Physical media not going anywhere 

The Hollywood Reporter covered Amanda Caudel’s lawsuit against Amazon back in 2020.

The story caused a stir because Amazon, while asking a federal judge to dismiss Amanda’s lawsuit, revealed that consumers don’t own the video content they buy from the platform. A 2021 New York Times article added fuel to the fire when it confirmed that people don’t own their digital movies.

When you make an online purchase, you get a digital file you can watch whenever you want. But that simply means you have acquired a license to use that content. Your streamer of choice reserves the right to remove your favourite films and shows from their platform whenever they wish.

Remember that these digital files sit on a server somewhere. Those servers belong to companies like Amazon and Disney, which can grant or rescind your access to their collection. Why does this matter?

Hollywood has spent the better part of a decade lamenting the death of physical media such as DVDs, Blu-rays, and any other physical item you insert in a player to watch content. Hollywood is abandoning physical media at an alarming rate because digital files are cheaper and more convenient.

Every smartphone you buy today has a Netflix app. You can watch whatever you want whenever you want, regardless of your location. Of course, Ugandans would disagree. But we shall tackle that aspect shortly.

In the Western world, physical media is obsolete. Why buy DVDs and Blu-rays when a decent VPN puts every streaming platform in existence within easy reach?

Well, the Amazon case I mentioned above created some uncertainty. Physical media is inconvenient because it consumes too much space. If you watch as much TV as I do, you will drown in boxes of DVDs within months. But physical media gives you actual ownership over your content.

Netflix changes its offerings every other month. It removes the items with the lowest viewing numbers and replaces them with properties audiences want to watch. What if you are the only person watching your favourite movies and shows?

Eventually, they will disappear, unless you own physical copies. Without physical media, older classics from the 50s, 60s, and 70s will fade into obscurity because younger generations don’t watch them. But how does Uganda fit into that equation? It doesn’t. You have three vital considerations where our country is concerned.

First, streaming platforms are expensive. Yes, you can get a Netflix subscription for $10 a month. But the internet is not cheap. How many episodes of Suits will you watch before depleting your data bundle?

Unless you have one of those unlimited WakaNet plans they keep promoting, a streaming platform will cost you hundreds of thousands of additional shillings a month. Secondly, digital files are only convenient when you have reliable internet. Does anyone remember that hectic five-day period during the elections when the internet went off?

The physical media people stayed home and watched movies till their eyes bled, while the Netflix fanatics died of boredom.

Third, piracy is still prevalent. 99.99999 percent of all Ugandans buy pirated DVDs, and for a good reason. You can get a pirated DVD of any movie or show you want for the price of a soda. Do you honestly expect poor Ugandans to abandon cheap DVDs for a $10 Netflix account?

But what about the issue of space? Surely, the average Ugandan does not have the room to store boxes of DVDs, which is why many are turning to flash drives. You have hundreds of retailers in Kampala waiting to transfer several gigabytes of content to your storage device of choice at a fraction of the price of a pirated DVD.

Do you know how those retailers acquire their movies? They raid websites like LimeTorrent, which, in turn, procures content from streaming platforms. Streaming platforms have given digital piracy a significant boost. Where does that leave us? The same place we were a decade ago. Physical media is not going anywhere anytime soon.

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