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Hollywood, HBO starting to handcuff DVR users

By Mike
March 20, 2008 in Movies, Technology, Television

Thanks to a reader (the Cap’n of course) submitted tip, I came across this story about Hollywood and DVRs and it made me want to run down the street screaming hysterically.

Those of you with Direct TV may have noticed recently that pay-per-view movies suddenly have some with an expiration date. For example, I purchased a few movies awhile back, like Eastern Promises, The Brave One, etc., and they had these deletion/expiration dates set about a month in the future.

I never got to see them for one reason or another (mostly procrastination) and suddenly they were gone. Now, the good part of this, from looking at my past bills, is that I didn’t get charged for them at all since I never viewed the movies.

But what if I had started one and postponed the finish of it for a few weeks? I definitely would have gotten the $4.99 charge and then the movie would have been deleted if I somehow forgot about the expiration date waited too long to finish it.

Well, all that is about to get a lot worse. And it’s probably not specific to Direct TV I would assume.

According to BroadbandReports.com, Hollywood is now demanding that these PPV movies be only available for TWENTY-FOUR hours after they are purchased.

And the Direct TV website actually has it in fine print already:

Effective April 15, 2008, DVR recordings of PPV movies will be available for 24 hours of unlimited viewing after purchase. Major movie studios have required that satellite and cable providers alike may no longer allow their customers to view these recordings for longer than 24 hours. During the 24 hour viewing period, you will continue to enjoy all of your DVR features such as pause and rewind.

So basically that means those of you who want to purchase a movie on PPV and save it to your DVR, you basically have 24-hours to finish it. I know that on occasion, I wont watch a movie all the way through the first time. I’ll start it and finish it later.

In fact, I have a few movies right now that I purchased, started but haven’t ever watched again because I know I can get to them later if I want to.

But not anymore.

HBO putting time limits on TIVO users

This story is in addition to the one above and just gives you all a sign of things to come.

The recent mini-series that debuted on HBO, John Adams, is restricted for TIVO users who recorded it to their DVR. The shows actually have a 24-hour expiration date on them.

Not only that, but they will also restrict the number of TIMES you can watch it.

Goodness.

The story on The Culture of Ownership has screenshots of the ordeal a man went through with the Making of John Adams. He recorded the show and then didn’t watch it until 28 minutes before the 24-hour expiration date.

The DVR wouldn’t even let him START the show, because he didn’t even have enough time to watch it before it expired. That’s ridiculous.

Is the writing on the wall?

All of this stuff is just the beginning of ways the studios and motion picture companies are going to start protecting their content and handcuffing the way we watch TV right now.

You all know that these big production companies HATE the idea of viewers skipping commercials. With these little forays into the world of controlling our DVRs, could that be next?

Will skipping commercials down the road suddenly go away?

This stuff has me worried.

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Movies, Technology, Television
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