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MPAA Silently Shut Down Its Legal Movies Search Engine (techdirt.com)
Back in 2015, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) released its own search engine to combat the argument that people pirate films because there are too few legal alternatives. According to TorrentFreak, the search engine, WhereToWatch.com, has since been quietly shut down by the movie industry group, stating that there are plenty of other search options available today. From the report: The MPAA pulled the plug on the service a few months ago. And where the mainstream media covered its launch in detail, the shutdown received zero mentions. So why did the site fold? According to MPAA Vice President of Corporate Communications, Chris Ortman, it was no longer needed as there are many similar search engines out there. "Given the many search options commercially available today, which can be found on the MPAA website, WheretoWatch.com was discontinued at the conclusion of 2017," Ortman informs TF. "There are more than 140 lawful online platforms in the United States for accessing film and television content, and more than 460 around the world," he adds. "That is all absolutely true today, though it was also true three years ago when the site was launched," adds Techdirt. "The simple fact of the matter is that the site did little to serve any real public customer base. Yes, legal alternatives to piracy exist. Everyone knows that, just as they know that there are far too many hoops and restrictions around which to jump that have nothing to do with price. The MPAA and its client organizations have long asserted strict control over their product to the contrary of public demand. That is, and has always been, the problem. On top of all that, the MPAA showed its no better at promoting its site than it was at promoting the legal alternatives to pirating movies."
Most of these legal outlets were pointless. You either had to sign up to some ridiculous streaming service that didn't work with your smart TV anyway, or you pad to pay full retail price for a digital rental that also wouldn't play on your smart TV.
The physical disc was usually cheaper, but also quite awkward thanks to DRM.
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SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
I rented the VHS tape of it. Put it in the VCR, it wouldn't play. I tried about 3 other copies (from Blockbuster) and none of them would play. Finally found out there was a new Macrovision (copy protection) version on the tape that was "Incompatible" with my 1 year old VCR.
I find most of my legal movie and television needs can be met using archive.org and an antenna, and Netflix.
At least in my sphere of the world, JustWatch has cornered the market for streaming listings. There hasn't really been a need to use anything else. So while the MPAA's effort was half-hearted to begin with, there really isn't a need to keep it up when there are other, better options.