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Sony Movies

Sony Deletes More Movies From Accounts of People Who 'Bought' Them (techdirt.com) 138

Posted by BeauHD from the you're-buying-a-license dept.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Techdirt: In 2022, due to "evolving licensing agreements" with distributor StudioCanal, German and Austrian users had hundreds of movies disappear from their PS accounts, long after buying them through Sony. Then in 2023, it happened again in America, specifically when Sony ended its licensing agreement with Discovery after the Warner Bros. merger, which, of course, has since been bought by Paramount Skydance. That resulted in customers having hundreds and hundreds of episodes of TV shows deleted from their accounts. Nowhere in any of this were there refunds, of course. No recompense at all, actually. Just a thing you thought you'd bought taken away from you by the very people you thought you bought it from.

And now it's happening again. Due to another licensing agreement fallout with StudioCanal, hundreds of movies and TV shows are being ripped from the accounts of PS Store customers, and there appears to be fuck all that they can do about it. [Kotaku reports:] "This news was brought to people's attention by X user somatyk, who posted the notification they had received from PlayStation this week. Along with the unapologetic news that the purchased movies would be deleted from their account on September 1, the message concluded with, 'Click here for a full list of affected titles that will no longer be supported. Thank you.' The same warning is now reproduced in full on the PlayStation website, along with the list of 551 films and TV series that are being pulled from people's libraries."

As Kotaku notes later in their post, part of what is striking in all of this is the sheer mundanity of the announcement. Because there have been no consequences, or any action at all from the public or government, Sony treats this all as if it's perfectly normal and no big deal. You can tell me all you want about how the Ts and Cs in these purchases do in fact note that the nature of the purchase is a temporary licensing of the content for an undetermined time period... but I can promise you that the public in general doesn't understand that. They think they're buying a thing, not a license.
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Sony Deletes More Movies From Accounts of People Who 'Bought' Them More

Sony Deletes More Movies From Accounts of People Who 'Bought' Them

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  • Same answers as before: (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Firethorn ( 177587 ) on Thursday July 16, 2026 @03:06PM (#66242046) Homepage Journal

    1. Sony should be forced to refund the original purchases, no matter how old they are. If the consumer was only "borrowing" the media, then Sony was only "borrowing" the money.
    2. Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of Rum. IE Piracy.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by toddz ( 697874 )
      Mod points, where are my mod points when I need them!

    • Re:Same answers as before: (Score:5, Informative)

      by Local ID10T ( 790134 ) <ID10T.L.USER@gmail.com> on Thursday July 16, 2026 @04:28PM (#66242202) Homepage

      1. adjusted for inflation + interest + inconvenience fee (sufficient to allow the customer to purchase the media from another vendor).

      Sony should feel a financial pressure (as well as political and social pressure) to do what is necessary to secure the license rights to what they previously promised their customers.

      • At least to be like Steam - it is understood that people who buy things get said license in perpetuity.
        IE they might buy a 10 year license for SELLING said titles, but they still get to provide said titles to those that purchased them after the license expired.
        It sounds like Sony, for what was probably a trivial savings, wrote bad contracts. Or their system can't handle not having something for sale yet still downloadable by those who have previously purchased it.

        • It sounds like Sony, for what was probably a trivial savings, wrote bad contracts.

          Bad for their customers, yes. Good for Sony, as long as they don't get busted for claiming to sell what they clearly were only renting out, and they clearly knew this if they didn't secure a perpetual license.

          Anyone "buying" a digital good which doesn't come with the inherent ability to use it later (like a GOG download) isn't buying it. While it should be illegal to claim you're selling to those people instead of just renting, they are also being fools if they think they own that.

          • Probably not as good for Sony, like I said, the money they saved on the contracts was probably minimal to nothing, now they're eating a whole lot of bad press over it. For those who have lost the titles and care, how likely are they to buy from Sony again?

    • Re:Same answers as before: (Score:4, Informative)

      by torkus ( 1133985 ) on Thursday July 16, 2026 @05:13PM (#66242264)

      I've been on the 'bottle of rum train' for a LONG while now. It's simply not worth it to either maintain a half dozen monthly subs or try to "buy" movies that still can only be watched in certain specific ways.

      Especially when you can buy VPN per year for what netflix charges per month...and then watch nearly anything at any time on any device and share with anyone else who also wants to watch it.

    • *Holds up my cat looking sad*

      "If haz not own, why button sez 'Buy'?"

    • Refund WITH interest.

    • I used to be largely anti-piracy. The fact the corps have decided to abuse copyright at a level I never thought was possible means I don't give a stuff any more. Especially about movies, where the participants were paid already.

      Pass the rum.

      If they want to continue this "Digital downloads" shit, they can find a way to make it absolutely impossible for anyone to remove something from a library that was sold as being there indefinitely. Maybe allow people to download an encrypted version and put the key in es

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by dgatwood ( 11270 )

      1. Sony should be forced to refund the original purchases, no matter how old they are. If the consumer was only "borrowing" the media, then Sony was only "borrowing" the money. 2. Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of Rum. IE Piracy.

      3. Download it off a torrent site, wait to get threatened by the copyright owner, show them proof that you purchased the product. If they sue you anyway, counter-sue both the copyright owner and Sony for conspiracy to defraud. Ask for seven figures on account of their vexatious litigation.

      • This might not work out the way you think. Generally speaking, with torrenting, you are not prosecuted for downloading the media. The prosecution is for UPLOADING the media, at least fragments of it, to others.

        You'd need to set yourself up as an absolute leech - 0% upload. Might take a while to get the media file in that case. In which case one is unlikely to get the threatening letter in the first place.

        Yes, the court system is nitpicky enough for that to matter.

      • Download it off a torrent site, wait to get threatened by the copyright owner, show them proof that you purchased the product.

        Sorry but this is not only wrong, it's terribly embarrassing given your really low Slashdot ID. You don't download "off a torrent site" but using the bittorrent network, a p2p file-sharing thing. As such, you are also DISTRIBUTING the work and you certainly have no rights to do so, this is how they get you, and it's really risky, as they can claim really high damages.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by dgatwood ( 11270 )

          It is generally possible to download without uploading. You'll just likely get a dribble of data when you do.

  • Slow learners (Score:5, Insightful)

    by ddtmm ( 549094 ) on Thursday July 16, 2026 @03:07PM (#66242048)

    You can tell me all you want about how the Ts and Cs in these purchases do in fact note that the nature of the purchase is a temporary licensing of the content for an undetermined time period... but I can promise you that the public in general doesn't understand that. They think they're buying a thing, not a license.

    People still don't realize if it's in the cloud, it can disappear anytime. Unless you have a playable copy in your hand, you have no permanent ownership. Games, movies, programs, any online service, it's all the same.

    Yet another lesson...

    • I used to feel the same but I've become more convinced over last 5 years that physical ownership is also precarious. It's highly likely that optical drives won't be generally available in the near future, and it's already an issue that physical media often has limited runs and isn't available at a reasonable price outside the release window

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by ukoda ( 537183 )
        Yes, bit rot and obsolete hardware is a real issue. What is interesting is how retro computing is dealing with old storage media. There are a lot of floppy disk drive emulators that use SD cards instead of spinning magnetic media. Same with tape drives and cartridges. Recently I brought an EPROM emulator that uses a RPi Pico and can be updated via USB, which is great because finding a working UV eraser and EPROM programmer that works with a modern OS is increasingly difficult to do.

        The key is getting

      • I used to feel the same but I've become more convinced over last 5 years that physical ownership is also precarious. It's highly likely that optical drives won't be generally available in the near future, and it's already an issue that physical media often has limited runs and isn't available at a reasonable price outside the release window

        I've honestly taken to purchasing extras of my physical players once I know they are quality and stashing the spare in a cool, dry place. Most of these last me a good long time, and there's no reason at all that one stored properly will break just sitting there. Don't ever attach them to the network, so they can't get over-the-wire update that intentionally break compatibility with various formats, and you should be set for at least a couple decades or more.

        • ... there's no reason at all that one stored properly will break just sitting there.

          That's probably a little closer to being true than it once was; but any electronic device which contains electrolytic capacitors should be powered up every once in a while to keep the dielectrics formed and the oxide layers intact.

          That's especially true of digital devices whose input voltage can't be raised slowly by using a Variac; theres's an (admittedly small) risk of damage or data corruption, as the different voltage rails may reach their spec'd voltages at different times.

          • It's probably way less true than it once was, because we used to build things with meaningful safety factors, and because all of these devices have flash storage in them now and it's subject to bitrot.

            • Good call on the bitrot. I'm not sure about the "safety factors" angle though - I think they always compromised on that a bit in consumer gear.

              Then again, counterfeit components have become a thing, so even if the specs indicate a good safety margin the actual part may be shite.

      • Re: Slow learners (Score:4, Interesting)

        by Voice of satan ( 1553177 ) on Thursday July 16, 2026 @05:36PM (#66242284)

        That's why i buy my games on GOG. For example. Unless computers and mass storage disappears, there will be backups for a long time. Music is also buyable. For the rest: The high seas.

      • I have 40 year old cassettes with games on that still load but I have them all backed up on different drives too.
        Cracked game installers run off your hard drive and never connect to their server (like old games as there was no servers!).
        I had to download "V for Vendetta" recently as my BluRay program wasn't happy about something. I had to pirate media that I actually paid for a physical version of.

      • There have been a few musicians that have been trying to redirect the kids away from cassette tape nostalgia to CD nostalgia. The reason is simple, in 2026 its cheaper to burn a CD than it is to manufacture a cassette tape. And CDs are vastly superior (the relative virtues of Vinyl and CD are a little more complicated, though on pure technicalities, CD still wins).

        The thing with CDs is a DIY home musician can do the whole manufacturing chain at home. You buy one of those cheap laser screen printer engravers

        • Burned CDs are really not comparable to a proper, glass-mastered disc, though. Out of all the options between MC, Vinyl, MD, USB, etc., CD-Rs probably have the shortest average lifespan.

    • Even the physical copy in hand doesn't guarantee continued possession. Besides just needing to protect the disc from things like fire, physical abuse, and more, an awful lot of DVDs only last a decade or two.

      • Re:Slow learners (Score:4, Insightful)

        by Jhon ( 241832 ) on Thursday July 16, 2026 @04:22PM (#66242186) Homepage Journal

        "an awful lot of DVDs only last a decade or two."

        If only there was some way to take the data on a DVD and move it to a computer. Maybe "brute force it". We could use the term "rip"!

        Then backups with redundancy would turn a decade or two in to a generation or ten. ...if only...

        • Yes, but once one is ripping, the important part is the digital copy without DRM under your control, not the DVD itself.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by allo ( 1728082 )

      What is a playable copy? Are you sure your copy does not contain an expiring certificate and won't be playable after even when you "own" it on your pc?

    • "Unless you have a playable copy in your hand"

      The player keys for your devices can be revoked. The HDCP key for your devices can be revoked.

      • Isn't AACS, or what it's called, solved? I know it needs a key database, but those seem fairly complete. Otherwise I couldn't watch my purchased, sometimes foreign-region Blu-rays with VLC, right?

  • If you can't copy it... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by silentbozo ( 542534 ) on Thursday July 16, 2026 @03:07PM (#66242050) Journal

    You don't own it.

    You can extend this to hardware as well. If you're not allowed to repair or modify something... you don't own it.

  • This (Score:5, Insightful)

    by RitchCraft ( 6454710 ) on Thursday July 16, 2026 @03:16PM (#66242066)

    This is why piracy is on the rise. If buying isn't owning then ... well you know the rest. Corporate fucktards.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by caseih ( 160668 )

      Is it, though? Seems like everyone I know is paying their monthly fees and just streaming what they want to watch. And indeed if you only plan to watch something once, there's no point in buying it on media.

  • Physical media (Score:3)

    by sit1963nz ( 934837 ) on Thursday July 16, 2026 @03:34PM (#66242112)
    Unless it is a physical product, you do NOT own it.
    And even then you only own it if you can resell it.
    '

  • so if I go to an sony store and delete stuff off the shift it's not shoplifting?

  • of the law.

    The only true way to guard against this is to have the physical DVD's. (Sorry Blu-ray, you're not completely decryptable yet).

    One day, those DVD's you find at the swap meet and on places like Craigslist are going to become valuable. This will happen once the general public has had enough of the shenanigans the movie industry is using against its customers.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by txsable ( 169665 )

      That's part of why I buy DVDs (and other physical media) still. The only real concern I have will be when my DVD/Bluray player dies - finding replacement hardware is getting more difficult. some of the major brands (samsung) have stopped selling that hardware, and most of what's left is either over-the-top expensive, or cheaply made, no-name tech.

  • You're not going to be taken seriously as a journalist by swearing in your articles. Not that I ever took Kotaku seriously, but this sort of thing is why.

    That said, Sony owes people refunds. Even if they, the reseller, lost their license to resell, that shouldn't impact the consumer who purchased their own license. If Pax8 was suddenly unable to sell M365 licenses, I'd expect my tenants to keep working regardless.

    I suspect this is the sort of thing that could garner bipartisan support if someone in

  • I thought it was more common to see survivorship clauses, where even if the licensing deal between the platform owner and the distributor ended, the platform was still authorized to service entitlements that were purchased on the platform (i.e. user who "bought" the content could still access it from their account, it just was no longer available for purchase).

    Has this become the norm? Or is this mostly just Sony entering into shite agreements because "fuck the users"?

    • Has this become the norm? Or is this mostly just Sony entering into shite agreements because "fuck the users"?

      It's the norm because it makes the licensing agreements slightly cheaper.

    • I'm sure they don't want to pay the hosting on the streaming files if they can't offset it by selling more

    • It is on Fandango (neé Vudu) and I believe Apple. But those are independent platforms, and at least in Vudu's case, streaming was their entire reason for existing. The Playstation X is a transient platform, never intended to be in operation more than a decade later. Sony's not going to pay for perpetual license when they plan to obsolete the entire platform ever 8 years.

  • Sony is committing piracy (Score:3)

    by xack ( 5304745 ) on Thursday July 16, 2026 @04:32PM (#66242216)
    Call it what it is. And they have drm on their disc drives so even physical media can be revoked by them.

  • Meh! A merkins (Score:2, Informative)

    by Growlley ( 6732614 )
    you wont vote for consumer rights because that's socalist!

  • And now we know (Score:5, Informative)

    by smooth wombat ( 796938 ) on Thursday July 16, 2026 @04:56PM (#66242246) Journal

    Why more people are buying DVDs/blu-ray. They have the movie. They own it. It can't be taken from them. It won't change.

    The same with books. No worrying that your digital copy will mysteriously disappear one night. You have the book. You bought it. It's yours. The words won't change.

  • It gets WORSE! (Score:3)

    by CEC-P ( 10248912 ) on Thursday July 16, 2026 @04:57PM (#66242248)
    Right next to "buy" they have another option to rent it. Just FYI, if you're never seen their purchase page.

  • "If buying isn't owning..... (Score:4, Informative)

    by Sebby ( 238625 ) on Thursday July 16, 2026 @05:38PM (#66242290) Journal

    ... then piracy isn't stealing."

  • This isn’t just Sony. The original rights owners decided not go renew licenses, and Sony had no choice but to yank them or likely pay far more for continued access than they were worth. Any purchase should include a permanent non irrevocable right to access the content so customers companies like Sony can still legally provide access to them even if they lose the fights to sell or stream it. If the seller goes out of business or shutters servers, they have a right to a downloadable digital copy.

  • I don't understand how this isn't being litigated (Score:3)

    by ianbnet ( 214952 ) on Thursday July 16, 2026 @08:04PM (#66242476)

    I guess it probably is. But surely there is either settled case law on this or active litigation?

  • Sony publishes this on Jun 24, 2026, Ars Techinca (for example) picked up the news on Jun 29, 2026,

    https://arstechnica.com/gadget... [arstechnica.com]

    Other outlets picked it up around the same time... there was a hoopla online, youtube videos, outrage galore,

    Slashdot picks it up on Jul 16, 2026...

    And is not even a dupe...

    How low the mighty have fallen...

    What is the case to come here anymore?

  • ...Sony ought to be forced to change the "buy" or "purchase" buttons in their marketplace to say "rent a temporary time-limited license" instead, going forward.

    Any "purchase" that can be unilaterally revoked at any time (days or even years after the fact) at the sole discretion of the seller isn't a purchase at all, so labeling it as such is blatantly false advertising.
  • Get a copy and back it up.

    Until then you only think you own things.
  • Please do not believe in any "cloud things"

    Whatever is in a possible "cloud" is not yours. The actual owner can do whatever it wants with it. Especially people who put "money" before "humans".

    I couldn't believe the message "Click here for a full list of affected titles that will no longer be supported. Thank you." . So I looked at the Playstation website [playstation.com]...

    This is really disgusting!

    The only decent explanation I could think of i sthat it has been generated by some Artificial "Intelligence".
  • They may disagree, BUT you BOUGHT them !
  • Notice how the more they do to add to their profits, the more they justify piracy?

  • ...about intellectual property "value" is that you couldn't snap your vinyl in half and get the CD for the price of reproduction plus sales, since you'd already bought the "intellectual property value".

    You'd bought that, too, when you bought the vinyl, but they didn't respect YOUR intellectual property rights, did they?

    Not saying they had some legal obligation, but I've laughed ever since at the attempt to morally shame intellectual property "thieves". Now, people who paid for intellectual property rights

  • "part of what is striking in all of this is the sheer mundanity of the announcement. Because there have been no consequences "

    They got away with it in the US, but I think the EU will be a whole different shootin' match

    Here's hoping the EU will hand Sony a nasty surprise

  • ...when Amazon deleted 1984.

    And you wonder why I buy CDs and DVDs?

  • ... to acknowledge that we're going to take your money for a product but you don't own it.

    This is why click through agreements should be illegal. Unfortunately, all the lobby money is on the corporate side of the agreement.

    Anyone whose had their assumed to be property, as well as everyone concerned about this, contact their congress critters about how anti-consumer this crap is. Of course you'll have to wait, at least, to the end of this administration.

  • Funny how they keep trying to remove the optical drives from the consoles, isn't it? They want control over their customers.

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