Sony deleting purchased videos from customers' libraries
Content deletion hijinks continue unabated. This time, it’s Sony and PlayStation (and to a lesser degree, Warner Bros. Discovery) facing heat. Last week, Sony announced that due to some sort of licensing-related issues between them and Warner Bros. Discovery, they’ll be deleting a very long list of Discovery-related reality shows (“Shark Week,” etc.) from the (now-shuttered) PlayStation video store on December 31. This includes deleting the videos of anyone who’s paid for copies. And no, no refunds are planned (as of this writing); basically, the customers’ shows will just be gone, along with their cash.
There’s a surprising number of people online trying to offer justifications for the content deletion. Frankly, they come off as blaming the customer and/or sounding like they're hoping Sony’s going to give them a new PlayStation or something.
Yes, there’s plenty of EULA legalese when buying digital videos; yes, digital rights management (DRM) sucks; yes they’re not the most popular TV shows or movies; yes, the shows still exist on Discovery+, Max, and/or more popular digital stores like Amazon/iTunes; and yes, “buying physical media” is a good option for your favorite TV shows/movies. Still, the average person who sees a big “buy” button next to something in a digital video store would assume it’s just that: buying a TV show or movie to keep forever, not “a vaguely-indefinite rental.” Yanking paid-for material at a later date for corporate reasons the average person cares zero about is just bad, and comes off as very deceptive. This content deletion might also fuel piracy, a thing these same conglomerates definitely hate.
All of this (plus Amazon’s dismantling of Comixology being fully completed this week) is also a reminder that DRM in digital purchases is generally a bad thing for customers, no matter how hard companies (and their apologists online) try to spin things. While music these days is DRM-free (and the music industry hasn't collapsed), the same can't be said for buying TV shows or movies. I wrote several years ago about the downsides of the built-on-sand nature of digital video ownership, and how Hollywood won't budge on DRM.
Alternatives to buying digital videos
Again, your best (legal, non-piracy) alternatives at this point to buying digital videos:
Buying DVDs and Blu-rays. While physical media is increasingly viewed as "retro," it's the best way to guarantee you'll always own your TV shows and movies, as Sony or Warner Bros. can't purge your discs to save a few bucks. Unfortunately, discs can't exactly be played on most modern devices (smartphones, modern computers without optical drives, etc.). Availability of DVDs/Blu-rays in most stores is also dwindling. Finally, much streaming original content either doesn't getting any physical media release or only on DVD (and thus standard definition, even if the content was originally made in high definition).
For techies: ripping DVDs/Blu-rays and setting up a media server. The technically inclined might consider setting up a home media server using software like Plex or Jellyfin, and ripping their DVD/Blu-ray collection to create video files for said server. However, this requires some technical skills, as well as an optical drive for your computer and sufficient storage space for your video files. I'm currently giving Jellyfin a go, and will probably have more to write about it in a future post.
Using streaming services. Of course, this is what Hollywood would love (an endless income stream). Still, corporate interests aside, streaming does have some advantages, even if you don't own the content. For more, see my previous post on streaming service tips.
Photo by Charles Sims on Unsplash