What movies should be on TCM?

[Bronxgirl48]

BELLE EPOQUE
THE WICKER MAN
FIVE GRAVES TO CAIRO
THE PRIVATE LIFE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES
84 CHARING CROSS ROAD
OLEANNA
AMERICAN BUFFALO
LETTER TO BREZHNEV
CHANDU THE MAGICIAN
THE RETURN OF CHANDU
COME BLOW YOUR HORN
UNDER CAPRICORN
BURNT BY THE SUN
FOOLS

[TikiSoo]

A lot of those movies can be seem elsewhere like It's A Wonderful Life.

I'd prefer TCM just stay as it is broadcasting more obscure/esoteric films that are of interest to classic movie fans. Oh and stay commercial free the way movies are meant to be seen. (why I still watch DVDs)

[Bronxgirl48]

MY DINNER WITH ANDRE
PARDON MY SARONG
LOVE AND DEATH
ALIAS NICK BEAL
HOME, SWEET HOMICIDE
NAPOLEON (1927 silent)

[dianedebuda]

Nip would say, you know ... Hot Spell.

[jamesjazzguitar]

Nip would say, you know ... Hot Spell.

I'm still waiting for TCM to show this film. Nipkow peaked my interest in it (very unique cast IMO) many years ago.

[jimimac71]

I hope things are improving for TCM.
Rumors suggest the new dynamic trio of film heroes are going to help out.
As for other movies, I'm with TikiSoo.
I believe many of the films in the first post should be considered for Max.
I still want a stand alone TCM.
Comments on the Cord Cutters News site, where I got the above information, say paying $70/month for a service with TCM is a deal breaker.

[txfilmfan]

I hope things are improving for TCM.
Rumors suggest the new dynamic trio of film heroes are going to help out.
As for other movies, I'm with TikiSoo.
I believe many of the films in the first post should be considered for Max.
I still want a stand alone TCM.
Comments on the Cord Cutters News site, where I got the above information, say paying $70/month for a service with TCM is a deal breaker.

Per an LA Times article from 2021, TCM took in $286M in subscriber revenue in 2020 (latest data I can find - they hold this data pretty close to the chest) from 68.2M homes. So cable, satellite and OTT cable-replacement services paid an average of about 35 cents/month or so for each subscriber that could receive TCM via their platforms. As this revenue has been steadily declining year over year since the mid 2010s (due to so-called cord-cutting), I'm sure they're not getting this much in subscriber fees in 2023.

To achieve the same level of revenue as a standalone service, they would need nearly 2.4M subscribers paying $10/month. Would they get that? Probably not. 1.2M subscribers paying $20/month is even less likely.

When they launched the standalone FilmStruck service, in conjunction with Criterion, they managed to gain 100,000 subscribers before AT&T shut it down. Now if TCM had shut down when FIlmStruck started, they probably would have gotten more people to sign up, but would they get to 2.4M?

In any case, the accounting math is a challenge, at best, for TCM to survive as a strictly standalone proposition.

Sports networks like ESPN and the Bally regional networks have the same issue - too few people willing to pay the monthly prices (as a standalone service) these networks need to cover the high cost of rights acquisitions the leagues demand (to pay the exorbitant salaries of the players). Same goes for Hollywood film rights holders. Everybody wants more money than a standalone streaming market can seem to provide.

It will be interesting to watch the fallout in the coming years.

[Swithin]

I'd like to see the early Paramounts, particularly all the Marlene Dietrich and Mae West films they don't show. And of course I'd like them to show Peter Ibbetson. And a series of Eric Rohmer films.

Occasionally they get the rights to show one or two of the above, but they're always the best known ones.

[txfilmfan]

I'd like to see the early Paramounts, particularly all the Marlene Dietrich and Mae West films they don't show. And of course I'd like them to show Peter Ibbetson. And a series of Eric Rohmer films.

Occasionally they get the rights to show one or two of the above, but they're always the best known ones.

LA Times had an article on the TCM drama, and it stated, as an example, that the early Paramount properties are largely MIA. The article explained that it's expensive to restore/convert a film for today's digital platforms, and today's rights holders (NBC/Comcast/Universal, in this case) are reluctant to spend the money if they don't feel the properties have commercial value.

https://www.latimes.com/business/story/ ... e-at-risk

Films of the 1930s will soon enter public domain, which will probably mean there will be even less commercial value to these properties, if free copies are running around somewhere...

[jimimac71]

Thanks txfilmfan.
You seem to know your stuff.
Some movies find their way to archive.org.
EP used to post a site in Russia.
That would spook me.
I probably should have made my post to a different thread.
Maybe things can be status quo until we're pretty sure TCM is on more solid ground.
But making a list also causes no harm.
We're all having a Hot Spell, aren't we!

[Bronxgirl48]

That's funny, I was actually thinking of HOT SPELL but couldn't remember the exact title until I saw it here, lol.

[Swithin]

I'd like to see the early Paramounts, particularly all the Marlene Dietrich and Mae West films they don't show. And of course I'd like them to show Peter Ibbetson. And a series of Eric Rohmer films.

Occasionally they get the rights to show one or two of the above, but they're always the best known ones.

LA Times had an article on the TCM drama, and it stated, as an example, that the early Paramount properties are largely MIA. The article explained that it's expensive to restore/convert a film for today's digital platforms, and today's rights holders (NBC/Comcast/Universal, in this case) are reluctant to spend the money if they don't feel the properties have commercial value.

https://www.latimes.com/business/story/ ... e-at-risk

Films of the 1930s will soon enter public domain, which will probably mean there will be even less commercial value to these properties, if free copies are running around somewhere...

Many of them are on commercial video, so should be available for public performances/broadcast, in the same way later films are. Peter Ibbetson is available on a solo DVD, and on The Gary Cooper Collection.

[Bronxgirl48]

They did air a few Rohmers -- I remember CLAIRE'S KNEE.

[Swithin]

They did air a few Rohmers -- I remember CLAIRE'S KNEE.

Yes, only the famous ones. They've shown Mae West films, too, but only I'm No Angel and She Done Him Wrong.