Planned

[NEW FEATURE] Expiring licenses notification

If a license is about to expire without thoughts of renewing it, it would be common courtesy to let people know know 3 months in advance

1. For the viewers. On the drama’s page, so that people can rush to view it before it disappears.
2.  For the CM and moderators so that the team can decide whether it's worth to continue working on it or not.
If 1 is not possible for some reason, at least implement 2. 

In case there are thoughts of renewal, please say so. The team might stop temporarily until newer notice. 

103

Comments

34 comments
  • Official comment

    Hi everyone! 

    Great news! We've just implemented this feature on the web for select titles and will be rolling this across all expiring titles on Viki in the near future! 

    Here's how it looks: 

    The titles mentioned:

    • Twenty Again
    • Bubblegum

    Thank you so much for your feedback thus far and we're glad to have been able to implement this for all of you. 

    Please keep your feedback and ideas coming on Viki Ideas!

    Cheers,
    Joshua

     

    Comment actions Permalink
  • Absolutely. That's probably the most demotivating factor for a volunteer. If you're in the middle of a project and then all of a sudden it's all gone.

    12
    Comment actions Permalink
  • Agree. But there was a time when I was notified that EOE will dissapear starting May back in 2017 and it´s still there. As for now, yesterday I found out I can access the editor of a 2012´ s drama where I am a moderator. Back then romanian subtitles were restricted. Nobody ever sent me a notification to inform me that the drama is now open to us. Let´s say that the CM was informed. There were 2 CMs. One is inactive for 2 years and the other... since 2013. I was like WHAT?!

    Another case. The same problem with another drama. We had completed the drama when the notice came that subtitles will be deleted as a request from the producers. I checked that too today. What do you think? We have all the subs back and no restriction for our language.Once again, I didn´t knew this. So, I am just speechless.

     

    4
    Comment actions Permalink
  • Yes, I had the problem as a viewer too ! Just this morning a drama I had started watching very recently suddenly became unavailable in my region ! I had already watched 8 episodes out of 16, so as you can imagine it really pissed me off !

    I think one month's notice to warn the viewers would be enough for us to hurry up and finish watching, or to decide not to start watching...

    3
    Comment actions Permalink
  • Moon Embracing the Sun is no longer available in U.S. Would've been nice to post expiration date on main page of the drama. Geez! Watched up to episode 7 then poof episode 8 gone. 

    3
    Comment actions Permalink
  • I was watching Oh the mysterious few minues ago and now its gone..... im...

    0
    Comment actions Permalink
  • I also had that problem a couple of times when I started watching a drama (that had been available for 1 year or more already) and the drama was suddenly unavailable... So I totally agree that there should be a notification on the drama page stating how long the license will be valid for each country.

    But what I don't understand even more is: how can this happen for dramas that just started airing? For example, I was watching The Fiery Priest until 2 days ago and then yesterday the drama became "unavailable in my country"... This drama started less than a month ago!!! How come there was a license when the drama starts airing and then there is no license anymore??? After less than 3 weeks???

    0
    Comment actions Permalink
  • Hi everyone! 
     
    We’d like to let you know that this feature in currently in the pipeline! Do stay tuned for updates 🙂
     
    We’ll look forward to letting you know once we’ve implemented this.
     
    Cheers,
    Joshua
    7
    Comment actions Permalink
  • I was watching A Jewel in the Palace and, at the 49th episode (there are 54), it is now all of the sudden no longer available in my area...Really?  Please explain...This unfortunate episode unavailability comes at a pivotal point in this epic and moving Period drama.  Such a disappointment,..Will the last 6 episodes become available?  I prematurely ranked this drama a 10-star.  My bad.  Not for the acting and subs, but for not being upfront with an episode availability disclaimer.

    You should post a notice of unfinished program episodes disclaimer when viewers click on "Episode 1" or under the tag line before a viewer decides to watch that desired program.  

    1
    Comment actions Permalink
  • Thank you Joshua for the update, this is great news!!

    0
    Comment actions Permalink
  • Same here. Jewel in the palace disappeared without notice when I was four episodes short of completing it. It is infuriating. I really think all dramas should post the dates they are officially licensed for, large and clear, in the first page. It would also be good if one could elect to receive notices for dramas that are expiring--something one could click on the drama main page to allow an email notification when the license is about to go. This is not the first time this happens and it's really aggravating. It is very simple to prevent yet Viki has run for years without addressing this problem. The reason this is hardly upvoted is that it is all too simple to just go and find a website in which to stream episodes illegally--I don't understand how Viki is not more protective of its customer base. This type of incident makes one wonder why one is bothering to pay fees (or, in my case also in the past, to spend tens or even hundreds of hours segmenting and translating for free) to then have series abruptly disappear.

    3
    Comment actions Permalink
  • Question for everyone here regarding the translation part - if a show is removed due to licensing, but then later comes back to Viki, do you have to translate it all over again or is all the work you previously did saved somehow?

    0
    Comment actions Permalink
  • Thank you for the update, Joshua. Good news. I hope the upgrade is stable enough to be applied to all the other dramas on Viki.

    0
    Comment actions Permalink
  • You did this to Master in the house, how could you restrict the most popular show in Korea? This show is aired all over the world you seriously need to get this back!

    0
    Comment actions Permalink
  • HI Joshua! Thanks for this announcement, but on what platforms is this message available? I do not see it in the android app or on the website. Where do I need to look to be sure dramas are not expiring soon? 

    0
    Comment actions Permalink
  • Hi @buxomwenchxx_903

    We're sorry you feel this way! It appears that the title license had expired in your region. To request for a return of that title, please click here

    Cheers,
    Joshua

    0
    Comment actions Permalink
  • Hi colorkitten_426,

    This messaging is currently on trial on web only for the below titles:

    • Twenty Again
    • Bubblegum

    We have noticed an issue with it not displaying for some users and we're working on fixing it shortly! 

    Will update when it's fixed :)

    Cheers,
    Joshua

    0
    Comment actions Permalink
  • It was there and now it's no longer - until it is fixed, can anyone tell me when license is ending? My location is Germany. Was it the 14th, 17th of April?

    0
    Comment actions Permalink
  • Hi lutra!

    Here are the expiry dates:

    • Twenty Again - Jun 14th, 2019
    • Bubblegum - Jun 14th, 2019

    Cheers,
    Joshua

    0
    Comment actions Permalink
  • Hi Joshua!

    There is still no change/update on this matter?

    As I think it is a matter of high demand by the viewers, I wanted to bring this topic back up again.

    1
    Comment actions Permalink
  • Hi Lutra! 

    I'm sorry for the lack of updates so far, our team is still working on it to provide the best version of this feature! 

    We appreciate your patience with us :)

    Cheers,
    Joshua

    1
    Comment actions Permalink
  • I came back to check for updates as I've been affected by this problem again, TWICE. I also wanted to give feedback on what I think you guys plan to do with the expiry date showing up under the the drama name (as shown in the screenshot) I don't think this is effective as I don't go and click into every drama I plan on watching in the future so by the time I, or many others, go and try to start the drama it may already be gone. I would strongly suggest a leaving soon filter or tab. Where we could see every title leaving soon. Another option would be a tiny 'ex' next to the drama title. When starting a new drama I go through my watch later collection and seeing the ex or anything to indicate its leaving would then make me click in that drama asap to find out the date of unavailability. Also I rarely use the website I mostly use my android app so this hasn't helped me at all.

    2
    Comment actions Permalink
  • I'm not sure if I'd notice this little banner while going from one episode to the next. (I'm not seeing it anywhere atm so I can't check)

    I wouldn't mind getting a message on viki each month, listing all expiring dramas sorted by country of origin and than alphabetically.

    Maybe it's also possible to have a setting so users can choose to subscribe to this message. It could also be split up in countries, so there'd be a seperate message for the most popular countries of origin, giving the user more options when subscribing.

    2
    Comment actions Permalink
  • well, I would like to suggest also sending notifications for people who are following the show or if it's on their watch later collection, so we can know to hurry up and watch without having to check every single drama we'd like to watch. 

    2
    Comment actions Permalink
  • So glad to see this is being worked. I have had this happen twice to me in the year that i have been a subscriber. So looking for updates and implementation. I know it was shown in the screen shot but i have yet to come across a title with the exp date on it. Is it only showing on web or does it show in the apps also? 

     

    0
    Comment actions Permalink
  • There's a section called "Coming Soon" so how about a section called "Leaving in [fill in month]" ... 

    Of course, one month advance notice would be very helpful to viewers/subscribers.

    1
    Comment actions Permalink
  • Hi @... !

    Is there any news on this feature that was tried in 2019, more than 2 years later many of us are still waiting.

    Wish you a good time!

    1
    Comment actions Permalink
  • Here we are in January 2023, over 3 ½ years since the April, 2019, announcement by viki staff member Joshua that there would be a notice on the channel page of expiring licenses and still no notices.   It is still very dispiriting in 2023  to be watching or working on a channel which disappears overnight!  
    What disadvantage does viki, as a business, suffer to tell its audience that they should hurry to watch the rest of a series which will soon disappear?   It might even cause a brief increase in viewership at viki.  

    5
    Comment actions Permalink
  • This is 2024 and we still haven't been updated whether this feature would be added or not.. there should also be a feature which mentions whether this was even on viki to begin with or is just unavailable in my region.

    1
    Comment actions Permalink
  • I was in the middle of watching The Smile Has Left Your Eyes and was on episode 12 when yesterday it was suddenly not available in my region anymore without any warning that it would be leaving Viki. Customer support could only point me to their article explaining the licensing. When I said it would have been nice to know this was going to expire soon so I could've binged the very end, they pointed me to filling out their form to request it back and ask the ideas page. Here I find a post from 2019 saying it was going to be implemented on the web browser and yet its still not even a thing? This is very disappointing and appears these ideas fall on deaf ears...

    1
    Comment actions Permalink

Please sign in to leave a comment.

Didn't find what you were looking for?

New post