Peacock eliminates all its classic films

[BluBonnet]

So, in case there's a few folks here who may be into classic films, it looks like Peacock eliminated its classic movies section entirely on 1/1/21.

There were several dozen classic films, divided into the "classics" and "westerns" sections, all of which appear to be wiped out completely.

While Peacock usually puts a warning on movies and TV shows that are leaving the service ("X days left to watch"), no such warning appeared on any of the classic movies they eliminated. Since they were all Universal titles which the company owns in perpetuity, and have not been licensed to other streaming services, there seemed to be no logical reason to believe they would be leaving this site anytime in the foreseeable future.

And yes, I have checked both the mobile app and the Apple TV Peacock app, so this issue isn't limited to one platform or another.

I guess they figured enough people will sign on to watch The Office that they don't have to offer a more wide-ranging selection of older movies.

[Schlockmeister]

If you're a registered user, only one thing to do:

https://www.peacocktv.com/help/web-to-case

On "Select topic", choose:
"Would like to give feedback"

and give them a piece of your mind. All you're gonna receive, like I did, is an immediate boilerplate response thanking you and telling you their "production team" will take it into account.

Incidentally, this is also the first month that HBOMAX does not add one single Golden era classic movie, the oldest one being a 1964 Elvis vehicle, to their TCM hub. I've also give them a piece of my mind:

https://help.hbomax.com/Feedback

Unlike Peacock, they don't even bother to respond with boilerplate BS, but at least I get to vent to them.

[Schlockmeister]

That said, I seriously doubt this is a definitive thing, on both counts.

At the risk of incurring in wishful thinking, perhaps the fact that so many of the classic movies were available in godawful SD-ish PQ has to do with this "temporary(?)" decision. Maybe when/if they come back, they'll all be in pristine HD, as I repeteadly demanded on the aforementioned complaint form...

As for HBOMAX, the TCM hub will continue to add old classics. That's the whole point of it, and what happened this month will become an anomaly.

[BluBonnet]

I've also noticed HBOMax doesn't tell you when the older movies are leaving, only the more recent ones. Holiday Affair was available last month and now it's gone, despite the fact it was never listed under "leaving soon" like other movies were. Countdown(1968) is another title that left without warning....

[dommie]

All I can say is Thank God for TCM. If not for them, so many of the older films would never be able to be viewed unless you happened to own a DVD, provided the film was even available for purchase. Amazon Prime does a fairly good job in making most the better known classics available for rent but it's TCM that gives people a chance to see some of the lesser known classic films that would otherwise be completely forgotten.

I have noticed that some of the specialty ROKU channels do make some older films available but the audio and video quality on those channels is usually not very good.

[BluBonnet]

Originally Posted by dommie

All I can say is Thank God for TCM. If not for them, so many of the older films would never be able to be viewed unless you happened to own a DVD, provided the film was even available for purchase. Amazon Prime does a fairly good job in making most the better known classics available for rent but it's TCM that gives people a chance to see some of the lesser known classic films that would otherwise be completely forgotten.

I have noticed that some of the specialty ROKU channels do make some older films available but the audio and video quality on those channels is usually not very good.

I mean, they're only as good as the movies they're able to license or that the conglomerate already owns the rights to, right? And of all studios, Universal is probably one of the worst in terms of making their older, more obscure catalog titles available. That means both physical media and streaming or licensing to third parties.

[hanshotfirst1138]

Originally Posted by dommie

All I can say is Thank God for TCM. If not for them, so many of the older films would never be able to be viewed unless you happened to own a DVD, provided the film was even available for purchase. Amazon Prime does a fairly good job in making most the better known classics available for rent but it's TCM that gives people a chance to see some of the lesser known classic films that would otherwise be completely forgotten.

I have noticed that some of the specialty ROKU channels do make some older films available but the audio and video quality on those channels is usually not very good.

I wish to hell there was a way to get TCM without cable though.

[tjritter79]

Originally Posted by hanshotfirst1138

I wish to hell there was a way to get TCM without cable though.

You can stream it! You Tube TV is prolly the best due to their built-in unlimited DVR, but I think Hulu w/Live offers it too. And of course there is a TCM section of on-demand films on HBO Max (not the same as what airs on the TCM channel tho).

[BluBonnet]

Originally Posted by hanshotfirst1138

I wish to hell there was a way to get TCM without cable though.

I think Sling TV might actually be the cheapest option.

But it really would be great if you could just get the TCM feed all by itself with just a single app. It would be so sweet!

In the meantime, we are now in the 2nd month of the year and Peacock still hasn't brought back the classic movies section. It's almost impossible to find a movie from before the 80s, and usually they are feature-length episodes of TV shows, like The Saint and Columbo.

[Schlockmeister]

They have surreptitiously re-added a handfull of the classic movies they removed. A literal handful: five.

2 of them: The Great Impostor (1961) and Man of a Thousand Faces (1957) are again shown in the exact same horrid presentation than before. No HD. Pixelation galore.

In the case of "Man of a Thousand Faces", to add insult to injury, its original CinemaScope format is still butchered to squeeze into a 4:3 frame.

There goes my naive theory that perhaps they were retiring some of these horrible presentations to re-upload them in decent visual conditions.

Have these people no shame?

[tjritter79]

Originally Posted by Schlockmeister

They have surreptitiously re-added a handfull of the classic movies they removed. A literal handful: five.

2 of them: The Great Impostor (1961) and Man of a Thousand Faces (1957) are again shown in the exact same horrid presentation than before. No HD. Pixelation galore.

In the case of "Man of a Thousand Faces", to add insult to injury, its original CinemaScope format is still butchered to squeeze into a 4:3 frame.

There goes my naive theory that perhaps they were retiring some of these horrible presentations to re-upload them in decent visual conditions.

Have these people no shame?

Vudu sells digital versions of TV syndication copies of movies, in 4:3 ratio when other outlets sell 16:9, true HD versions, not upconverted SD to HDX....so this is not new.

[BluBonnet]

Originally Posted by Schlockmeister

Have these people no shame?

Apparently, none whatsoever.

In case anyone is interested, The Four Seasons, one of the movies that suddenly disappeared from Peacock in the great purge of January 1st, is now available on Netflix.

[tjritter79]

Originally Posted by BluBonnet

So, in case there's a few folks here who may be into classic films, it looks like Peacock eliminated its classic movies section entirely on 1/1/21.

There were several dozen classic films, divided into the "classics" and "westerns" sections, all of which appear to be wiped out completely.

While Peacock usually puts a warning on movies and TV shows that are leaving the service ("X days left to watch"), no such warning appeared on any of the classic movies they eliminated. Since they were all Universal titles which the company owns in perpetuity, and have not been licensed to other streaming services, there seemed to be no logical reason to believe they would be leaving this site anytime in the foreseeable future.

And yes, I have checked both the mobile app and the Apple TV Peacock app, so this issue isn't limited to one platform or another.

I guess they figured enough people will sign on to watch The Office that they don't have to offer a more wide-ranging selection of older movies.

Peacock, like every other streaming service, cycles their content. No one ever stated that one movies got there, they were going to remain forever. I'm sure the classics will return at some point.

[Schlockmeister]

Yeah, the 0.01 % of the Universal classics that were available on Peacock until December 31st will return.

The other 99.99 % will remain safely locked away in the Universal Vault until Peacoxxx +++ VR 3D straight-to-your-frontal-lobe™ debuts in your local neural network in 2045.

[BluBonnet]

Originally Posted by tjritter79

Peacock, like every other streaming service, cycles their content. No one ever stated that one movies got there, they were going to remain forever. I'm sure the classics will return at some point.

You don't get it.

Peacock puts a very clear reminder right next to the name of all the movies and TV shows telling you how many days are left until it leaves Peacock. It updates every 24 hours, so it always reads something like "XX days left to watch"

The classics film category simply vanished overnight without any prior notice. If they knew all of these dozens of films were leaving on January 1st, they could have simply told everyone, like they do with all other content, and we would all have been able to plan accordingly.

I realize most other streamers don't have an integrated reminder when things are leaving that's right there on the menu next to the title of the movie/TV show.

EVERYBODY already knows things are bound to leave a streamer at some point or another, that's NOT NEWS to us.

In this particular instance, however, we're taking about Universal titles which the parent company owns in perpetuity, and which aren't currently licensed anywhere else. So it really doesn't look like there was a licensing agreement that made it necessary for the movies to be removed from Peacock so that they could stream somewhere else.

Since posting the thread, I've gotten a response from Peacock CS and they acknowledged that this was wrong on their part, though there is still no word on whether or not this category is comíng back or not.

[JayTL]

And unless it's a rights issue..there is zero reason to cycle content. It's a great way to lose subscribers.

But maybe this is related?

https://www.comingsoon.net/movies/ne...ree-for-a-week

Universal Classic Monster Films to Stream Free for a Week on YouTube

[BluBonnet]

Originally Posted by JayTL

And unless it's a rights issue..there is zero reason to cycle content. It's a great way to lose subscribers.

But maybe this is related?

Unlikely, as there is no reason for those movies to get exclusivity elsewhere, and more importantly, I don't even remember them being on Peacock in the first place.

I mean, there were several dozen films in the classic films section, right up to Dec. 31st and the overwhelming majority were not even horror films.

They were mostly dramas, comedies, and westerns. I believe it included all four Hope-Crosby "Road to" movies that Universal owns, as well as a number of Audie Murphy westerns, including the rare Destry (1954), a remake of Destry Rides Again.

[JayTL]

Originally Posted by BluBonnet

Unlikely, as there is no reason for those movies to get exclusivity elsewhere, and more importantly, I don't even remember them being on Peacock in the first place.

I mean, there were several dozen films in the classic films section, right up to Dec. 31st and the overwhelming majority were not even horror films.

They were mostly dramas, comedies, and westerns. I believe it included all four Hope-Crosby "Road to" movies that Universal owns, as well as a number of Audie Murphy westerns, including the rare Destry (1954), a remake of Destry Rides Again.

The Universal Monster movies were on Peacock. They still might be there, I havent loaded Peacock in a while

[tjritter79]

Originally Posted by JayTL

The Universal Monster movies were on Peacock. They still might be there, I havent loaded Peacock in a while

The Universal Classic Monster titles WERE on Peacock since their debut...even the limited debut for Comcast internet customers of which I am also part of.
And yes, now they are gone....
But it really isn't a "requirement" for Peacock to inform what's coming, or what's leaving. They simply do so as a customer service.

Compare this to TCM, the only films they have is what's on the service month-to-month linearly as well as VOD on their app. Peacock had the Universal Horror collection since their debut, plenty of time to get "your fill" given I'm sure their most popular period was prolly Halloween. And Warner owns numerable titles on both TCM and HBO Max....and BOTH these services cycle content, yes even content they own in perpetuity. Streaming services like these use "edge computing", which means these files are duplicated on server farms across the nation for easier access and efficient speeds. It's IMPOSSIBLE given the current technologies to permit EVERY single title owned to be available to the public 24/7, the server space needed to accommodate this is unconscionable.

Perhaps "some day" we will be able to accommodate the access of these titles in perpetuity on-demand and have no limit to our desired titles, regardless of how obscure they might be.....but in todays world we are not quite there yet.

[JayTL]

If I pay for peacock, and a reason I pay for Peacock leaves the service, I will stop paying for Peacock. If it's something owned by Peacock, then it would make me think twice about resubscribing. There's no reason to not have something when they could have it on there.

It's like if Netflix dropped Stranger Things because they want to feel "fresh". Or if HBO Max gets rid of their DC movies. It's a content war, and if they give any user a reason to leave their service, then they fail as a service provider. I'm glad I don't pay for Peacock. If I did, I would have cancelled.