Opinion: It's about time a Steam service for TV existed
I know you can buy access to content to some TV shows on the Apple store, Amazon and the Microsoft Store - but these are still subject to geoblocks, not accessible in many countries and only offer a relatively small selection of TV shows anyway (and even then they're subject to this shit.)
Think about how video games have been fundamentally transformed. You can buy the majority of video games on Steam (or just use other similar apps). They're all basically released everywhere on day 1. They're automatically yours forever (until such a potential when Steam goes down - but you can easily extract and secure the files if you worry about that).
The same is not remotely true with TV. I understand that multiple streaming services were obviously going to emerge as TV production expanded. I understand that expecting to be able to watch everything on Netflix for £9.99 a month was never going to be realistic. But alongside these streaming services, a Steam-type client should've emerged allowing people to just buy seasons of content on the services. For people who want to legally keep what they watch, paying something like £5-15 per season (with sales much like Steam). No geoblocks. No restrictions.
I say this because in many cases I have had no choice but to pirate to watch a TV show season. It literally was not available to me through any legal source. I could not digitally buy it, nor was any streaming service accessible to me carrying it. This is now happening to Americans more and more (I am not American) with European series being heavily delayed. The last season of Babylon Berlin released in October. It's carried by Netflix in the USA, who are clearly not interested in acquiring the latest season - and are probably holding the content hostage (or Sky are being obstructive). It's also not accessible in France or many other European countries too.The show has suffered from staggered international releases since it was initially released, essentially throttling its popularity potential (most expensive German series ever made at one point).
As for me? I'm British. I could not, and still can't watch the second season of Balkan Shadows anywhere legally according to Justwatch. Paris Police 1900 season 2 is also still not accessible for me. This is really quite pathetic when you think about music and video games.
Bridge too far Steam. It’s one thing to battle Microsoft, Epic, but another to take on Hollywood. Different data model too.
Netflix figured out years ago that being the distributor just means Hollywood tries to fuck you via contracts; hence why they started making their own stuff.
To be fair, I'm also complaining about international releases outside the purview of Hollywood. German releases. Serbian releases. They geoblock harder than American shows.
I’m a fan of physical media, but DRM free digital media is a viable alternative imo, so long as folks push for it. The problem is people treating the situation as an all or nothing, DRM-bound digital media or physical media, when there’s a decent middle ground in DRM free media.
Nothing you have listed as a problem with current digital video storefronts is not also an issue with Steam. DRM is bad for the consumer, Steam is no exception.
Most video games that release on Steam release everywhere. A game from Germany, for instance, doesn't just release in Germany, Austria and the Netherlands and then gets a staggered release elsewhere finally arriving in the USA 6 months later.
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