Why rent only

[MarcusAndy]

Can someone please explain why some movies are only available to rent and not purchase like Hamburger Hill or The African Queen????

[ag-87]

+1 to being able to buy rental-only movies; the later movie been on my wish list for years as I await someone to fix this problem

That said, I have heard that the studios are responsible for some of these problems, and not just rental vs. purchase, but other problems such as not being able to buy some titles that are currently only via advertisement, subscription, and/or physical-media (such as the original Stargate movie, Hercules The Legendary Journeys movies/s2-6, Transformers 1984, and many others). But my reaction to that is that then the studios should simply fix such things (in my software work, if there's a problem, then you fix it, not blame the computer and ignore the problem).

To fix this particular problem, my strong suspicion is that the first thing that should be done is for the streaming services such as Vudu/FaH and others to lean very hard on the studios to fix these problems (something I'd really appreciate and for all I know they may already be doing). A singular customer such as myself is unlikely to have much of an impact (and I don't even know how to contact them) but a streaming service is likely to have a lot of say and obviously has their contact information .

There IS another possibility, and that is that a given streaming service can make some change themselves. For example, I know that Transformers season 1, Xena s5-6, Lexx, most seasons of Myth Busters, Smurfs 1980's, and G.I. Joe 1983, CAN all be sold because other services are able to do so. I'd ask Vudu to please do likewise. Vudu even has Lexx but doesn't currently sell it, just has it with advertisements (I'd ask them to please fix this).

Thanks

[JayJB]

The studios make the decisions. The rights for older films can get complicated, and even the studios may be limited in what they can offer.. I've wanted to get African Queen for at least 10 years, and no joy. Some Abbot & Costello movies are available, but the real classics (Buck Privates, In the Navy) aren't. You'd think that with them all being Universal Studios, they should all work the same way....They don't, and that because of the various rights-holders involved.

For cases where the title is available on other platforms, that typically IS something FAH can work on.

[MaskedMan]

I able to purchase the African Queen on Flixfling. Only problem is Roku's no longer have that app. Fire tv and Onn streamers do.