Movies Disappearing from the iTunes Store
Stupid, stupid, stupid is all I can say about this.
In the past two weeks, customers of iTunes and Netflix’s streaming digital-movie service have noticed that a growing number of titles are disappearing from the sites or are scheduled to be removed. MacWorld wrote a story last week about how one of the site’s contributors noticed that of the 15 films he bookmarked for future viewing at iTunes, 9 were no longer available. Among the movies that vanished were Charlie Wilson’s War, Eastern Promises, and Michael Clayton.
And the culprit here is a system that for decades has pumped billions of dollars into the coffers of Hollywood studios and the television industry. What has happened is Apple and Netflix have crashed into windows. “Release windows” is the term used to describe periods of time a certain type of media is allowed to show a movie. Typically, a feature film is first released in theaters, then on DVD, followed by pay-per-view channels and finally on broadcast TV.
Normally, release windows don’t affect retailers or video-rental services after they’ve begun selling or renting films. Warner Bros. doesn’t go into Best Buy and pull DVDs off the shelf when Comcast airs Casablanca. The corner Mom and Pop video store doesn’t surrender copies of Gladiator to Universal Studios when the film appears on ABC. But Internet stores are being treated differently. What this means for iTunes and Netflix customers is that movies will pop in and out of the services.
As I pointed out in a column for ExtremeTech a while back, this kind of idiocy on the part of the Hollywood morons just increases piracy. It is not 1985 any more and the movie studios need to adjust to that. If they do not make their products available on iTunes, Netflix and other places then consumers will simply pirate them.
Yes, the movie studious can continue to pressure the government to “crack down” on piracy but that is not going to stop it. Movies and TV shows need to be released on all platforms simultaneously and permanently. Releasing them 6 months after they’ve been in the theaters or temporarily putting them on iTunes is a very bad business decision and the movie studious will pay the price for doing it in lost sales and rentals and increased piracy.
Duh. Seriously, it’s hard to believe how stupid these Hollywood types are. They are seriously trapped in the past.
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This really is idiocy. Tonight I felt like watching Gladiator. First I tried iTunes – not available. Then Amazon. Then Netflix. So, wait……the ONLY way I can watch this movie tonight is to watch a pirate copy hosted in China…..well, smart move, Hollywood….that’s like saying, hey you love Cheese Balls, but we don’t want to sell them to you in the grocery store right now, because we’re selling them in the mall which is forty miles from where you live and only opens on Tuesdays, so the only way you’re getting cheese balls is to steal them from the warehouse around the corner which leaves the doors unlocked all night. Well great. Thanks. I will.