I understand how shows get on these streaming services. Hulu and Netflix sign a contract for streaming rights for a certain period of time. What I’d like explained if anyone has a deeper understanding of the process is why some classic shows are there and others aren’t. For example, some shows I’ve never seen on any streaming service:
Diff’rent Strokes
CHIPS
Dukes of Hazzard
Amen
227
Facts of Life
MASH
Some of these are pretty hot shows that you’d think would be in demand. So what gives here?
Is it that streaming services would like to add those shows but negotiations over price have not yet led to a deal?
Do the rights owners just prefer to DVD sales revenue and worry that streaming would mean less revenue? Seems like that’s an easy problem to overcome, lots of properties that are hot on DVD, streaming services have made it worth the rights holders’ while.
Are there rights issues of another sort? I’ve heard that some shows have trouble coming out on DVD or streaming because multiple parties hold the rights and they have to all agree?
Or am I needlessly worrying and these shows will all be available for streaming eventually? Obviously they don’t put everything up at once. ER only just became available on Hulu, and Netflix only just added Highway to Heaven.
Is it a demographics thing? I notice that “geek” shows are in abundance, because geek culture lovers are overrepresented on the internet. Yet I am starting to see more shows that you’d think would only appeal to the kind of people who aren’t on the internet, like Golden Girls. Were demographics an issue before but less so now?
I think you might be overestimating how much demand there is for old TV shows. I mean, you’re probably right about MASH, but I’m not sure about the others.
One of the things that has held up the release of 70s-90s-era shows in the past is negotiating the rights over the music. They either have to go track down the current owner of every single song played in every episode of the show and negotiate for streaming rights, or they have to go edit the show to use different music. That effort is often not worth it for older shows.
Facts of Life is available for streaming on amazon. (Not free.)
227 is available on Crackle.
Dukes of Hazard is available on Amazon and Youtube. (Not free.)
Chips is available on youtube, google play, and itunes. (Not free.)
There are episodes of Diff’rent Strokes on free youtube. I don’t know if they are authorized, but they have been up since 2016 and haven’t been removed.
Ah, music, that’s interesting because Greatest American Hero recently went up on Hulu without original music except for the title song, and how could you ever leave that out? But it made me wonder, because you wouldn’t think Greatest American Hero was in demand, but I guess it’s a superhero show and those are hot right now.
I also subscribe to WWE Network, and a lot of entrance music is dubbed over due to rights issues.
That brings up another question. I understand that when they were paying for music rights back then, they didn’t know they’d want to re-release these shows on DVD or streaming. But newer shows, do they make sure to buy the rights to songs they use for all possible formats, or is this going to continue to be an issue?
It depends on budget. Most large budget shows are including the streaming rights but many smaller shows don’t have the budget for it to be worth doing and still profit off the show. In the end it is cheaper to redub the show with music in the public domain or with much cheaper rights costs than to get the streaming rights up front. Especially, if you are not guaranteed to make it to syndication. So unless the network is giving you a blank check and backing the show as a timeslot anchor, you may not have the money to secure the rights.
I have to believe that they do, now, given all of the issues that owners of various shows have run into.
One of my very favorite shows from that era is “WKRP in Cincinnati,” and home video releases were hung up for many years due to music rights (and, of course, popular music was an integral part of that show). When it was finally released, they wound up having to dub in sound-alike songs in some cases, because rights to certain songs weren’t affordable, or were simply unavailable.
Crackle? So much I don’t know. I don’t really consider pay to watch to be a thing. I can also pay to watch by buying the DVD set. I did know I could buy episodes on Amazon and Itunes but I was wondering when they’d be available on subscription streaming services.
How did I miss MASH on Netflix? Weird.
You know what show is available in its entirety on free Youtube? Silver Spoons. Love that show, although obviously the quality will be much better if it ever makes it to Hulu.
MeTV is actually a TV channel that broadcasts over the air. It’s not a streaming channel like Netflix. You’ll need to hook up an antenna to your TV to get the channel. There are many websites which you can use to see which TV channels you can get with an antenna, so you can see if it’s an option for you. Or just get a cheap antenna and see what you find.
The broadcast TV stations have a bunch of old shows, and not just on MeTV. You can find Miami Vice, Rockford Files, Colombo, Love Boat, old game shows, etc etc. And really old stuff like Andy Griffith, To Tell the Truth, etc. It’s fun to see stars like Betty White on a game show when she was 20.
One major downside of watching old shows over an antenna is that the resolution is pretty bad. Of course the shows themselves were not recorded in HD, but the stations broadcasting the old shows are using a low resolution. While the networks will be in full HD, the other stations will be in a lower resolution with an associated loss of detail. Not so much of a big deal if you’re watching old Family Feud reruns, but oh, how you’ll miss the detail when watching shows like Charlies Angels
Eventually Shout! Factory did a re-release of the (previously terrible) DVDs with much of the previously bowdlerized music restored – not 100% but at least key moments like “Tiny Dancer” and “Hot Blooded” were brought back to their original glory. It was a pretty significant undertaking though.
With video games becoming more sophisticated and mainstream, this has been an issue there as well. Games use licensed popular music but would only pay for a relatively short license of five or seven years. Some games have had tracks removed from people’s installed copies as an “update” (Grand Theft Auto), some removed the tracks from new copies sold (Mafia II) and some games have been removed for sale entirely because the cost of renewing the license was more than what the game makes these days in new sales (Alan Wake).
While recognizing that copyrights matter, it should not be legal to go into someone’s PC and remove content they paid for. The user paid for that music too and he did not know it was for a limited time. Although it wouldn’t surprise me if it’s on page 47 of the terms and conditions you have to agree to to install the game.
If you have an affiliate in your area that broadcasts MeTV, it will likely also be on your local cable system. I know MeTV is primarily over the air, but both cable companies where I live carry the subchannel that it’s on.
Like a lot of people we get MeTV on our cable system (and a lot of other OTA oldies channels). We also have DVRs. So if we wanted to watch a ton of MASHes, no problem. Record a whole lot and start binging.
Out DVRs also allow off-loading of such programs to a PC. So I could auto-download them, run them thru an ad remover, and once I have the whole series binge like I’m streaming.
(One problem with this approach is that the programs will be cut and time-compressed for syndication, have a ton of bugs on them, etc.)
For clarification, the game in question was Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. A previous GTA title, Vice City, did the same “New copies no longer have those songs” thing that other games have done.
In the case of Alan Wake, the developers felt that the music was too integral to the game to just cut it out but the game wasn’t making enough new sales to extend the license so they just stopped selling the game (existing copies have all the music). The original Mafia was pulled for several years because of music licenses expiring and recently was made available for sale again with various tracks missing.
Unlike the old days of strings of musical bleeps and MIDI tunes, games these days usually have full-on soundtracks, often including licensed popular music (genre depending, of course). Which means this will likely be a continuing issue going forward.
It does seem weird that we haven’t figured this out yet.
Like, everyone knows that media of all types sells strong for a while, then sales trail off. And that per-copy prices start high and eventually get discounted. Presumably there should be a way to have a license that handles that progression.
