I would disagree.

It is true that if you've just entered the market, it will be a tough sell to market a new line of dvds and/or to get retailers or distributors interested in carrying it.

But if you have an established line and are willing to put some effort into it, distributors do serve a meaningful purpose. I don't understand what people are saying about the middlemen or distributors "screwing up" the process... we sell a ton of product direct-to-customer through our retail site, and a ton more through Marina Pacific. All of our older titles continue to sell, and many of our reissued titles are selling 100+ copies a month.

So while there can certainly be bad distributors, and product that isn't strong and therefore doesn't sell well, it's wrong to generalize the situtation and say that all distributors or "middlemen" are bad, or that DVD sales are dead, and that only two or three studios are big enough to make any sales.