PlayStation Users Will Soon Lose Access to All Purchased Discovery Content

Sony has started notifying PlayStation users who purchased Discovery content that they will lose access to it at the end of the year. The statement from the PlayStation Store team that’s being sent to affected users only mentions “content licensing arrangements” as the reason for this content being wiped out from users’ video libraries.

“As of 31 December 2023, due to our content licensing arrangements with content providers, you will no longer be able to watch any of your previously purchased Discovery content and the content will be removed from your video library,” the statement explains. It ends with a “We sincerely thank you for your continued support” message that should be quite hard to swallow for affected users.

The list of Discovery titles that will disappear from users’ video libraries includes hundreds of films and TV shows including American Chopper, Deadliest Catch, Mythbusters, and Naked and Afraid. Of course, PlayStation users are pissed off to lose access to content they paid for, and the whole thing raises some legitimate questions regarding ownership of digital content.

The main issue here is that PlayStation users who purchased Discovery content have no way to download it and keep the files forever. It’s also not possible for users to get a refund for the content they paid for with their hard-earned money.

Sony stopped selling movies and TV shows on its PlayStation Store back in August 2021. At the time, the company said that users would still be able to access movie and TV content they have purchased for on-demand playback on their PS4, PS5, and mobile devices. Unfortunately for PlayStation users, this wasn’t the whole story.