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Why is Warner Bros. Discovery putting old movies on YouTube?

(tedium.co)
641 points shortformblog | 2 comments | 05 Feb 25 14:47 UTC | HN request time: 0.465s | source
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tombert ◴[05 Feb 25 15:36 UTC] No.42949990[source]▶
It would be great if they started putting the canceled and removed cartoons on YouTube as well. Stuff like Final Space, Close Enough, and Infinity Train, which AFAIK has no legal way of watching anymore, could get a new audience on YouTube.
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1. meinersbur ◴[05 Feb 25 15:58 UTC] No.42950366[source]▶
The problem here (and problably the reason why they were removed from paid streaming services) are residuals [1]: Even if nobody watches them, studios still may have to pay actors, directors, writers, etc. a share. I assume the movies put on YouTube don't have any residual agreements.

[1] https://www.sagaftra.org/sag-aftra-tv-and-theatrical-residua...

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2. tombert ◴[05 Feb 25 16:16 UTC] No.42950661[source]▶
Yeah, and I suspect also potential weirdness with tax law and writing off TV shows as a loss makes it hard to release again.

I actually do have legit copies of Infinity Train, I bought all four seasons on Amazon before the huge purge a couple years ago, but I would like legit copies of Close Enough.

I genuinely don't know what Warner Bros actually wants us to do? Is their official stance "it's ok to pirate it"?