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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

#151

Post by tptacek »

dougmwne wrote: post #33

I think part of the reason this is a big deal is that it breaks HBO’s brand. They have always been seen as a prestige channel that had a catalog of original programming you’d never see anywhere else. Westworld appeared to be part of this original programming portfolio and something that would live on as part of what it meant to be subscribed to HBO, like the Sopranos. Having the series disappear is like finding out t…

The rest of the video venues (what do we call them now that they're not channels?) caught up. HBO is still high-status, but it hasn't had any kind of singular status in years; FX, AMC, Netflix, Apple, Starz, and Amazon do just as good a job with original programming.

I assume HBO has figured that out for itself, and it no longer makes sense for them to be anything less than ruthless; nothing they ever do is going to vault them back to the status they had in 2004, so why pretend?

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

#152

Post by inetknght »

greesil wrote: post #89
ThrowawayTestr wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Why would I want to watch it more than once?

> Why would I want to watch it more than once?

You do you. But many people love to rewatch their favorite movies and shows.

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

#153

Post by Nomentatus »

nataz wrote: post #52
indigodaddy wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can already do that with Vudu/iTunes/Amazon (maybe not the $5 part but sales fire off frequently enough for tv shows if you keep your eye out on Slickdeals / CheapCharts etc)

Careful with Amazon. I bought a ton of MP3 records off their platform over the years, and recently it all went to hell. I'll take responsibility for not downloading it all right away, but I still think their recent behavior was sketchy. My mistake was listening to the music that I owned using Amazon's music player. I'd download it locally to whatever device I was using, but my collection was large enough that I rarel…

When Amazon moved Canadian kindle customers to its new Canadian site - it wiped out all owned copies of magazines and newspapers. I'd purchased a fair number but had read few; all gone forever no apology, no refund.

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

#154

Post by ojbyrne »

godelski wrote: post #150
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.

I don't think this is necessarily true. Amazon owns the rights to Star Gate and right now SG1 has a warning that it is about to be removed. Rather odd to do when they own the franchise.

Presumably it’s because of the reasons mentioned in the article - they have to pay residuals.

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

#155

Post by emodendroket »

dougmwne wrote: post #33

I think part of the reason this is a big deal is that it breaks HBO’s brand. They have always been seen as a prestige channel that had a catalog of original programming you’d never see anywhere else. Westworld appeared to be part of this original programming portfolio and something that would live on as part of what it meant to be subscribed to HBO, like the Sopranos. Having the series disappear is like finding out t…

> Having the series disappear is like finding out that Disney is jettisoning Toy Story.

A bit of a strange analogy since pulling stuff from shelves to create artificial scarcity has been a signature move of theirs for quite some time.

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

#156

Post by emodendroket »

magicalist wrote: post #125
labrador wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He has the numbers though. He can see if hardly anyone is watching Westworld on HBO and calculate he could make more money by selling it and then using that money to create something people do want to watch. As for harming the brand, I know what HBO used to be but don't know if it's that anymore. I don't know anything about calculating a brand image or how much it's worth, so I couldn't say in a landscape of thousand…

> He has the numbers though. He thinks he has the numbers. He could also raise the subscription price and make more money that way too, if most people stick around. Do that enough and they won't, though.

Maybe I'm wrong, but my impression from the sudden change of fortune of all these movie and television streaming services is, maybe making really good content doesn't really make the business model work. Maybe it only really works if you're churning out low-budget, mindless trash reality TV. Though it is less clear if that was understood at front and this was a way of growing the subscriber base or if there was more optimism that was warranted.

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

#157

Post by jackson1442 »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #133
layer8 wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

that’s the point, that it’s hard to get your hands on physical copies of tv shows

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

#158

Post by emodendroket »

yaomtc wrote: post #112
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.

That's why I only buy shows/movies on Blu-ray or DVD. I'm not paying a similar price to that and risk having it taken away at some point. EDIT: And if that isn't a reasonable option, I can probably download a DRM-free version of the movie from some "movie preservationist".

Then you can deal with unskippable advertisements before you can watch your movie you paid for. But at least the video quality is better.

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

#159

Post by rob74 »

labrador wrote: post #82
dougmwne wrote: post #33

I think part of the reason this is a big deal is that it breaks HBO’s brand. They have always been seen as a prestige channel that had a catalog of original programming you’d never see anywhere else. Westworld appeared to be part of this original programming portfolio and something that would live on as part of what it meant to be subscribed to HBO, like the Sopranos. Having the series disappear is like finding out t…

Yes but Westworld started out with a brilliant first season and went downhill from there until the 4th season was nearly unwatchable. The Sopranos was good right up until the end, which is not how I would have ended it. HBO might as well sell Westworld to a less premium outlet.

Well yeah... the problem with Westworld was that it didn't really have an overarching plot, they just figured out what to do from season to season. Season 1 was brilliant, season 2 still good, but with some worrying misanthropic themes (like positing that human intelligence was vastly inferior to that of the androids), and then it apparently went downhill from there. I only ever watched seasons 1 and 2, but was planning on taking a look at 3 and 4, and finding out I won't be able to (legally) without forking out for the DVD box sets (which, at least in this case, still exist) makes me feel exactly like the article describes: as if someone stole a toy which I didn't play with, but was vaguely looking forward to playing with sometime in the future...

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

#160

Post by UncleEntity »

listenallyall wrote: post #119
phpisthebest wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Downloading, or possessing copyrighted work that you have not paid for is not actually illegal. It is not drugs, and it is not theft One of the reasons indivual consumers were targeted for torrents was the fact they were UPLOADING while at the same time downloading Copyright law is about DISTRIBUTION of a protected work, if I have a copy of a movie, and never distribute it even if the person I obtained it from was no…

It is certainly not as clear-cut as you are making it out. It's not theft to "possess" Call of Duty if you never paid for it? Or, say I purchased a record of Rolling Stones "Sticky Fingers" back in 1977 or whenever. It is a copyrighted work that I paid for, as you stated. Now, can I go into Sam Goody in 1983 and just walk out with a cassette of the same album? In 1994 can I snag a CD off the shelf at Tower Records? T…

What you can do is copy those onto different media to make a mixed tape to give to your high school girlfriend.

Or back them up on your computer.

Or load them onto your phone.

You’re conflating the physical media with the umm, non-physical media.

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