Season 13 episode downloads

I was trying to find that graph that showed all the pledge levels, but can’t track it down, but I’m curious as to what the difference is between a 12-month “EVENT PASS” and “DIGITAL ACCESS TO SEASON 13”? (Other than what was mentioned above, I don’t remember a digital access reward)

I did the $85 All Digital standalone pledge package, and looking at the details, I’ve got the Event Pass with premieres and events from March 4 to Feb 28. So, I’ll have access to the livestreams for the 12 months, which is good.

Waiting on downloads makes sense now that I read that. And I’m sure we all want more seasons, so if waiting helps with that, then yeah, let’s wait.

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Hmm, don’t see that reward listed, so that’s why I don’t remember it. Thanks for finding and posting that.

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I’ve been of two minds about this.

While I want access to download the episodes ASAP, I understand the necessity to keep them secure to ensure this operation keeps moving forward.

So I think, as long as the 12month gizmoplex gives streaming access to the new episodes for those with a year in the Plex, and then all the episodes drop at the end of the season, I’m ok with that.

I don’t believe, as someone else stated, that the streaming rights would be an issue within the year window, so that seems like a non-issue (but I could be wrong).

So maybe we limit the number of downloads per user until the end of the season?

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I know you’ve got your hands full here at the 11th hour before the premiere, so maybe stick a pin in this for later. Given the show’s ephemeral nature over the past 30+ years, physical possession of episodes is of paramount importance to me, and I suspect to many of us. Streaming is a nice-to-have, but between rights issues, internet weather and hardware/software complications, it’s fickle and the things we love could vanish at any moment.

I very much understand the concern about people passing around DRM-free copies. By and large I think us MSTies know that doing so would be shooting ourselves in the foot. We want the show to continue and will happily pay for it. Perhaps Eric at RiffTrax could offer some insight about how it’s worked for them? I’m sure RT episodes have found their way to torrent sites, but it presumably isn’t a severe enough issue that it’s impacting their ability to keep going. Also maybe duplicate RiffTrax’s “donate” function, to appeal to those who’ve acquired episodes that “fell off the truck.” Couldn’t hurt.

I like @Ryanxpark’s idea of maybe limiting the number of downloads for a period of time, if that would make the downloads accessible sooner. Or maybe make downloads initially available only to backers whose pledge included the downloads.

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Yeah, that streaming access would be ideal as opposed to an immediate download. Whatever makes Season 14 a possibility!

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Or maybe we make it so you can download them to the app, for offline viewing, a la Netflix? Or does that still give people the ability to take the video files and share them?

Could there be a way to make them local on the app on your phone/tablet, and NOT be so easily downloaded externally?

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Hmmm… ya got me. I’m not particularly tech knowledgeable along those lines.

But yeah, I’m of the mindset that this should be all done with an eye on the big picture so that the Gizmoplex can rake in a tidy chunk of cash and make Season 14 as feasible as possible.

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Yes. I am willing to forgo the downloads for however long if it means that we can try our hardest to keep Season 14 within our sights.

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The fickle nature of MST3K movie rights is a dated concept, though. The new seasons have been made with streaming as the primary method of consumption.

I’m sure that the lawyers have done their job, and it’ll be an extreme exception if any films go AWOL in this incarnation of the show.

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Actually, just streaming them at all will allow someone who wants to pirate the episodes to do it.

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True. But just having the full HD and DRM-free Digital copies at hand makes it that much more difficult. So I wonder if not having that is enough to deter the more “casual” pirate…

I understand the desire to snatch them up right away let your window gets missed - but I feel rights negotiations are a lot more farsighted these days. I don’t think it’s any longer a case Of “you can get the rights to air it once on TV and never make it available again”

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I would imagine this was the plan for S13 from the beginning, with whatever episode Munchie replaced. So hopefully it’s a long-term rights agreement, if not an in-perpetuity arrangement.

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Since you implied standalone episodes and livestreaming events as being different things, I’m curious to know what might get added onto a livestream premiere (before the episode starts/besides the post episode Q&A) to make it different from just an episode?

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I believe that’s the only difference.

Probably an intro tonight from Joel.

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I’ll promise you this much: you will DEFINITELY get to download them at the end of the season. The expiration dates on the movie licenses aren’t an unknown variable – nothing in this season will expire within the next few years, and most of them will likely be available to renew indefinitely. But we 100% will have the licenses way longer than it’ll take to distribute the DRM free downloads. Guaranteed.

So, the funny thing about that is, we have no idea if there were issues, because Netflix never tells anyone how their content is doing. We do know that torrents were available immediately, and there’s really no way to estimate how many people might have considered joining Netflix, and didn’t have to because a friend shared DRM-free copies right away.

Unless you’ve got data that we don’t, in which case… stop holding out on us! :wink:

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Except that once you’ve download a DRM-free file, you don’t need to download it again to share it – you can share the episodes like any other file.

So even a one-time download has the potential to exponentially increase the amount of episode sharing / decrease the number of people who might be willing to pay to see the new episodes. At the same time, we don’t want to keep fans from being able to watch their own episodes however they want.

Like I said: it’s a pretty complicated issue to navigate, and we’re still deciding what makes the most sense.

But the input and perspective from everyone here is really valuable, so thank you!

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Yeah, the goal isn’t to make piracy impossible. It’s the internet, so we know it’s a given.

The bigger question is whether making it THAT easy to share with people leads to a lot of casual and non-premeditated file sharing. It seems probable that a lot of people might “keep circulating the [video files]” with good intentions, not realizing that sales and rentals are now the deciding factor on whether we ever get to make more.

Though we did think about that question in time to shoot some material in February, which you’ll see in the Gizmoplex soon enough. :neutral_face:

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Still a work in progress, and I don’t want to spoil any surprises. I’ll just say that we’ve been thinking a lot about how to make livestreams feel like meaningful events, rather than a traditional television broadcast… especially events that aren’t premieres of new episodes.

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