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Comment by tyingq | Hacker News Reader

The practice of Amazon Prime, Frontier, and other on-demand services just up and removing movies (or tv shows) you "bought" is weirder to me. I assume it's because they lost rights in some negotiation, but the movies just disappear. No notice, no refund.

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That's why I only buy shows/movies on Blu-ray or DVD. I'm not paying a similar price to that and risk having it taken away at some point.

EDIT: And if that isn't a reasonable option, I can probably download a DRM-free version of the movie from some "movie preservationist".

Then you can deal with unskippable advertisements before you can watch your movie you paid for. But at least the video quality is better.

I think it is reasonable to buy the DVD or BluRay, then download DRM-free rip from PirateBay with same resolution. I think the same is fair if you bought a digital lifetime license (as we just learned: "not really") from Amazon. Then if Amazon steals your copy and does not refund you, you still have a copy.

Has anyone ever tried to sue Amazon in small claims court for a "disappeared" film? I guess Amazon will force arbitration, but you have a good case in arbitration. All you want is either: the original digital film, or a refund of original payment. This could be arbitrated very quickly since the sum is so small.

Are we imagining that every digital storefront does not explicitly grant them permission to remove stuff in the EULA?

I am imagining most EULAs won't hols up in a legal court. Maybe it would in forced arbitration.

I gave in and bought a copy of MakeMKV. I rip my discs and don't see the ads anymore.

I don't think this is necessarily true. Amazon owns the rights to Star Gate and right now SG1 has a warning that it is about to be removed. Rather odd to do when they own the franchise.

Presumably it’s because of the reasons mentioned in the article - they have to pay residuals.

They also have a honor all contracts previously signed by MGM so it is entirely possible SG1 was included in another deal.

Also I believe MGM is still being operated Separately from Prime Video, or Amazon Studios so likely they would need to negate between the business units.

Does this actually happen? It was my understanding that they disappear from the store, but if you already bought it, you still have access to it.

It happened to me with both providers I mentioned. With Frontier, it's when they bought Verizon FIOS, and I lost several movies. On Amazon Prime Video, I lost 2 seasons of a British detective show.

have you really bought it, in terms of paying extra money besides the prime costs just for the show? Or just subscribed to prime? Since you put "bought" in quotes I guess it could mean both. And I think LeoPanthera was referring to that things that are payed extra for shouldn't vanish - which would also have been my understanding. So far everything payed extra for is still there - but it's a sample size of 2 mainstream movies, so it probably doesn't tell much.

I mean specifically paid to "buy" that movie and/or TV show. As opposed to either renting it, or it coming with the service subscription. I put "buy" in quotes because in hindsight, that's clearly not what happened.

This should never happen on Prime Video. Major breach of customer trust.

If it’s happened to you please call customer service and complain. If they can’t fix it or refund you, please get in touch with me and I will try and get it fixed for you

This has been going on for years.

https://www.slashfilm.com/574053/amazon-sued-purchased-movie...

What angers me the most is that they never bother to get subtitles (closed captions) on a lot of films I'd like to watch. Being deaf, it's a major pain when a decent film doesn't come with subtitles !

Season 6 of South Park, bought one day, gone literally the very next day. (November 2022) (Amazon Prime video)

If I buy something on Prime, it’s exclusively with those “thanks for using slow shipping” credits they provide during the holidays. I have about $30 of credits this year.

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