Sony deletes digital content from libraries; we are reminded that we do not own what we buy

Sony recently informed its PlayStation customers in the United Kingdom that they will no longer be able to watch movies previously purchased from production and distribution company StudioCanal. As of September 1, affected customers will no longer be able to download 551 titles from the PlayStation Store.

In a legal notice first seen by sports news PlayStation LifeStyleSony said affected customers will lose access to streaming titles Fury: Way of the Yakuza, Paddington, Paddington 2, Pan’s Labyrinth, Rambo 3, Terminator 2: Judgment Dayand A Boy in Striped Clothes “because of our licensing agreements.” By September, Sony will remove any affected titles that UK users have purchased from their PlayStation library, according to the notice.

It is possible that Sony will continue to work with StudioCanal until September 1, or later, which will allow users to view their purchases. This happened in 2023, when Sony said it should pulling in 1,318 seasons of Discovery shows from client libraries. A few weeks after its announcement, Sony said it would not pull the content because it had exchanged licenses with Discovery.