The mess continues with the series and movies that disappear from SkyShowtime. The platform got off to a very good start in Spain. According to surveys, the growth was spectacular due both to the price (with a very attractive initial offer) and to the fact that they knew how to take advantage of a moment of weakness for Netflix (when they started with the mess of shared accounts).
However, controversy did not take long to appear. On the one hand, the image quality was not as expected for 2023, something that could be explained due to the low price of the subscription, but the most serious thing was the mysterious disappearances of series and movies. In fact, the platform has lost more than 300 movies in these months.
The curious problem of licenses (when some are yours)
At the end of May the storm broke: many series began to show an expiration notice. There was content, like ‘Dexter’, that disappeared and, after two days, returned. However, the entire ‘Fast and Furious’ saga disappeared without anyone saying anything. It has not reappeared on SkyShowtime.
At that time, we contacted the platform to ask what was happening and they assured us that the disappeared content would reappear at some point and that, furthermore, the expiration notice was an error in the application.
The days passed, the expiration date arrived and, despite the company’s words, many of the contents ended up leaving the platform. It is true that new series and films are released every so often, but as the CROSSOVER account on Twitter has pointed out, and as reported from ADSLZone, despite the fact that 135 films have been added, the count has dropped a lot.
From 700 movies, SkyShowtime has grown to 370 titles. It is a substantial decrease in content and the platform itself has responded from its global account, noting that many of these titles will return in the coming weeks and emphasizing new releases such as ‘Poker Face’ or ‘Passing Lies’.
The reason? The licenses. Even if they are from the platform itself (from some of the companies that make up the Sky conglomerate), you have to pay to keep those emission rights and it is what is leaving many contents out of SkyShowtime.
And yes, it is quite normal for the series to enter and leave the services. It is something that happens on Netflix, for example, but also on Xbox Game Pass and PlayStation Now, to go to the video game sector, but the problem is that in SkyShowtime it seems that more content comes out than comes inso the count is negative.
We will see what happens in the coming monthsbut although the company in its own terms and conditions states that they can do and undo without warning, taking into account the unfavorable climate around the disappearance of content, perhaps it should notify in advance the productions that will leave the platform.
It is something that, again going to other services, is already done both in the competition and in other sectors.
