Apparently the perceived public viewing demand was too low, and the rights to Cannery Row were sold to Turner Classic Movies. If you want to see a DVD released, you can go to:
http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title.jsp?stid=75&atid=0&category=overview
and click on the 'Vote' icon on the right hand side of the screen. If enough people do this, TCM claim they will put out a DVD release.
They did.....Since these comments were added, TCM has released Cannery Row on DVD.
See:http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/75/Cannery-Row/, look at the window "DVDs from TCM Shop"