Wednesday, January 3, 2024

It's Probably Time To Back-Up Anything You Value; And Get Hard Copies Where You Can

Following on December 22's "Bricking it: Do you actually own anything digital?", a friend of the blog relays, from the Ziff-Davis property IGN, December 4, 2023:

Sony Pulls Discovery Videos PlayStation Users Already Own, Sparking Concern Over Our Digital Future
"We sincerely thank you for your continued support."

Sony has signalled its intention to pull some PlayStation content even from those who bought it, sparking concern from customers.

In a brief notice on the PlayStation website, Sony said it planned to remove hundreds of Discovery films from users’ video libraries, preventing them from watching the content they’d paid money for. Sony explained the decision as being due to “content licensing arrangements with content providers”.

Here’s the statement in full:

As of 31 December 2023, due to our content licensing arrangements with content providers, you will no longer be able to watch any of your previously purchased Discovery content and the content will be removed from your video library.
We sincerely thank you for your continued support.
Thank you,
PlayStation Store

There follows a long list of affected video content, which includes over 1,000 seasons of shows, including Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman, Tanked, MythBusters, and An Idiot Abroad....

....MUCH MORE

This is a pretty big deal and until it is decided in the courts seems very risky for the consumer/owner.