I know you can buy access to content to some TV shows on the Apple store, Amazon and the Microsoft Store - but these are still subject to geoblocks, not accessible in many countries and only offer a relatively small selection of TV shows anyway (and even then they’re subject to this shit.)
Think about how video games have been fundamentally transformed. You can buy the majority of video games on Steam (or just use other similar apps). They’re all basically released everywhere on day 1. They’re automatically yours forever (until such a potential when Steam goes down - but you can easily extract and secure the files if you worry about that).
The same is not remotely true with TV. I understand that multiple streaming services were obviously going to emerge as TV production expanded. I understand that expecting to be able to watch everything on Netflix for £9.99 a month was never going to be realistic. But alongside these streaming services, a Steam-type client should’ve emerged allowing people to just buy seasons of content on the services. For people who want to legally keep what they watch, paying something like £5-15 per season (with sales much like Steam). No geoblocks. No restrictions.
I say this because in many cases I have had no choice but to pirate to watch a TV show season. It literally was not available to me through any legal source. I could not digitally buy it, nor was any streaming service accessible to me carrying it. This is now happening to Americans more and more (I am not American) with European series being heavily delayed. The last season of Babylon Berlin released in October 2023. It took another year or so for it to get to America. It’s also not accessible in France or many other European countries too.The show has suffered from staggered international releases since it was initially released, essentially throttling its popularity potential (most expensive German series ever made at one point).
As for me? I’m British. I could not, and still can’t watch the second season of Balkan Shadows anywhere legally according to Justwatch. Paris Police 1900 season 2 is also still not accessible for me. This is really quite pathetic when you think about music and video games.
this is kinda what apple tv does… i don’t really use the buy feature, but you can buy most TV series (eg stargate sg1 is $30/season, or $180 for the “box set”, strange new worlds is $27/season - prices in aussie dollars)… movies you can either buy or rent
not sure about geo restrictions or anything though
i’m not necessarily suggesting this as a good option for everyone, however it’s an option that exists so production companies have agreed to go this route with a lot of their content at least once before
afaik apple tv does exist on non-apple platforms these days too
with all that said, neither of the shows you mentioned are available
Yeah, but you don’t “buy” buy them proper. They’re like digital renting.
I used Netflix for years when it came out.
Now there 20 different services and they all are shit.
Jellyfin gives me the service that I want at a cost I can afford.
Cable TV should head the way of the dinosaur already
The main issue with this idea is that you would have to convince big television companies that it’s actually worth it for them to do something like this instead of pushing their own streaming service.
Yeah unless something forces them into this they just aren’t going to do it. The movie/tv industry is just too different to the games/music industries for this to work.
And we know this because it’s already been tried: Netflix was replaced with 20+ streaming services.
It’s never been done, from the outside netflix looks different but it’s just another production house. And the worse part is that it’s run by tech people. At least studio heads you can somewhat predict and steer but with netflix it’s a total mystery. They’ll cancel your show and be under no obligation to tell you why. Their contracts are weird and they offer new creators shit deals.
A Steam for movies could work but the incentives would have to be for the creators. Like if the platform provided some huge benefit, like if I could just add a second season to my show the same way I’d add dlc to game. Or if I could release a tv series in a pre-order state and then directly get backing from people on the platform. It would basically be the same as steam but then for movies. With all the metrics and statistics that usually get hidden from you when you work for netflix.
The difference from a regular streaming service for consumers would be that all the reviews are visible on the platform, titles are directly paid for and not locked down by region and you can curate what’s presented to you.
It wouldn’t replace them, it’d exist alongside it.
Why would they do that if they can all have their own platforms instead (and not pay another party a share of the profits)?
From Steam founder Gabe Newell, 2011:
We think there is a fundamental misconception about piracy," Newell said. "Piracy is almost always a service problem and not a pricing problem. For example, if a pirate offers a product anywhere in the world, 24/7, purchasable from the convenience of your personal computer, and the legal provider says the product is region-locked, will come to your country three months after the U.S. release and can only be purchased at a brick and mortar store, then the pirate’s service is more valuable.
The same can be said of movies/tv – except Steam saw the issue before EA and everyone made their own streaming stores, whereas all the video distributors have splintered into their own services.
I’m not sure where/why Hulu failed to gain the sort of share Steam attained. It existed early on and had … at least 3 big networks (iirc, not cbs? but abc, nbc and fox – then nbc dropped out to just do peacock, I think). Perhaps hulu didn’t pay enough for rights or perhaps Apple, Netflix and Amazon represented too many other players to make the equivalent arguments as Steam made.
Yeah, I mean ultimately muh rights issues aren’t the consumers problem. If the networks and streamers don’t make a TV series accessible on day 1, the internet will.
You would have two ways to watch a show.
- Get the streaming app and sub to it and watch it on there like now.
- Buy it on the steam store, and Apple/HBO/whoever takes a cut.
Some shows however, completely leave all streaming apps. At least (2) would still remain.
You’re talking from the viewer’s perspective. Why should the company share their profits?
Well, okay, they could sell it like that on their own platform then. But they don’t.
Rights issues are complicated and not solved by creating another platform, unfortunately.
Yeah I understand that, but it’s kinda time this changed really in this day and age. Korea doesn’t seem to have any problem spamming their media to the globe.
