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TV disappears, but HBO Max removing shows feels different

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Re: TV disappears, but HBO Max removing shows feels different

#131

Post by alasdair_ »

bombcar wrote: post #116
phpisthebest wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Disney;s business model for many years was to do just that, they would put popular titles "in the vault" only to re-release them a few years later it is proven economic model of false scarcity. Just like the McRib, McDs would never put it on the permanent menu because they sell more due to it "limited run" every year. I suspect these shows will be like that, they will be removed and readded periodically to boost subs…

99% of the world never noticed movies going in or out of the vault.

80 million people is still a lot of people.

Re: TV disappears, but HBO Max removing shows feels different

#132

Post by tlholaday »

AdamJacobMuller wrote: post #106

HBO was the original prestige programming channel, Netflix briefly got into that game but seems to have given up and preferring on making programming decisions solely based on KPIs to maximize total profit and now it seems like HBO will no longer be any kind of prestige programming destination. Is there anywhere now to pick up the prestige programming torch?

The Criterion Channel.

Re: TV disappears, but HBO Max removing shows feels different

#133

Post by thaumasiotes »

layer8 wrote: post #74
ThrowawayTestr wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just checked, you can get all of Westworld on BluRay.

Westworld is an exception. Only a few shows still get Blu-ray releases. For example, looking at Rotten Tomatoes’ list of the best TV show of 2020, only a good 10% have a US Blu-ray release: https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/guide/best-tv-shows-of-... For what I personally watch, it’s more like 5% at most.

> Only a few shows still get Blu-ray releases.

> For example, looking at Rotten Tomatoes’ list of the best TV show of 2020, only a good 10% have a US Blu-ray release

That's a top 129 list. "The 129 most popular TV shows in 2020" is not a category of much interest. How many of the top 130 American TV shows in 2007 have a blu-ray release?

Re: TV disappears, but HBO Max removing shows feels different

#134

Post by [deleted] »

jsnell wrote: post #46
jrm4 wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The last paragraph wasn't necessary to me; while I'm glad we have "if you can't pay I understand" -- but I also think that "if you can pay you always should" isn't nuanced enough? I imagine few of us want "cable all over again," but that's what it looks like we're headed toward? Offhand, I'd e.g. like to pay for individual shows. Let me pay $5 for Severance and I literally need nothing else from Apple TV.

That's unlikely to be a economically viable price point. DVDs used to cost about $20 / season, right? And digital purchase of shows (rather than subscriptions) when it used to be more of a thing was typically $2 / episode. Are you still game at those prices?

[deleted]

Re: TV disappears, but HBO Max removing shows feels different

#135

Post by thaumasiotes »

jsnell wrote: post #46
jrm4 wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The last paragraph wasn't necessary to me; while I'm glad we have "if you can't pay I understand" -- but I also think that "if you can pay you always should" isn't nuanced enough? I imagine few of us want "cable all over again," but that's what it looks like we're headed toward? Offhand, I'd e.g. like to pay for individual shows. Let me pay $5 for Severance and I literally need nothing else from Apple TV.

That's unlikely to be a economically viable price point. DVDs used to cost about $20 / season, right? And digital purchase of shows (rather than subscriptions) when it used to be more of a thing was typically $2 / episode. Are you still game at those prices?

> DVDs used to cost about $20 / season, right?

No.

Re: TV disappears, but HBO Max removing shows feels different

#136

Post by miohtama »

dylan604 wrote: post #28
rthomas6 wrote: post #25

I really don't understand why people are surprised. If you don't have access to the file itself, you don't own it. "Buying" a movie on a platform or paying for a subscription service are both just paying for a revokable license to access a movie. You do not own it and access can be revoked at any time according to whatever platform's ToS. If you want to own an actual copy of a TV show or movie, buy the physical disc.…

>If you don't have access to the file itself, you don't own it. This isn't the full story either though. You can be in possession of a file that has a DRM encryption applied. If the service revokes you keys, that encrypted file in your possession is worthless. So, do you really own that file?

Note that Blu-ray works like this. Keys can be revoked.

Re: TV disappears, but HBO Max removing shows feels different

#137

Post by ccvannorman »

LeoPanthera wrote: post #118
tyingq wrote: post #103

The practice of Amazon Prime, Frontier, and other on-demand services just up and removing movies (or tv shows) you "bought" is weirder to me. I assume it's because they lost rights in some negotiation, but the movies just disappear. No notice, no refund.

Does this actually happen? It was my understanding that they disappear from the store, but if you already bought it, you still have access to it.

Season 6 of South Park, bought one day, gone literally the very next day. (November 2022) (Amazon Prime video)

Re: TV disappears, but HBO Max removing shows feels different

#138

Post by Matthias247 »

tyingq wrote: post #129
LeoPanthera wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does this actually happen? It was my understanding that they disappear from the store, but if you already bought it, you still have access to it.

It happened to me with both providers I mentioned. With Frontier, it's when they bought Verizon FIOS, and I lost several movies. On Amazon Prime Video, I lost 2 seasons of a British detective show.

have you really bought it, in terms of paying extra money besides the prime costs just for the show? Or just subscribed to prime? Since you put "bought" in quotes I guess it could mean both. And I think LeoPanthera was referring to that things that are payed extra for shouldn't vanish - which would also have been my understanding. So far everything payed extra for is still there - but it's a sample size of 2 mainstream movies, so it probably doesn't tell much.

Re: TV disappears, but HBO Max removing shows feels different

#139

Post by _v7gu »

mathieuh wrote: post #105
listenallyall wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you are claiming that downloading illegal torrents is in fact legal?

Something being illegal doesn’t say anything about its morality. Many things that we now think are normal were illegal not too long ago, and in many cases things are made illegal to protect the established powers. Personally I only follow laws I agree with.

So did Martin Luther King Jr and the founding fathers. There is no moral duty to obey arbitrary bullshit. Good on you!

Re: TV disappears, but HBO Max removing shows feels different

#140

Post by VanTheBrand »

cletus wrote: post #101

This feels like a contract issue. Rumor has it the issue is residuals but on the face of it that doesn't make sense. Why? Because you would expect residuals on a streaming service to have somethign to do with how many people watched the show. If that were the case, there'd be no reason to remove it. So the obvious answer is that's not how it works. My guess is that HBO is paying residuals for having the show availabl…

residuals for streaming are not based on viewership (because the streamers won’t release actual streaming numbers to the unions)
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