The shutdown will take effect on August 31, exactly one year after Sony stopped buying movies and TV shows through its digital store. At the time Sony said its customers would still have access to previously purchased content. Notices posted on PlayStation’s website blame “evolving license agreements with content providers” (via machine translation) for the change and state that purchased content will be removed from customers’ video libraries. Hundreds of titles are affected According to Variety, the change affects 314 titles in Germany and 137 in Austria. Affected titles include Chicken Run, John Wick, La La Land, Logan Lucky, Saw, Shaun the Sheep Movie and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. It is unclear whether refunds will be offered to affected customers. While we’re used to the idea that TV shows and movies can disappear from streaming services over time, leaving them inaccessible to subscribers, it’s much rarer to see this happen on services that let you buy titles to own digitally. That’s not to say it’s unheard of. when Flixster Video shut down Pocket-Lint reported that some titles were not compatible with the Google Play migration process intended to allow UK customers to continue to access them. Apple’s use of the word “purchase” for digital titles to which it reserves the right to revoke access has even been legally challenged in the past. The outage serves as a critical reminder that even when you “buy” a title digitally, your ownership often still relies on a retailer continuing to exist and having the right licensing agreements in place. If you want to guarantee ownership forever, then physical purchases are still your best bet — though not always.
