Streaming services have been busy lately, albeit for less than stellar reasons. Over the past week, Disney+ and Max have purged content from their catalogs with little warning. Some of the purged content removed (such as the “Indiana Jones” films from Disney+) is due to rights deals expiring. However, I suspect most of the removed content is just a way for the studios to save on costs by not paying the actors residuals.
While some of the purged content isn’t hugely popular, some of it’s not available on physical media, meaning it’s basically gone, unless it turns up elsewhere. Which is unlikely for Disney’s “Hailey’s On It” (one of the purged shows), despite that it won a GLAAD Award earlier this year. Unlike their theatrical animated films, the Mouse House treats their TV animation side as an afterthought at best when it comes to DVDs/Blu-rays. (No “Kim Possible” complete series DVD/Blu-ray set?)
Below is a list of the animated content recently removed from Disney+ and Max, and where it’s available to watch as of this writing. While all of the shows below are available to buy digitally, the cost and digital rights management (DRM) concerns make buying on DVD/Blu-ray a preferable option instead, if possible.
Disney+
- Hailey’s On It
- Streaming: None.
- Physical media: None.
“Hailey’s On It” is still available to buy digitally; a few episodes also remain (as of this writing) on Disney Channel’s YouTube page. Otherwise, it’s completely gone, and isn’t coming back. A Disney representative’s remarks in an article on The Streamable show they have zero regrets about their recent content purging.
Max
- The Amazing World of Gumball
- Streaming: Hulu.
- Physical media: Part of the show’s run is on DVD.
- Ben 10 (2005 series)
- Streaming: Netflix.
- Physical media: The entire series is available on DVD.
- Chowder
- Streaming: Hulu.
- Physical media: Some first season episodes are available on DVD in the United States.
- The Powerpuff Girls (2016 reboot)
- Streaming: Hulu.
- Physical media: Some episodes have been released to DVD.
- Regular Show
- Streaming: Hulu.
- Physical media: Complete season sets exist for the first three seasons, plus a handful of later episodes on single-disc DVD releases. (The full series got a release in region 4, aka Latin America.)
- Steven Universe
- Streaming: Hulu (five seasons), Amazon Prime Video (two seasons), Hoopla (one season).
- Physical media: The entire series is available on DVD.
- We Bare Bears
- Streaming: Hulu.
- Physical media: 12 episodes have been released to DVD.
Collider notes that along with the purged shows, the branding for Max’s “Kids & Family” section has changed. An image of Bugs Bunny, Gumball, and Steven Universe has changed to Bugs, a Care Bear (Cheer Bear, for any curious fans of that franchise) and Fred Flintstone. While the modern Stone Age family is iconic, “Steven Universe” and “Gumball” are two major Cartoon Network shows from the 2010s, with the latter still a mainstay of (what’s left of) the channel. I imagine there’s room for both the Bedrock and Beach City gangs on the same not-exactly-cheap streaming service.
The Max content purging also sends the message that animation fans (who don’t need Max for Adult Swim or DC superhero media) may as well just stick with Netflix and Hulu, two longtime services many people already pay for. Why bother paying for Max if a large chunk of the WB animation catalog is available elsewhere?
Conclusion
None of this feels encouraging, given streaming is supposed to be the “new normal.” 20 years ago, one could’ve at least taped one’s favorite shows off TV, even if they didn’t get a DVD release. Today, thanks to DRM being omnipresent in streaming/digital video, a modern equivalent of VCRs and DVRs is dead as an option, as a recent Cory Doctorow blog post notes. If a show doesn’t get a DVD/Blu-ray release, it’s completely at the whims of their parent studios, as shown above.
I note buying digital video, thanks to DRM, also isn’t completely safe for similar reasons, given such content’s been purged by companies in the past. California just passed a law that requires digital video sellers to state the “buy” button in iTunes or Amazon is more of a “long-term rental” button.
All of this just seems like it’ll just encourage piracy, given the lack of options available for some content. While conglomerates like Disney and Warner Bros. gripe endlessly about piracy, purging content like this isn’t helping their case.
Image: Disney+ and Max logos. (Disney / Warner Bros.)
