PlayStation is erasing 1,318 seasons of Discovery shows from customer libraries

Update: 12/21/2023, 3:00 p.m. ET: Today, PlayStation sent customers a short email saying that it will no longer be removing Discovery content, "due to updated licensing arrangements." Original story below: If you purchased any Discovery shows from the PlayStation Store, Sony has some bad news for you to discover. The company recently announced that all Discovery content purchased on the PlayStation Store will be erased before 2024. The brief notice, signed by the PlayStation Store, says:

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.

PlayStation Network started selling TV shows and movies with 2008's PlayStation 3, and at the time you were allowed to transfer content to different Sony devices, Kotaku noted. That feature went away with the PlayStation 4. With the growth of streaming TV apps, many of which could be accessed through a PlayStation, the PlayStation Store stopped selling movies and TV shows in 2021. But there were users who had already purchased stuff from the PlayStation Store and, believe it or not, expect to be able to watch it when they want, since they paid money to buy (rather than rent) it. I admit that I haven't heard a lot of the shows being deleted post-purchase. Shows getting axed from user libraries include Wives With Knives, An Idiot Abroad, Evil Twins, and Body Bizarre. And when it came to deadly docuseries, PlayStation Store offered plenty, whether you were after Deadly Affairs, Demands, Dentists, Devotion, Sins, or, of course, Women. I'm having fun with some of the most bizarre titles, of course. But there are also plenty of more well-known titles on the list of purchased content being revoked, including American Chopper, Cake Boss, MythBusters, Shark Week, and Say Yes to the Dress.  While some of the content listed sounds, shall we say, a bit niche, there are in total 1,318 seasons of shows listed for deletion. That means there's a good chance numerous users will be affected by Sony's announcement.

“Licensing arrangements”

Sony's announcement doesn't provide much explanation for its move besides pointing to "content licensing agreements." It's possible that Sony no longer had interest in paying to license content from Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), especially considering that the PlayStation Store stopped selling such content a couple of years ago. It's worth noting that at the time Sony claimed that users would still be able to "access movie and TV content they have purchased through PlayStation Store for on-demand playback on their PS4, PS5 and mobile devices." It's also possible that WBD has made it too expensive for Sony to license the content anymore. WBD is currently trying to add subscribers to its streaming apps, Max (which it formed this year by uniting the HBO Max and Discovery+ streaming services) and Discovery+. It was originally expected that Warner Bros. Discovery would eliminate Discovery+ once Max came out. However, in February, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), citing anonymous sources, reported that WBD decided to keep Discovery+ active in fear of losing subscribers who didn't want to pay more for a Max subscription (Discovery+ monthly subscriptions currently start at $4.99. Max monthly subscriptions currently start at $9.99). WSJ's February report also claimed that Discovery+ had "low operating costs and is profitable." In October, WBD's president of international, Gerhard Zeiler, said Max was "getting slightly profitable," as per The Hollywood Reporter. WBD's Q3 2023 earnings report was the company's first full quarter since launching Max, and the media giant's streaming business claimed profitability that quarter. It also reported losing 700,000 subscribers compared to Q2 2023. Limiting the places where Discovery+ content is available could lead people to WBD's streaming apps. This could also cause people to spend money on stuff they've already spent money on before. Sony's announcement is another painful reminder of the "licensing arrangements" between digital media shoppers and online stores. Some online stores display distinct purchase buttons with phrasing like "rent" versus "own," but users don't actually own this purchased content. And online stores and streaming services can remove media from unsuspecting "owners" at any time. As stated in the terms of service for PlayStation Network (under which the PlayStation Store falls), "all Content provided through PSN is licensed on a non-exclusive and revocable basis." Similarly, PlayStation's software product license agreement states that "software is licensed to you, not sold." This practice has become common outside of Sony, including from streaming services like Amazon Prime Video (which saw a class-action complaint against it about revoked content dismissed [PDF] in 2022) and eBooks. In 2022, Sony also deleted purchased media from German and Austrian customers' libraries. At the time, it also blamed licensing agreements. The realization has forced people to more deeply scrutinize their digital media purchases and subscriptions and how they value digital content. It's also leading to calls for investment in hard copies of media. As Forbes pointed out, during a November screening of Oppenheimer, director Christopher Nolan gushed about the film's Blu-ray, calling it a version of the film that people "can buy and own at home and put on a shelf so no evil streaming service can come steal it from you." As companies continue seeking ways to profit off the growth of streaming media, though, it's not always easy to find hard copies of things you want to watch, especially some of Discovery+'s unique titles, like seasons 1 and 2 of The 1980s: The Deadliest Decade.  Although online stores say they have the right to take away items you bought, it can still come as a surprise to the countless customers who may not understand licensing agreements or tend not to read lengthy service agreements. Even if you know it's possible, seeing content you paid for suddenly disappear is a disappointment. The practice can also reduce access to hard-to-find, yet treasured, media, like Best Funeral Ever.  Ars Technica reached out to Sony for comment but didn't hear back in time for publication.