this post was submitted on 06 Dec 2023
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PlayStation is erasing 1,318 seasons of Discovery shows from customer libraries | The change comes as Warner Bros. tries to add subscribers to Max, Discovery+ apps.::The change comes as Warner Bros. tries to add subscribers to Max, Discovery+ apps.

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[–] RememberTheApollo@lemmy.world 189 points 11 months ago (9 children)

So they’re taking shows away from people who have already purchased them and moving the shows to other services in order to try to make potential customers subscribe to more services?

Fuck those guys, especially for ripping off people who already paid for the content.

Here we go again. Instead of being forced to subscribe to shitty bundles of cable channels in order to get the channel you do want, we’re being forced to subscribe to multiple shitty services to get the shows we want.

This industry is a one-trick pony. Literally giving the worst service they can to force people to subscribe to more services.

[–] NOT_RICK@lemmy.world 92 points 11 months ago (7 children)

Oh no, here I go pirating again!

[–] evatronic@lemm.ee 11 points 11 months ago

Krombopulos Michael, the early years.

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[–] pastaPersona@lemmy.world 18 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Welp time to start mass-buying dvd box sets and ripping the files, screw not owning shit you paid for

[–] CmdrShepard@lemmy.one 28 points 11 months ago (3 children)

Don't even waste your time and just go directly to the high seas. You'll get all the same quality content several orders of magnitude faster.

[–] RememberTheApollo@lemmy.world 12 points 11 months ago

Personally I don’t mind paying for content I legit get to keep, so long as the cost is reasonable. Yeah, overpriced old movies or stuff you can’t find, sure. Hoist the flag, my friend.

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[–] meat_popsicle@sh.itjust.works 8 points 11 months ago

Agreed. Streaming services always seemed like gilded cages to me. You can only see what they allow you to see - piracy or old-school Netflix DVD delivery gives you all the options. The promise of being able to stream any content at any time, with the producers and people involved being able to get compensated fairly and justly, just isn’t reality with these ghouls running the show.

The model (in the current form, of artificially restricted licensing) seems like less a way to curate a media catalog, but more like a way to curate the subscribers and culture.

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[–] TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world 80 points 11 months ago (5 children)

Fuck Warner Bros and Sony PlayStation for this.

But it's not just them, it's an entire industry. If you pay for media and you don't get it physically in full, or the ability to download it in a DRM-free portable format, remember that you don't own it. Only do it in the knowledge that some day you will not have it anymore.

There are other options available for you. BluRays, piracy.

[–] Meowoem@sh.itjust.works 11 points 11 months ago (2 children)

People need to start paying creators to make stuff for the public domain and refuse to pay to access anything that everyone doesn't have access to.

I've given Wikipedia money, I'll never pay for Netflix.

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[–] Exusia@lemmy.world 7 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

People were so happy MultiVersus happened, failing to realize the sheer acquisitions and monopolistic behaviour it takes to own so many IPs. How, when weaponised, it commands so many big names.

And now it's not working for people, because they're pulling the shows from PS.

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[–] FrankTheHealer@lemmy.world 70 points 11 months ago

Fuck this shit.

If buying isn't owning. Piracy isn't stealing.

This is so anti consumer, I'm surprised the EU hasn't stepped in to stop it yet

[–] lolcatnip@reddthat.com 69 points 11 months ago (2 children)

I'd be a lot less bothered if the UI for services like Sony didn't use words like "buy" to describe what customers are doing when they pay for content. It would be a lot more honest to describe it as a rental for an indefinite time period. But of course then very few people would choose that option.

[–] jacksilver@lemmy.world 31 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I agree, it feels like this is a place where the law or regulation needs to come in and enforce something like - rent vs lease vs buy.

The average consumer thinks "buy" means forever, and that's just not the case in these scenarios. It really is more like leasing it.

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[–] kandoh@reddthat.com 65 points 11 months ago (2 children)

If we break into people's homes and destroy their property, maybe they'll have to give us money to replace what was lost?

Why has no one come up with this business strategy before.

[–] ililiililiililiilili@lemm.ee 8 points 11 months ago

Planned obsolescence is the preferred method (and doesn't require breaking and entering).

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[–] NocturnalMorning@lemmy.world 56 points 11 months ago (4 children)

Seems like piracy is going to become fashionable again

[–] Strider@lemmy.world 12 points 11 months ago

Props to Sony and all related entities for endorsing it!

[–] Lifecoach5000@lemmy.world 8 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Loving it myself. Delving into the world of Plex and sailing the high seas. Just trying to figure out the best way to keep it organized and also standardizing subtitles for various video files.

[–] Technoguyfication@sh.itjust.works 8 points 11 months ago

Radarr and Sonarr

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[–] DontMakeItTim@lemmy.world 49 points 11 months ago (6 children)

Maybe I am underestimating the amount of people buying seasons of TV shows on PlayStation, but this seems like a lot of PR pain for very little potential upside.

[–] Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works 17 points 11 months ago (2 children)

I'm just surprised there are over 1,000 seasons of shows on discovery Channel... once you get past the gold mining, crab fishing, Mythbusting and sending people out into the wilderness naked, what's left?

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[–] ryven@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 points 11 months ago

I think WB is counting on people blaming Sony even though it seems like WB is the one who decided not to play nice.

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[–] pozbo@lemmy.world 37 points 11 months ago (1 children)
[–] Rockyrikoko@lemm.ee 43 points 11 months ago (1 children)

If this isn't theft, then the inverse isn't either. Raise your flags, it's time once again to sail the high seas

[–] EvilEyedPanda@lemmy.world 28 points 11 months ago (1 children)

If paying for something dosent mean I own it, then piracy isn't stealing!

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[–] penquin@lemm.ee 31 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Im still trying to understand why this is legal. Is there more to the story that I'm missing?

[–] Gigan@lemmy.world 28 points 11 months ago (3 children)

Technically, when you buy a show or a movie you're buying a license to watch it. That license can be revoked at any time. This is true for physical and digital copies, it's just impossible for companies to revoke the license when you have a physical copy.

[–] jlh@lemmy.jlh.name 19 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Not the same in the EU as far as I know. Digital goods have to uphold a certain standard.

[–] TheRealKuni@lemmy.world 31 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Unfortunately we don’t all live in civilized places like the EU. Some of us live in “shithole countries,” like the United States.

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[–] CmdrShepard@lemmy.one 7 points 11 months ago

This might only affect US customers as these studios typically create separate licensing deals in each country. An example is when the new Star Trek shows began airing, everywhere in the world got to watch it on Netflix while US customers had to subscribe to CBS All Access (now Paramount+).

[–] penquin@lemm.ee 8 points 11 months ago

Now how is THIS legal? Wtf? So, basically you buy a car, pay it all of and the dealership can just come to your house and take it? This is basically the same. I paid for something to own. It should be mine forever.

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[–] ElBarto@sh.itjust.works 29 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Streaming services: if we take the shows they purchased away from them, then they HAVE to subscribe to our service! There's nothing they can do if they want to watch their shows, piracy is soooo 2008.

[–] Voroxpete@sh.itjust.works 7 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, it's not like the Servarr application suite has made piracy literally easier than using streaming services.

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[–] Grass@sh.itjust.works 28 points 11 months ago

Damn. Maybe we shouldn't have downloaded cars. It's only fair that the capitalist collective should be able to delete our vhs and DVDs etc in return right?

[–] AWittyUsername@lemmy.world 28 points 11 months ago (1 children)

This is Warner Bros being the bad guys, but also Sony for not refunding people. Either way it doesn't matter consumers lose out, all the more reason to pirate.

[–] mightyfoolish@lemmy.world 14 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (4 children)

I see where you are coming from. The original version of streaming Netflix was the answer to piracy. Good price and had all the content one wanted. Was also easy to use. The streaming wars proved competition isn't always the answer (I think this is the first time I've ever said that). Without that version of Netflix, the answer to piracy is gone...

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[–] flop_leash_973@lemmy.world 25 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Keeping the money and yanking back the content it was used to purchase will surely entice those people to sign up for that Max/Discovery+ subscription.

Only an out of touch corporate stooge would see a logical through line there.

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[–] zipzoopaboop@lemmynsfw.com 20 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Maybe more people would subscribe to discovery if the content wasn't so fucking abysmal. There's like 2 good shows on there, Mythbusters and how it's made

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[–] executive_chicken@lemmy.world 17 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Yo Ho, Yo Ho, A Pirate’s Life for Me 🏴‍☠️

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[–] Touching_Grass@lemmy.world 15 points 11 months ago

PlayStation is erasing 1,318 seasons of Discovery shows from customer libraries | The change comes as Warner Bros. tries to add subscribers to Max, Discovery+

2 sentences, 5 names of different entities

[–] autotldr@lemmings.world 12 points 11 months ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:


If you purchased any Discovery shows from the PlayStation Store, Sony has some bad news for you to discover.

The company recently announced that all Discovery content purchased on the PlayStation Store will be erased before 2024.

But there were users who had already purchased stuff from the PlayStation Store and, believe it or not, expect to be able to watch it when they want, since they paid money to buy (rather than rent) it.

Shows getting axed from user libraries include Wives With Knives, An Idiot Abroad, Evil Twins, and Body Bizarre.

But there are also plenty of more well-known titles on the list of purchased content being revoked, including American Chopper, Cake Boss, MythBusters, Shark Week, and Say Yes to the Dress.

That means there's a good chance numerous users will be affected by Sony's announcement.


The original article contains 332 words, the summary contains 138 words. Saved 58%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

[–] AgentGrimstone@lemmy.world 11 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Never buying a TV show or movie I can't download ever again. Never have, but still, never again.

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[–] homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world 11 points 11 months ago

So AOL bought Warner Brothers and initiated a paroxysm of "new media" hype way back in the 1900s. They had no fucking clue what to do so they sold it. AT&T bought it more recently and pretended like a technology company should own content until they too realized they had seriously fucked up.

Now right-wing "libertarian" David Zaslav is in charge of "Warner Brothers Discovery" and he could not give a flying fucking shit about content unless it's time to destroy wokeness at CNN again, which he's all about.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/15/magazine/david-zaslav-warner-media-discovery.html

I'm starting to think Warner Brothers is cursed. Like, Monkey's Paw cursed.

[–] snekerpimp@lemmy.world 11 points 11 months ago (1 children)

You will own nothing and you will love it.

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[–] Shadywack@lemmy.world 10 points 11 months ago

Thermocline trust inversion, perfect example of why customer trust continues to erode and corporations continually lose credibility. Albeit Sony's not the only bad actor here, it's the overall agreements in place that were poor to begin with between businesses. The end result is a negative customer experience with all involved brands.

When the industry fails like this, we go back to incentivizing torrents.

[–] kworpy@lemm.ee 8 points 11 months ago

Just let companies keep doing shit like this. They're only leading people down the path that is piracy.

[–] thejml@lemm.ee 8 points 11 months ago

This is why anytime I buy content like this, I mirror it locally. DVDs, CDs, videos, music, whatever. GoG and Steam both allow local offline copies. Storage is cheap and not only can I continue to play these items if the store goes away, but I can also access them where and when I want thanks to things like Plex and Jellyfin.

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