story

I think this is a bad move. While I am no self-identified staunch traditionalist, there is a tremendous value in tradition as psychological tether in these unpredictable times. Knowing that beloved holiday specials will still be there, especially when we're pretty much stuck at home, is one of those tethers, as far as I'm concerned. It's not great at all. Perhaps the public backlash about it may allow for some money to exchange hands and corporate synergy to actually do something nice for the people.
I am also very surprised they'd let this sort of thing go. If you have something that is a proven winner on a dying medium, wow, keep it!

​​​​​​I have to go with Eric F and Mike86 on this one.

So much of my job has become teaching senior citizens about various digital items for the last eight months so they can stay informed and connected. I's amazing who picks up on it right away, who needs a lot of handholding, and who just isn't going to do it. That includes...

How to sign up for Facebook and how to engage our site to boost interaction so Facebook puts the content in front of more people.

And how to subscribe to email lists and make sure it doesn't go to spam, and how if you unsubscribed five years ago you really have to re-subscribe yourself because Constant Contact won't legally let me do that.

And how to install the Zoom app, and how to use a Zoom link, and how to enter a Zoom meeting ID and passcode, and how to mute on Zoom, and how to screen share on Zoom, and how to do Zoom on your PC and how to do Zoom on your tablet and how to do Zoom on your phone because as soon as the interface looks different even a little bit it's confusing.

And how to "sign in" on the digital attendance pad on a website they never went to before and how to bookmark that website on their browser on their computer and tablet and phone so they can do it simply.

And how to give digitally through a secure online giving portal and how to sign up in the first place and how to change it and how to make a new annual plan for 2021.

And how to create an account and subscribe and receive notifications on YouTube for online-only worship in these times and how to experience a live premiere and why there's a special countdown if it's a prerecorded premiere and how to find the archives for what you missed or want to revisit or how to scrub to the part you want to see or how to leave a comment without accidentally also typing in your email address for everyone to see.

And how to avoid email scams and how to watch out for trolls and how to generally stay safe on the internet, something so new, new, new, new, new to them.

And how to do all of this close enough to your wifi router you get a good signal for streaming or connection at all.

And how to find an ISP. Seriously. How. To. Find. An. I. S. P.

And how if you're 87 and you're just never going to get the internet, here's how to opt-in to receive automatic phone calls to listen to worship live by touch tone phone so you can still get some faith music and a sermon and some corporate prayer in your life as you sit alone in your miniature apartment in the assisted living center that is on lockdown so your children can't visit you.

And luckily, we have a pocket of patient people who also serve as teachers in this regard for others, some of them even senior citizen peers, as well as adult-age children who are doing everything they can to keep mom and dad connected for Facetime and whatever. It takes a village.

But if I also have to add how to subscribe to Apple TV+ and decide on the right device and hook it up and have another remote and keep the payments going and setting up an Apple ID and all of that, too?

Yeah, I'm, like, yeah just no.

The harm, unintended or otherwise, is there is a whole generation left in the cold on all of this digital change unless they have both 1. a strong support system and 2. a real will to overcome change and embrace it. That is incredibly hard, no matter how important it is. And there is absolutely an emotional cost.

Which is why, as I say, tethers go a long way, in these times.

Okay, off to buy the Blu-ray.

TheAllPurposeNothing

I hate, hate, hate this. For a lot of people, myself included, these specials are a fundamental part of the holiday season. While I have these specials on Blu-Ray, there are a lot of people who don't have an available ISP, can't afford it, or they are in a remote area where the infrastructure was never upgraded so they don't have access to more than very limited DSL. Should have been kept free and on broadcast. At least when Sesame Street moved to HBO, they kept the second free window on PBS in place for children who wouldn't have access to the paid service.

Very unfitting for the season and I don't think Schulz would have personally approved of this

dex14

Eric F

I gave my mom a Blu-ray player, she never uses it. All that technical stuff like streaming boxes are beyond her ability to figure out. She’s from a different era. She doesn’t want to bother with it. I can’t even get her to do a zoom call with me (and I gave her a webcam and an iPad), she’ll only do telephone.

DJariya

Then you have to blame or take your anger to ABC/Disney for thinking it's not valuable enough to keep. The Peanuts production company is not stupid. Apple gave them lots of money to produce more specials and take the rights to the old specials that ABC no longer thought was valuable. I don't understand anyone thinking that Apple is selfish and destroying years of tradition. They acquired something that someone else didn't want. What if Netflix or Hulu acquired these specials? Would that make it better because more people have those services?

I get the traditionalists are mad, but it ain't show friends, it's show business.

GoldenJCJ

I’m mostly tech savvy. I can just as easily run out and buy the blu-ray of the Holiday shows but there’s just something special about finding Peanuts on TV and watching them as they air. We usually treat A Charlie Brown Christmas as a special event and gather the family around when it’s on.

Sure, I can just find the discs on my shelf and cue up the blu-ray player but there’s something a lot more quaint and nostalgic about watching it on TV.

I know the people complaining about this should just “get with the times” but the holidays are about tradition. They’re about that warm feeling watching a show the way we’ve watched since we were kids and passing that tradition down to our kids. In the whole scheme of things this isn’t the end of the world, it’s just another piece of our childhoods that are crumbling away. There’s something cold and sterile about finding the specials on AppleTV or even Blu-ray that directly contradicts the feeling people are trying to capture by watching it on TV.

We’re all Bill Murray at the end of Scrooged, Apple is Bill Murray at the beginning of Scrooged.

fujishig

My childhood was basically the NBA on NBC with the John Tesh theme song and Bob Costas calling games. NBC couldn't compete/outbid ABC/ESPN and lost the NBA. There are only a handful of non playoff games on network TV now. I don't blame the NBA or ESPN for this, though. What's the difference?

Sesame Street being funded largely as a non profit is different. I don't see Peanuts as being the same (or even Rankin Bass specials).

PhantomStranger

For me it's simple. Apple has amassed an incredible cash hoard (literally more cash than any company in world history) based off their monopolistic iPhone ecosystem and throwing more money at Peanuts than the networks found sensible has disrupted an important part of American culture.

Ask yourself how Apple generated enough cash in the first place to overpay for Peanuts' rights. Wall Street analysts for years have wondered why Apple has refused to buy a Hollywood studio outright.

milo bloom

I have the Bluray or DVD of the ones we want to watch, if there's more, we will find a way to watch them.

This community needs to be a lot more vocal about finding alternate means to watch stuff when companies start making paywalls like this.

Eric F

HBO bought Sesame Street (although the episodes will eventually be shown on PBS).

fujishig

So it's because it's Apple? That I can at least understand a little.

andicus

ABC was worth approximately $11 billion when it was acquired by Disney. If you want to consider Disney, rather than ABC, it's worth about $130 billion.

Apple is worth approximately $2 Trillion.

Being outbid, if it even came to that, certainly doesn't mean ABC/Disney didn't think it was valuable, nor does it mean they didn't want it.

Note that the above values were what I could find, googling, so I'm sure there's some variation.

Any way you look at it, there will be a lot of people that are unable to watch these specials, now, and that's a sad thing.

dex14

They’re still making them available for free during a brief window. They didn’t have to do that. They bought the rights, they want people to come to their service. Offer these free, come see the other new Peanuts content we produced. If old people can’t grasp streaming, I’m sorry. But this is how things are now. Firesticks are cheap as hell. Throw it into the HDMI and download the app. Be a good child/grandchild and teach them. It’s the holidays. Patience is a virtue.

Mike86

Yeah. Of course everything has to come down to money, but for something like this I just feel like it’s kind of wrong in a way. More from a moral stance and the spirit of the season and tradition. For Apple or really anyone to take that away just feels kind of dirty.

Noonan

If your rush before Apple takes control, you can watch it now on Vimeo.

Also, the DVD is 11.99 on Amazon and in stock. Might be good to grab it before they sell out (assuming the special is as wildly popular as folks here are implying).

dex14

But they aren’t taking it away. ABC would run one of the specials for what... one night? Apple will have it available for multiple days. You just need to view it in a different place.

”The streamer is also making the specials available for free for a limited time. Pumpkin will be streaming free from Oct. 30-Nov. 1, with Thanksgiving following from Nov. 25-27 and Christmas from Dec. 11-13.”

Mike86

The point is more for those who don’t have that access or the knowledge to use it. For people who are younger then yeah all that’s fine and well. My grandparents couldn’t figure it out. My parents probably could, but I know to them it’s more of an event to watch it when it’s on. I feel like it’s that way for a lot of people. It’s nice to have the option to stream or watch it on disc whenever, but I feel like having it actually air on tv is a traditional thing. Same with Rudolph, Frosty, and the various other classics.

dex14

Well you have two months to schedule a specific time for everyone to gather around the TV and put on the stream.

Mike86

Regarding popularity, if the fact that it’s aired since it was produced in the sixties until now doesn’t say enough I’m not sure what other evidence to provide.

fujishig

So where do I get an HDMI to coax adapter, young whippersnapper?

To me, if OldBoy can figure out watching a streaming show...

TheAllPurposeNothing

Tell that to the 19 million Americans who lack access to broadband internet. That includes 1/4 of the US population that live in rural areas.

dex14

I’m sure those 19 million people were all actually planning to be watching this.

Thanksgiving special got around 5.5 million last year and had been on a decline.

American infrastructure is terrible and that shouldn’t be the case. But that’s another conversation.

lwhy?

The 4K Peanuts Holiday collections are sold out at Amazon and Best Buy. I ordered the 4K collection from Amazon as soon as I heard about Apple acquiring them. My order is currently on backorder, but it's supposed to be in stock soon (I hope it's here before Halloween). I at least have the DVDs to watch on Halloween. I remember renting A Charlie Brown Christmas on VHS for 50 cents and watching it when I was a child.

andicus

Or just lack internet, period. Neither my mother, nor my wife's parents have any internet access.

As has been previously mentioned, even watching cable can pose difficulties for the elderly. Streaming would be a nightmare.

story

And when one can watch something whenever, it's easy to watch it... never. I mean, certainly no one here has a bigger pile of intent that watched physical media...