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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

#191
post #146
post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

This should never happen on Prime Video. Major breach of customer trust. If it’s happened to you please call customer service and complain. If they can’t fix it or refund you, please get in touch with me and I will try and get it fixed for you

What angers me the most is that they never bother to get subtitles (closed captions) on a lot of films I'd like to watch. Being deaf, it's a major pain when a decent film doesn't come with subtitles !

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

#192

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…

>>It's not theft to "possess" Call of Duty if you never paid for it?

From a US law it is not even theft to distribute it, it is infringement of copyright which is not theft.

>Now, can I go into Sam Goody in 1983 and just walk out with a cassette of the same album?

That is shoplifting of a physical product, very very different than replication of digital product

if you were from the future with a Star Trek replicator an when in to Sam Goody, Scanned the Cassette and made a perfect replica of it it would not be theft

Similar if I am a talent artist and I make a perfect replica of a famous Painting to hang on my own wall it would not be a crime, it would only be a crime if I attempted to sell the painting as if it was the original work

See that is the key point, duplication of copyright is not a crime, selling it is, distributing it to others is.

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

#193

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.

Many new parents did when they went to buy classic Disney for their new child

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

#194
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.

They also have a honor all contracts previously signed by MGM so it is entirely possible SG1 was included in another deal.

Also I believe MGM is still being operated Separately from Prime Video, or Amazon Studios so likely they would need to negate between the business units.

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

#195
post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, and as I understood it the illegal part of torrenting was the upload, not the download.

Technically, the “illegal” part is copying, distributing and deriving from; per Title 17 of Federal law (in the US, of course). That being said, just like possessing a pound of marijuana can be considered an amount with intent to distribute, the same can be said for having a NAS server with 20TB of copyrighted media. In addition, there are state criminal/civil laws to take into account as well.

>>>just like possessing a pound of marijuana can be considered an amount with intent to distribute, the same can be said for having a NAS server with 20TB of copyrighted media.

Not even close to being the same thing under the law, not even in the realm of the same thing. Show me one case, even one where a person was sued or even implied that the amount of digital content stored on a storage server was considered "intent to distribute" for the purposed of copyright violation

>>In addition, there are state criminal/civil laws to take into account as well.

Name them, copyright is 100% US federal law. So what other laws are in play here

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

#196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think that analogy holds. If I buy the CD and rip it myself end up with MP3s. If I buy the CD and download a torrent of it, I end up with MP3s. If I buy a ticket and bring my tape recorder into their concert, I can listen to my recording of that concert forever.

Lol. By default, you can't record a concert either, although some bands do encourage the practice. There's a reason they are called "bootlegs".

>>By default, you can't record a concert either,

Under what law?

The venue may redistrict it, that is not a law though at most they could do to you for violation is kick you out

There is no law I am aware of that prevents such a recording, only redistribution of the recording made would be a violation of the law

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

#197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Westworld is a uniquely terrible show. HBO is doing you a favor by removing it.

I thought it was meant to be good? 8.5 on IMDB.

First season was good, and then it get progressively worse.

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

#198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it is reasonable to buy the DVD or BluRay, then download DRM-free rip from PirateBay with same resolution. I think the same is fair if you bought a digital lifetime license (as we just learned: "not really") from Amazon. Then if Amazon steals your copy and does not refund you, you still have a copy. Has anyone ever tried to sue Amazon in small claims court for a "disappeared" film? I guess Amazon will force a…

Are we imagining that every digital storefront does not explicitly grant them permission to remove stuff in the EULA?

I am imagining most EULAs won't hols up in a legal court. Maybe it would in forced arbitration.

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

#199

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…

I agree that HBO's brand has been broken, but that happened independent of the decision to remove canceled titles from the streaming back catalog. It happened first with the initial purchase by AT&T when the strategy 180'd from high-quality boutique productions released in small numbers one at a time to an attempt to emulate the Netflix "throw shit at the wall and see what sticks" strategy, then again with the panic reaction to the pandemic releasing all Warners films on HBO Max rather than giving any exclusive theatrical run, pissing off directors and actors, then yet again when AT&T promptly bowed out and Warners merged with Discovery and they seemed to now reverse a bunch of the original decisions, canceling both shows and planned movies left and right and resetting the entire DCEU in the process.

Not even sure where to throw in the weird tendency to release all of these "limited" series they change their minds on and throw out adhoc future seasons that come out of nowhere and make no sense because the initial run generates some buzz. I'm just glad they started doing that after Chernobyl and at least didn't ruin that one.

Also putting aside the confusing launch of HBO Max itself, while also keeping HBO Go and HBO as a channel available for subscription from other streaming services, and all of the bugs the app had within the first few years of release.

They've been a complete shitshow for years now, obviously having no real plan that any set group of leaders consistently believes in. I'm reasonably sure having old titles becoming unavailable unless you bought a physical copy isn't a new thing anyway. What's new here is doing it to titles that were barely canceled just now, not to mention the whole Batgirl thing producing an entire movie and not even releasing it at all anywhere.

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

#200

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.

I worked in a retail movie store in the year 2000, and can assure you, customers absolutely did notice the shenanigans that Disney played with periodically cycling their classic films in and out of print on VHS and DVD.
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