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MPAA Silently Shut Down Its Legal Movies Search Engine (techdirt.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the under-the-radar dept.

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."

8 of 63 comments (clear)

  1. It was pointless by AmiMoJo · · Score: 4, Informative

    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.

    --
    const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
    SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    1. Re:It was pointless by TheDarkMaster · · Score: 3, Insightful

      This. I have some bought legit copies of some movies that I particularly like, and guess what: It's a pain in the ass to get them to watch on the computer (I do not have a dedicated Blu-ray player, for various reasons). It's much simpler and easier to watch the "generic" copy.

      --
      Religion: The greatest weapon of mass destruction of all time
    2. Re:It was pointless by squiggleslash · · Score: 2

      If it worked as described, it would have been nice to know about it when it existed. I frequently find myself saying "I'd like to watch X, is it on Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon Prime?" and having to search each site independently. If I try Google, it never gives me useful information. If I try websites that supposedly search these sites for you, the information is almost always wrong or incomplete, apparently based upon some snapshot of who streamed what in 1997.

      So, what went wrong? Was the site as bad as everyone else's? Did it not include the major unlimited streaming services? And why did they not do even the slightest amount of SEO?

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
  2. Reminds me of an issue I had with True Lies by bobstreo · · Score: 3, Informative

    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.

    1. Re:Reminds me of an issue I had with True Lies by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      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.

      Yes, I remember those days. Putting on the bear skin, strapping on the stone knife and hiking to the Blockbuster across the glacier.

      If one were lucky, you'd come across one's neighbors stalking a woolly mammoth and you could join in and hopefully, get a kill and it's dinner and a movie night!

      One time when I was returning my movie, I had to run for my life from a saber tooth cat and dropped the movie. I had to pay $100 for the damn thing!

      Now, I've come into the modern age and take my horse and buggy to the Target and buy DVDs from the bargain shelf or go to a RedBox.

  3. I'll admit to landing on and using the page. by Samurai+Nigel · · Score: 2

    When I go to watch a movie or start a new series, I usually check to see if it's already showing on any of the various services I'm already paying for. Why go searching for a movie if I can just fire up Netflix, Hulu, Prime Video or Crunchyroll? Sites that track what's currently playing on the major services are useful, since you can quickly "search" all of your services at once. It kind of reminds me of the old "Dogpile" search engine (which I literally just found out is still somehow a thing) that searched the other search engines for you, back when there was no parity in the sites they returned.

    I agree with the above sentiment that the service wasn't incredibly useful a lot of the time, since it did tend to point to a bunch of random services that I'd never heard of, and therefore didn't really trust. Still, a site that can keep track of the content offered on your streaming services IS still useful, in my opinion.

  4. Well, They're Not Wrong by rsmith-mac · · Score: 4, Informative

    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.

  5. We're going in the wrong direction... yet again by MikeDataLink · · Score: 2

    When Netflix streaming came out I said "This could end piracy. Finally." Then the stupid movie companies decided it wasn't good enough and spun up 400 different streaming services. Defeating the very solution that would have fixed the problem.

    I refuse to have multiple streaming subscriptions just so I can watch one show on your service.

    --
    Mike @ The Geek Pub. Let's Make Stuff!