What happened to 'The Undoing'?!!!

[Anonymous User]

I subscribed to the NOW TV entertainment pass just before Christmas in order to watch 'The Undoing'. I went into the TV menu and added the series to 'My TV' on the remote and there it was all ready to go. Great, I thought. That was easy!

Once Christmas was out of the way I switched on NOW TV ready to start watching 'The Undoing'. I went to the 'My TV' on the remote and was greeted by a caption saying that 'The undoing' had been taken off and was no longer available. What!!? I mean....HUH??

I have now cancelled my NOW TV subscription feeling that this is yet another 'take your money', rip off the customer venture, which grabs you in by promising all sorts of goodies, but then screws you by suddenly removing the 'crown jewels' from the schedule.

I have just wasted £12.99 for precisely nothing. Thanks, NOW TV! What an utter waste of time.

NOW TV stick has been returned to the back of a suitable drawer. We shall be using Amazon in future.

[Saint1976 · Accepted solution]

@Anonymous User The Undoing was available on 30 day catch up having been available from 30th November, the show expired on 30th December.

All shows clearly carry an expiry date next to them, in bright orange. Below is an image from early November showing how long was available. So, not a "rip off the customer venture".

 

[Anonymous User]

Hi Saint1976 (elite),

Thanks for your reply. Fair point. I suppose I did what a lot of people probably do -- I read that 'The undoing' was on NOW TV and subscribed without examining the caveat contained in the website's TV guide. 

I would still maintain that a window of a single month to watch a whole series is a bit limited, but there are obviously financial / business model reasons why this limit is in place. 

At the end of the day, as with most things, it's a case of 'buyer beware': always read the small print....or in NOW TV's case the large orange print! 

[gavs82008]

@Anonymous User 

It is standard practice for all TV shows available to Sky and even All4, iTV etc to only have 30 day windows for shows to remain on catch up the day after airing. 

If Sky/Now TV were advertising the box set season of the show then yes we would all be rather annoyed to have a 30 day window for a box set to be available.

[Anonymous User]

Gavs,

OK. I suppose I was being a bit churlish in my original post. If it is standard practice for new content to be streamed for a month and then summarily removed then I am out of step with how these things work, I suppose. Point taken. 

The thing about NOW TV (and one of its main strengths) is that you can switch it on and off very easily as your viewing needs change. The down-side of that is that as you step in and out of subscription you have to 'do your homework' and be careful of where different series are up to in relation to their one month window of availability. Subscribe too late and BOOM! it's gone.

Eventually, everything comes full cycle and older series return to full streaming availability. I remember now that we watched both series of 'Succession' once they had returned to NOW TV after 'doing the rounds' of other providers.

I will keep our NOW TV stick safe for future use! 

[Anonymous User]

I did the same thing. Most box sets are on there for years. Feel ripped off

[gavs82008]

@Anonymous User 

It purely depends on the show. For instance the Sopranos are there for a while yet, whereas True Blood has come and gone very quickly.

Both shows made by HBO, but some shows not on for the extended period of time we would hope.

[Anonymous User]

Strangely enough it has now returned. I missed out on it the first time around. I was looking for White Locust and saw this on there so am watching it very quickly! 

[RoyB]

@Anonymous User 

Not strange. The way these things work is:-

First Run:-

Episode 1 is shown.

Then, depending, the whole season may be made available on catchup, or the episodes may be dribbled out week by week on catchup after their live showing.

(In which case it is handy to know that the US showing was probably during our nighttime, after which the episode is on catchup, so we can often watch an episode on catchup a few hours before the first UK linear (live) showing,

Then the season progresses, typically for six weeks.

After which, the whole season remains available for another 30 days. (so it’s only if you come in very late to a season that you would have 30 days or less to watch it - if you came in at Episode 3 time, say, you would have 51 days to catch up with it all).

Then it’s taken off.

Later, it comes back as a box set. Some of which are on only for a few months, some of which stick around for years, some of which come back a second or third time, or more.

Either way, they all carry an expiry date, so you can check this before you start on the box set, and pace yourself accordingly 😛