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[bitbydeath]

They should leave season one at least but HBO gonna HB-Go.

Warner Bros. Discovery is reportedly pulling both the recently cancelled “Westworld” and the Joss Whedon-created sci-fi drama “The Nevers” from its service. The timetable of when is not clear and both are still on the service as of time of this article’s writing.

At this point, there’s a feeling that nothing and no one on HBO Max are safe.

HBO Max To Remove "Westworld," "Nevers" - Dark Horizons

The HBO Max cuts just got real deep. Warner Bros. Discovery is reportedly pulling both the recently cancelled “Westworld” and the Joss Whedon-created sci-fi drama “The Nevers” from its service. The timetable of when is not clear and both are still on the service as of time of this article’s...

www.darkhorizons.com

 

[Trunx81]

Isn’t the second half of the Nevers about to release? Strange move.

 

[AJUMP23]

Will the new service not have HBO content. Because that would suck.

 

[Mr Hyde]

The lovely future of streaming.

 

[The Cockatrice]

???????????? Isnt Westworld an HBO show? They are removing their own shows or...? wtf am I missing here

 

[ReBurn]

With what they did to Westworld after season 1 they're probably removing it from embarrassment

 

[poppabk]

I was waiting for the Nevers to come back and now it's presumably not coming back and also being deleted?

 

[Husky]

The fuck...
Are filmmakers and TV writers gonna be at all comfortable working with Warner Bros. when they see them pull this shit?

 

[bitbydeath]

???????????? Isnt Westworld an HBO show? They are removing their own shows or...? wtf am I missing here

The creators seem to be independent as they had signed with Amazon recently.

Jonathan Nolan, Lisa Joy Exit Warner Bros. TV for Massive Overall Deal at Amazon

Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy are the latest high-profile creators to make the move to a streaming platform.

variety.com

 

[Doom85]

Seriously, why remove stuff? First a bunch of cartoons, and now this? I know they’re eventually starting a new streaming service to replace Max, but just keep everything on Max for now and when the new one starts just have everyone transfer over to the new one.

Unless there’s some legal rights issues, this is objectively dumbass behavior. And if there’s a rights issue, then how about some goddamn communication to your consumers, WB? Geezus fucking Christ.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

Pirates can keep content forever.

Kinda makes you think sometimes.

 

[jakinov]

The lovely future of streaming.

With linear TV you have the same problem, that being it’s not free and you don’t want to spend money to keep licensing content that doesn’t give you value because you have a limited amount of money (or time slots). This is more so an issue with old TV transitioning over to streaming. It’s not like games where it’s clear cut who owns and gets to keep releasing the same game willy nilly. “Ownership” is all over the place for movies/TV and everyone wants to get paid. Nowadays new streaming projects the streamer pays a premium called cost-plus (meaning the cost to make + more money) to retain strong rights over content opposed to back then when it was more of a split.

 

[jakinov]

Seriously, why remove stuff? First a bunch of cartoons, and now this? I know they’re eventually starting a new streaming service to replace Max, but just keep everything on Max for now and when the new one starts just have everyone transfer over to the new one.

Unless there’s some legal rights issues, this is objectively dumbass behavior. And if there’s a rights issue, then how about some goddamn communication to your consumers, WB? Geezus fucking Christ.

It cost money to license content. Even if they have distribution rights it doesn’t mean they get to distribute to sister companies for free. They will get sued by stakeholders.

That’d be like Xbox Game Publishing selling retail copies of a game made by XYZ independently owned studio to Microsoft Store (retail) division for $0 a pop or even really cheap.

In movies/tv, this is even worst because there’s a lot of people who are supposed to get a shares of the profits. By selling something for $0 you basically saying $0 revenue = $0 profit so I owe you guys nothing.

 

[Doom85]

It cost money to license content. Even if they have distribution rights it doesn’t mean they get to distribute to sister companies for free. They will get sued by stakeholders.

That’d be like Xbox Game Publishing selling retail copies of a game made by XYZ independently owned studio to Microsoft Store (retail) division for $0 a pop or even really cheap.

In movies/tv, this is even worst because there’s a lot of people who are supposed to get a shares of the profits. By selling something for $0 you basically saying $0 revenue = $0 profit so I owe you guys nothing.

So is all this going to be lost forever? Can they even put it on Amazon‘s digital video store for people to buy?

Regardless, the company themselves need to be communicating this to their consumers. You’re offering a product, when you start devaluing that product, an explanation is in order.

 

[tkscz]

???????????? Isnt Westworld an HBO show? They are removing their own shows or...? wtf am I missing here

Warner also owns the rights to Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, Harry Potter and many other things it constantly removes from the service even though they own the content. Most likely it's to avoid any kind of royalties or payment to creators. If it doesn't exist, they don't have to pay up.

 

[jakinov]

So is all this going to be lost forever? Can they even put it on Amazon‘s digital video store for people to buy?

Regardless, the company themselves need to be communicating this to their consumers. You’re offering a product, when you start devaluing that product, an explanation is in order.

I believe they can no longer do what they did with other projects where by locking them up they can get money back via taxes. So that would possibly open the door to them being able to license them out to other companies but that’s if they even want the shows.

In regards to an explanation, HBO max has always cycled out content they have distro for. People just assumed certain shows were safe forever like ones from OG HBO.

 

[bitbydeath]

But wait, there’s more!

The following series will be coming off of the HBO Max service in the coming days:

“Westworld” S1-4, “The Nevers” S2, “Raised by Wolves” S1-2, “The Time Traveler’s Wife” S1, “Minx” S1-2,” “Love Life” S1-2, “FBOY Island” S1-2, “Made for Love” S102,” “The Garcias” S1,” “Legendary” S1-3, “Finding Magic Mike” S1,” “Gordita Chronicles” S1 and “Head of the Class” S1.

Many of these shows will be licensed to third party FAST services.

FAST refers to free, ad-supported streamers like Freevee, Pluto TV and Roku Channel.

https://www.darkhorizons.com/hbo-max-pulling-wolves-wife-more/

 

[Sybrix]

I’m sorry but I don’t give a shit…. This why I pirate everything, I don’t pay for Netflix, Prime, Disney +, Paramount + or HBO +

But I have seen Better Call Saul, LOTR ROP, Madalorian, Yellowstone and House of Dragon…. All at 4k quality, all for free and all downloaded forever.

I win.

 

[LoneWolf&Subs]

But wait, there’s more!



https://www.darkhorizons.com/hbo-max-pulling-wolves-wife-more/

So basically this means that ad supported steaming services are the new free broadcast tv, while premium stuff like HBO MAX, D+, etc… Are the modern stand-in’s for movie theaters.

 

[JayK47]

Why bother paying for anything with so much being free on Roku? Really weird move and a middle finger for paying subscribers.

 

[jakinov]

So basically this means that ad supported steaming services are the new free broadcast tv, while premium stuff like HBO MAX, D+, etc… Are the modern stand-in’s for movie theaters.

It really just means that streaming services aren’t going to pay licensing costs in perpetuity for shows that bring them little to no value. Especially if they are on track to bleeding > $2B this year. Even if some of that licensing cost trickles back in their pockets (because they own distribution) it’s still millions in savings from shows that reportedly had as little as 0 minutes of viewership.

The reason Netflix gets by this is because they are new and don’t pay for a bunch of legacy content that they don’t explicitly really want. In the last few years (not the case for their old stuff) they’ve been paying premiums so that they basically take all the risk and don’t have to keep re-licensing the content over time for market prices.

 

[LordCBH]

Why? That’s retarded.

 

[DeepEnigma]

But you can select from 1million and one new trashy brainrot freak reality shows.

 

[Xenon]

Warner also owns the rights to Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, Harry Potter and many other things it constantly removes from the service even though they own the content. Most likely it's to avoid any kind of royalties or payment to creators. If it doesn't exist, they don't have to pay up.

If the company has to pay out more in royalties than they think they show adds value to their platform, why keep it up?

West World dropped in quality right after season 1. Why keep a series like that on your platform?

 

[NecrosaroIII]

I think I'm gonna go back to piracy. Far cheaper and more access to things

 

[Nitty_Grimes]

The lovely future of streaming.

Wait for people to come in and defend it and say it’s fine.

I don’t have a blu ray player I’m to lazy to change discs hahahahaha etc.

 

[xrnzaaas]

Awful. They're removing the shows for cost cutting reasons, but it's not long-term thinking and it can also cost them their subs. What's the point subscribing to a service that doesn't even want to hold on to its original content? More and more people will go back to sailin' the high seas.

 

[Bitmap Frogs]

Making pirating the most appealing option is a mistake the tv/movie industry already did once.

Watch them do it again.

 

[Kabelly]

Making pirating the most appealing option is a mistake the tv/movie industry already did once.

Watch them do it again.

they already did that by having 40 different streaming services


i'm gonna run out to buy the complete 4K series set before that disappears too.

 

[SlimySnake]

this basically the equivalent of video game publishers shutting down servers for older PS3 and PS4 games even though the cost of these servers is miniscule.

All they are doing here is saving on a few royalty fees. Really cheap stuff from Discovery.

 

[Amory]

This is gonna be the streaming MO for all of the different platforms as they move out of ‘subscriber growth at all costs’ territory and into ‘focus on profits’ territory.

We all got fat and happy with cord cutting, initially low monthly fees, extended & repeated free trials, and limitless content, but that environment was never going to last. In the end we’ll pay more for less. And they’ll probably kill off physical media sooner than later too, to give people no other option than streaming or digital purchase.

 

[DeepEnigma]

This is gonna be the streaming MO for all of the different platforms as they move out of ‘subscriber growth at all costs’ territory and into ‘focus on profits’ territory.

Which is why I say on the gaming side... careful what you wish for in the short term.

 

[jason10mm]

This is gonna be the streaming MO for all of the different platforms as they move out of ‘subscriber growth at all costs’ territory and into ‘focus on profits’ territory.

We all got fat and happy with cord cutting, initially low monthly fees, extended & repeated free trials, and limitless content, but that environment was never going to last. In the end we’ll pay more for less. And they’ll probably kill off physical media sooner than later too, to give people no other option than streaming or digital purchase.

Certainly seems to be the case.

I think we are gonna see a HUGE collapse of all this content and a return to the far smaller budgets of yesteryear. Which is probably a good thing as talent has been spread waaaaay too thin lately and the high costs of even a pedestrian show curtails risk taking and makes everything feel generic and designed by committee for maximum appeal.

This bodes ill for a lot of diversity initiatives though, that kind of stuff can only really flourish in an era of excess and I'm not sure they have had enough time to completely entrench an entirely new regime across all levels and disciplines in order to make it a self-sustaining process.

 

[Dr.D00p]

We had the 'Big Bang' of media streaming providers but we're now firmly into the 'Big Crunch' of consolidation....Its the moment the parasite $500 an hour corporate mergers & acquisitions Lawyers have been waiting for.

 

[Ownage]

WTF I haven't even seen S4 yet. Was saving it for a few months. Guess I need 1 month sub.

The Zaz is a shrewd dude.

 

[Hugare]

This is how I see Warner everytime I read some news

 

[Secret of Evolution]

Which is why I say on the gaming side... careful what you wish for in the short term.

Just wait till Gamepass starts charging by the hour or including ads instead of a flat monthly rate.

 

[ÆMNE22A!C]

Still halfway S2... WTF

 

[BennyBlanco]

HBO max was one of the only streaming services worth a shit so naturally it has to die an ugly death

 

[March Climber]

If WB Discovery are going to destroy everything that HBO built, then I need to start binging more content before it's all gone.

 

[Brian Fellows]

Canceled my sub last night. Also dropped Paramount+.

 

[diffusionx]

HBO deleting HBO content from their HBO service is just hilarious. Reminds me of the Destiny 2 vault scam.

 

[brian0057]

All hail the all-digital future!
Also, Westworld only has one good season.

 

[zcaa0g]

Wait for people to come in and defend it and say it’s fine.

I don’t have a blu ray player I’m to lazy to change discs hahahahaha etc.

It's fine and I do have multiple Blu-Ray players, but I'm too lazy to change disc's. It's a primitive solution.

 

[Madonis]

That's crazy.

 

[TheUsual]

I really liked Season 1 but never got into Season 2. Bought the Season 1 Blu Ray earlier this week from Best Buy and saw it's out of stock now (as of last night at least). Shows again why physical is important. Doesn't matter if this hops to another service.

 

[TheUsual]

This is gonna be the streaming MO for all of the different platforms as they move out of ‘subscriber growth at all costs’ territory and into ‘focus on profits’ territory.

We all got fat and happy with cord cutting, initially low monthly fees, extended & repeated free trials, and limitless content, but that environment was never going to last. In the end we’ll pay more for less. And they’ll probably kill off physical media sooner than later too, to give people no other option than streaming or digital purchase.

If physical gets killed off, the cover will be "we're being more eco-friendly" or something along those lines. Not going to deny that, it's just a great excuse to have more control of the product and pricing.