*What rights do you have to the digital movies, TV shows and music you buy online? That question was on the minds of Telstra TV Box Office customers this month after the company announced it would shut down the service in June. Customers were told that unless they moved over to another service, Fetch, they would no longer be able to access the films and TV shows they had bought. *

  • SorteKanin@feddit.dk
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    6 months ago

    What would it take to get a “Steam but TV/movies instead of games”? I feel like if I could see reviews of movies and I could buy them and download them and have them forever and buy them on sale and all that good stuff, it wouldn’t be so bad.

    How come none of the streaming services have gone for this model? Steam is swimming in money, surely this method could work?

    • originalfrozenbanana@lemm.ee
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      6 months ago

      I mean I hate to say it but if steam closed up shop tomorrow your games are gone too. You buy a license, not a copy, from steam

      • SorteKanin@feddit.dk
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        6 months ago

        Yes that is true - although many games on Steam can play offline so because I download the game, I own it in that fashion. They can’t take that away.

        But compare with GOG then. They sell games, you download them with no DRM so you own the download essentially.

        • Elle@lemmy.world
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          6 months ago

          But compare with GOG then. They sell games, you download them with no DRM so you own the download essentially.

          This is the model digital media should take, frankly. Anything less may as well be misleading marketing, as far as I’m concerned.

      • catloaf@lemm.ee
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        6 months ago

        They’ve said they have a contingency plan in case that happens. They haven’t said what it is, but my guess is some kind of “you have 60 days to download your games without steamworks DRM”.

    • Majin Boowomp@techhub.social
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      6 months ago

      @SorteKanin @thirdBreakfast I guess Amazon and iTunes would be the closest thing, but rights expire for TV shows and movies far more often than they do for games. It’s insane that there are shows from 10 years ago that aren’t legally accessible or are straight-up lost media because the rights expired.

      • SorteKanin@feddit.dk
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        6 months ago

        rights expire for TV shows and movies far more often than they do for games

        Any idea why there is this discrepancy between TV and games?

    • floofloof@lemmy.ca
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      6 months ago

      The only difference between Steam and the streaming companies is that Steam seems to have managed to create a lasting profitable business. If this changed and Steam faced more challenges, they’d put the screws on the users just like the TV and music services do.