Why is People's Court unavailable on streaming services and other media?
People's Court became my guilty pleasure a few years ago and I've been happily watching new episodes daily at lunch since. However, there are not nearly enough produced each year to keep up with my viewing schedule and I often find myself running out. Thus lead me to the obvious step of trying to find and purchase old seasons.
I searched five different paid streaming services without success. Dish Network does not have it on-demand. Neither Amazon nor other online retailers carry the show on-demand nor on DVD. Searching Google didn't help much on finding old episodes anywhere. It's nowhere to be found through less official channels either.
I've never seen anything like this before; every other movie or show, even those from the 80s, 70s, 60s, or 50s, seems available somewhere.
What causes People's Court to be so universally unavailable?
Is this a purposeful decision by the studio, or a result of it not being deemed profitable enough?
Best Answer
Mostly because of deals with networks.
Consider this - I have the same feeling about Jeopardy. You can't even find a compilation from way back on VHS. Nothing official. Netflix and contour, etc, they only offer what is packaged for whatever reasons they decide, not necessarily public appeal.
The thought behind this is that people will have a higher probability of tuning into the new slots, with paid advertising, if they arent given the option to binge in other media where the advertising rituals aren't as formatted as they were back in the good ol days (you know, when cable was free of ads). I don't have any sources to reference this and I am not sure where to find them. That's massively devalues my answer, but I thought I would chime in and let you and others know this is what I was told in my own searches for an archive of Jeopardy. No idea why things like Bewitched, Game of Thrones, etc, are not bound by these same rules unless they have higher probabilities of profits over expenses. It could be there just isn't a proven market for things that fall into the category of reality television relevant to a specific era... then again, I can get an archive of Ghost Hunters at target, so I cannot be wholly sure.
You may be able to find people who have recorded them on unofficial channels and peer to peer networks, but naturally that is inherently illegal so officially I advise not to look into that.
Good luck though. Maybe the K-Mart at 400 Oak street has it. Next to the underwear.
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