Old and New

[eastofthemoon]

Old fandom person thoughts but I saw the annoucement how apparently Warners Bros. Discover is removing a bunch of shows off of HBO Max and I see people going "Oh, no! How will I watch my favorites shows!"

As a Canadian who never had access to HBO Max (or Hulu for that matter) I'm a bit "....Oh, gee, no legal way to watch your shows. How horrible for you."

But then I realized something else. The younger generation is probably so used to having easy access to their favorites shows through streaming. In my generation, you were lucky to find a few episodes on VHS in video stores.

Heck, I can remember being ecstatic when they finally started releasing DVD collection of my old favorite shows in the early 2000s (Gargoyles, Gummi Bears, The Muppet Show, etc)

Granted, with streaming, you're lucky if a streaming service does also provide a DVD copy. Heaven knows Disney only does it for their movies even though The Owl House would make a killing in DVD sales. (It was considered a miracle that Gravity Falls got released on DVD)

It is looking like piracy might be the best chance to persevere media so it doesn't become lost media.

Comments

[soc_puppet]

It's also looking like some of the media may not be airing at all now? Like, the streaming option was going to be the only option for it to air in the first place, so pirate copies would have to come from anything the crew saved. I could well be mistaken in my impression there, though.

I'm also concerned with how the creators and crew are being compensated for their labor. Will they still be getting paid for all of the content they created? What percentage of streaming revenue are they no longer going to be getting now? What percentage of DVD sales would they not have gotten in the first place? Are they getting anything after this?

Fuck corporate greed, for real.

[eastofthemoon]

All of this! I read on twitter that it's both for tax breaks and also to avoid having to pay residuals to creators which just makes me angry. These crews give up years of their lives, put in their blood, sweat and tears only for it to be tossed aside like a used tissue.
For the stuff that's getting removed for tax breaks, the company wouldn't be allowed to make any more money off of it unless someone else bought the IP like say a creator buying back the rights, but that's easier said than done.

Toy Galaxy (a youtube channel I watch that covers history of toys and known franchises) made a really good quote once that I can't stop thinking about. It's here, starts at 9:19 https://youtu.be/Aje6e7pg97k?t=558 but basically points out that if there's no actual copy of the said thing easily available, then once the people who remember it aren't around anymore, it's lost forever.

[pineaura]

Yeahhhhh Canada tends to get the short end of the stick for so much of this to begin with. So this whole thing has a different feeling for us I'd say. And it's not like we wouldn't support things if given the chance, but they don't offer us a choice to start.

Streaming was always something I've been skeptical of and recent events are a great example of why. Things can get pulled from you without any notice or any control. And the lack of physical copies of anything sucks. DVDs and such are great means of getting a source of income for shows, but they've been getting rid of that option over time as well.

This whole thing is a mess, but it'll be thanks to people's efforts that will help preserve what can be salvaged.

[the_lay_of_the_serpent]

I hate that you are right, but you are.

Though I wonder how many young people even use dvds anymore, a lot of these shows have a lot of adult fans who would easily buy the blue-rays.

This is a weird time for tv indeed.