CKCP said: As pointed out above, a lot of formerly lost clips have been found thanks to the work of collectors and Youtube. What is frustrating to me is, when certain shows are not released on Youtube or otherwise. We know that Electric Company (or to remain on point) The Captain and Tennille Show episodes are somewhere -- some have already been released to the public (of course, mostly the ones wammers have been yearning to see). What is the problem with releasing them all? The film is just mouldering in some closet somewhere. They are never going to make you any more money. Nobody is watching it. Just release them to Youtube and throw in some commercials to pick up a few extra dollars. What is the harm?
In many cases the rightsholders may not have usable video elements and won't spend the money to create them unless they land a deal lucrative enough to pay for the transfers. More to the point, they know that anything they upload to Youtube will get pirated so much it would inhibit the potential for future profits. And of course everybody thinks their IP is worth more than pennies, even if it isn't.
Early boosters of streaming argued that the relative ease of delivery would lead to huge content libraries being accessible at the touch of a button, but of course the opposite has come to pass as subscription-based providers have learned they don't really need a deep selection. Now everyone's back catalog is worth substantially less than it was on physical media.
Good analysis. I just don't understand how anyone with any sense thinks that pirating is going to rob them of some income out there -- I doubt anyone but pie-in-the-face completists even know that a Charo episode of C&T even exists. Of course, if that is the case, why even go through the bother to put it out there for public consumption? Frustrating but understandable.
Well, piracy plus overexposure. If you're hoping to get Time Life or Shout Factory to release a $99 box set of CAPTAIN AND TENILLE, that's likelier to happen of the shows haven't been free on Youtube for a decade.
Figuring out ways to make money off of old IP is difficult and really you can trace the high points of it (Criterion; TCM; Warner Archive) to a handful of mostly anonymous mid-level music, cable, and home video execs who actually cared about old crap, were good at capitalism, AND managed to play corporate politics well.
Someone bought the rights to Jackie Gleason's '60's CBS variety show "The American Scene Magazine." He put segments on YouTube to generate demand for the DVDs or downloads. He pulled them because no one cared about anything Gleason except for "The Honeymooners." I suspect he took quite a loss.
Thing was, the shows from NYC gave a good insight into what a Broadway review of the late '50s was like.
Love you, too
