Linus Van Pelt..."Christmas is a big commercial racket. It's run by a big eastern syndicate... thanks Apple+

[chickapin parterre]

Apple + has ruined Christmas for many improvised children and fixed income adults. Announced yesterday, Apple + has purchased the cherished tradition of children sitting in winter pjs and robes, a bowl of popcorn, all the family gathered for a peaceful 30 minutes of Christmas cheer, in front of a TV that has free viewing of Charlie Brown holiday specials. Now you need a subscription, hardware and cash....because Apple owns the broadcast rights to listening Vince Guaraldi this holiday season.

I am 64 years old and for all of my memory....Charlie Brown Christmas was the one peace to find in the rush of putting all the Christmas pieces together. Sure i catch fragments on this tiny screen on Youtube. listen to the music. But I want to sit on the sofa, fingers full of butter and listen to yuletide joy from a louder speaker and wide picture. Even my hard boiled wife will watch with me..... just as my father did those decades ago December nights.....family around the joy of one tiny tree...perhaps the most referenced TV pop culture moment....that life is gonna to be fine after all.

The number one complaint this year about Covid on line education......there are surprisingly many students who do not have a internet culture in their home.

 

[Praying Colonel]

Allow me to suggest...

https://smile.amazon.com/Charlie-Br...efix=a+charlie+brown+christmas,aps,256&sr=1-1
As broadcast and streaming services make it more difficult to view our favorites, I find myself buying more physical media.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

That quote is from Lucy, not Linus.

I'm glad we bought this on DVD years ago.

 

[cabanafrau]

Allow me to suggest...

https://smile.amazon.com/Charlie-Br...efix=a+charlie+brown+christmas,aps,256&sr=1-1
As broadcast and streaming services make it more difficult to view our favorites, I find myself buying more physical media.

I agree and have been a big proponent for physical media with video and music media for years. I figure the next prong of separating us from the ability to buy and own media to use as we choose for however long we choose will be fewer and fewer options available for equipment to play the media, especially in a world of planned obsolescence. It's no coincidence that less than five years ago there was an abundance of choice walking into someplace like Costco or a media store or two in the mall. Now that's gone for the most part.

Streaming is so much more convenient and what is preferred these days is the explanation given. What's convenient is how it also happens to line up splendidly with the means to create a steady and ongoing revenue stream for media conglomerates.

 

[Disneefun]

I have Apple TV (thanks to buying a new Mac -- I wouldn't have paid for it b/c there's very little content) and I own the DVD's, but if I didn't, I'd be devastated. The tech companies like to believe that everyone has high speed internet, easy access to streaming, and the ability to afford a smart TV or Roku, etc., but it's just not true. I feel for people who really love these specials and now won't be able to watch. Those specials have been the one constant in a lot of lives for many years, and it's awful that they're essentially behind a paywall now.

(As an aside, I buy a lot of physical media because I want to own my stuff and not have to chase it from platform to platform, but make sure you have a way to back it up. When we went to convert all of out stuff onto our Plex server last year, there were a few DVD's that no longer worked, or had a lot of skips. Age will deteriorate them so you need to figure out how to back them up somehow.)

 

[MillauFr]

Agree with you on Plex. I use DVDFab Movie server. Same thing. DVD deteriorate and should not be counted on for long term storage. Mucher safer to back them all up on a hard drive.

 

[Ellie008]

I don't think I ever watched Charlie Brown Christmas with my parents. It wasn't a tradition for us. I have watched it once or twice with my own kids. I'm not a huge fan. Now, there are other Christmas programs that I did watch as a kid and still watch with my own kids. I did the same as a PP though, and bought the DVD of them years ago so that I don't have to worry about when they may or may not be on TV.
Now, I even watch them during the summer sometimes! It makes me smile.

 

[Praying Colonel]

Agree with you on Plex. I use DVDFab Movie server. Same thing. DVD deteriorate and should not be counted on for long term storage. Mucher safer to back them all up on a hard drive.

I'm in the process of setting up a Plex server. It's a chore to take a large number of discs and rip/convert them, but ultimately it'll be worth it (I think).

 

[FigmentSpark]

Anyone know if you have to pay for the Apple TV service to just use the box as a throughput to Disney+ or Netflix? My "free" subscription is coming to an end and we have not watched a single program of Apple TV content. We only use it for watching other services.

 

[Shellsbutt]

I'm a big fan of Peanuts, have been since I was a little girl-grew up watching the holiday specials and reading the comic strips in the newspaper. Now I'm a middle aged woman and I've been to the Charles Schulz museum in Santa Rosa numerous times. I would volunteer there if I lived closer,loI. I bought the dvds about ten years ago, just watched It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown last night. In fact, I complained to my husband and son that since we aren't having anyone over for Thanksgiving, I'd serve it Peanuts style, like in the tv special. So jellybeans, toast, popcorn and pretzels

 

[NYCgrrl]

Besides “A Charlie Brown Christmas“ our must watch holiday TV used to be “Babes in Toyland” around T Day on WPIX and “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer”; good times.

Now it’s “Battle of the Nutcracker“ and 24 hours of “A Christmas Story”.

This might be useful for those who are peeved at Apple

https://tvline.com/2020/10/19/its-the-great-pumpkin-charlie-brown-christmas-streaming-apple-tv-plus/

 

[Snowysmom]

I love the Charlie Brown specials. I grew up with them and my kids grew up with them. I still watch them. I just ordered the Christmas and Thanksgiving specials. Thanks for the reminder as DH wanted to buy them a few days ago and we forgot.

 

[Praying Colonel]

Anyone know if you have to pay for the Apple TV service to just use the box as a throughput to Disney+ or Netflix? My "free" subscription is coming to an end and we have not watched a single program of Apple TV content. We only use it for watching other services.

That's how we use our Apple TV--as a device for accessing other services such as Netflix, YouTube, etc. No charge for using the Apple TV (other than the purchase price of the Apple TV and any monthly subscription charge the service may charge). We haven't signed up for the Apple TV+ service and probably won't.

 

[kerry1379]

I heard that their aquirement also includes "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown." I am bummed. I miss variety. (And that refers to variety on broadcast AND on streaming.) I don't mind Hocus Pocus and The Christmas Story but when those two movies are pushed almost exclusively for 2 months of the year-I start to really dislike them! I thought that with streaming I would be buying less DVDs. Like the above poster, I find I am buying more.

 

[PollyannaMom]

It’s a shame that won’t be on for everyone as usual. I definitely have fond childhood memories of it!

I do have an Apple account (six months free or something with my device) but I’ve watched exactly one series on it. There’s simply a limit to the amount of time I want to devote to watching programs, and so much out there to choose from.

 

[sam_gordon]

I don't see this as any different than Monday Night Football going to ESPN, Thursday Night Football going to NFL Network, and March Madness basketball games getting distributed to multiple cable outlets. These entities pay for the rights so they can get people watching them. Yes, it's a shame that everything we want to watch isn't free, but where does it end?

 

[RamblingMad]

That quote is from Lucy, not Linus.

I'm glad we bought this on DVD years ago.

Best to own traditions.

 

[Pooh2]

We bought the dvd's years ago very cheaply.
We've used our apple tv account once (have it for a year free) so Apple does not have much influence on my family's holiday spirits!

 

[FlightlessDuck]

I have a similar story. We wanted to watch Young Frankenstein. Apparently, the only way to stream that is with Starz?? You can add Starz to Amazon Prime or Hulu, but you still have to separately buy Starz. You can't even BUY it digitally through Amazon! You can buy a physical copy, but not digitally.

We were so annoyed

 

[cabanafrau]

Besides “A Charlie Brown Christmas“ our must watch holiday TV used to be “Babes in Toyland” around T Day on WPIX and “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer”; good times.

Now it’s “Battle of the Nutcracker“ and 24 hours of “A Christmas Story”.

This might be useful for those who are peeved at Apple

https://tvline.com/2020/10/19/its-the-great-pumpkin-charlie-brown-christmas-streaming-apple-tv-plus/

Are you referring to Battle of the Nutcracker on Ovation channel? That's something we wait for each year and last year they only broadcast weekday mornings at like seven a.m. -- very disappointed. We've seen some phenomenal productions over the years, and some that are so incredibly bizarre you watch because you can't take your eyes off of it and yet cannot believe what you're seeing.

I don't even know if our Apple TV trial is still valid. Unless they invest heavily in content we would never subscribe. From what we saw they really didn't offer anything we were interested in.