. And then with the change to having the episodes on iTunes and elsewhere, that nine-year delay began working against Fox. "If I can get an episode from 2015 in 2015 on iTunes, why do I have to wait until 2024 just to get it on DVD?"

I have always bought the DVDs because of the extras that came with them, and because it is much harder for a company to take it away from me when they decide I don't need to have it any more. With digital distribution, all they have to do is change the licensing that nobody reads due to how long and convoluted it is. Remember, you don't actually own any episode or song you get digitally. You just have a license to view/hear it.