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Apple Sued Over Failing to Provide All Episodes of 'Breaking Bad' Season 5 for Season Pass Purchasers

QCassidy352 said:
It seems pretty clear to me that something that airs a year later is a new season. Add to that the fact that it's $22... Did you really think that got you 16 HD episodes of a very popular currently airing show? I get that the wording was confusing, but how about a little common sense?
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I wouldn't say it's 100% clear what a "season" is, but Apple offered (and still offers) Season 5, consisting of 8 episodes and various bonus material, and I suppose you will get exactly the 8 episodes and the bonus material for your money. And when it was first sold, it was indeed the complete "Season 5". I don't think Apple can be reasonably blamed if the movie company then makes more episodes and also calls them "Season 5". They could have made some more episodes following the ones in Season 1 and called it "Season 1".
 
I just wonder who can afford to hire a lawyer, take off from work and spend all this time not making money for $30?
 
Normal price for an HD episode: $3
Normal price for a 10-12 episode season (HD): $30-$35.

BB Season 5 Part 1, 8 episodes: $22 (pulled up email receipt)
BB Season 5 Part 2, 8 episodes: $23
Total: 16 episodes, $45.

Seems... roughly on par. In fact it is still less than buying the episodes individually at $3/each which would be $48.
 
Wonder if the class action suit includes Amazon and Microsoft or is it vs Apple because they are the bigger company.

Also even if they win they'll get what a $50 Apple store gift card and a refund? Ya that is time/money well spent.

They won't get anything because Apple has nothing to do with the content provided. They are just hosting or a "catalogue" for content.

They don't set prices they just take a percentage from the content developer.

I'm using Apple because auto-correct doesn't work as promised (see "using" instead of "suing").
 
The BBC [BBC America] and The History Channel do the same thing with their seasons for shows like Doctor Who and Top Gear (US). There is a Part 1 and Part 2 to reflect that both networks air the season's episodes in two halves during the year. And each Season Pass only covers that half of the aired broadcast and is priced accordingly.

The original Season Pass for Breaking Bad was priced to reflect the reduced number of shows that would be aired (and available for download) in the first part, so the plaintiffs are going to have a hard time presenting their case, IMO, as Apple will be able to use the BBC and THC policies in their defense (plus any other broadcasters other than AMC that break their iTunes Seasons up the same way).

As such, I expect the case will be quickly settled out of court for a couple hundred grand, all of which will go to the lawyers representing the plaintiffs while the plaintiffs themselves will probably get a $10 iTunes Gift card. :rolleyes:
 
cfischer83 said:
I agree. I bought "season 5" of breaking bad last year knowing that there would be 8 more episodes, only to find that it's been split into "season 5" and "the final season".... Even though season 5 IS the final season. There was no disclaimer anywhere that I was only buying half a season (I checked thoroughly).
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This happens with Doctor Who as well. It's really up to PUBLISHERS (you know those ones apple was sued for telling what to do) to price their seasons, not Apple.

The PRICING is exactly in line for an 8-episode season as generally you get one free episode for buying the season pass. So Apple has already, automatically adjusted the price.

I suppose if you want to pick on Apple, then they can always WAIT SIX MONTHS to put the show online AT ALL until the DVD release is confirmed by the publisher. Yup, just don't post any episodes or season passes!!!

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cmChimera said:
This is AMC's fault and not Apple's, but I do agree that it was wrong of AMC to do this.
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But Apple adjusted the PRICE for only 8 episodes. If they charged 34.99 for an 8 episode season that would be one thing. In fact Apple probably has a rule that a publisher has to DELIVER the whole season in a certain time frame, or automatically cuts the price paid.
 
Iconoclysm said:
True, but this really isn't Apple's fault. I think this was a way to get Season 5 onto things like Netflix without including the latter half.

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First off, if you CAN read, you would know that this was supposed to be part of Season 5. I don't think Apple should give me anything at all, I think those that purchased it early have plenty to say to AMC however.
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It comes down to properly advertizing the product. If you know how Apple REQUIRES seasons discounts to be priced, you know from the initial price you were getting 8 episodes. I think they should have labeled that as an incomplete season and all this goes away.

The alternative is just to wait for ANY discount until all the episodes are done. Then APPLE doesn't have any fault. I advocate removing ALL season passes because how hard is it to just buy an iTunes card and get them one-at-a-time?
 
I bitched to Apple about this too. In my case, they offered me about $100 worth of hardware to make me happy.

Apple knows it's BS... But, AMC and Sony set the prices/content. Apple's just the seller.

For those saying the price should have given away the number of episodes... I've bought whole seasons of Doctor Who for under $10 (HD). iTunes runs sales ALL THE TIME. Price does not equal number of episodes.

Heck, I've bought Music Albums that have 99 songs for $5. Go figure.
 
Wow, reading this thread... Some of you guys are totally into this TV show— like really totally into it. It all seems so weird to me but so does this bizarre lawsuit, apparently filed by a deranged fan of the program.

;)
 
0x0x0x0 said:
Most probably only Apple because the contract is with Apple... Privity of contract and that, you know, legal stuff...
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Should I sue bestbuy is I walk into it pay $21.99 for it then realize it only 8 episodes?!

Apple (when it comes to video/audio) is a distributer, they don't make the content, they just give you a convenient location to buy it.

Again Apple doesn't set pricing for video (they have a hell of a lot of pull with music), they just distribute what companies ask them to for a fee.
 
Compile said:
Should I sue bestbuy is I walk into it pay $21.99 for it then realize it only 8 episodes?!

Apple (when it comes to video/audio) is a distributer, they don't make the content, they just give you a convenient location to buy it.

Again Apple doesn't set pricing for video (they have a hell of a lot of pull with music), they just distribute what companies ask them to for a fee.
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Even with Music, the labels still control prices.

A few years ago, some female singer died and after a few days, her albums on iTunes suddenly went up by a few dollars.

People were complaining to Apple about raising the prices to profit off the singers death. A week later, Sony apologized and said it had set the prices on iTunes in a mistake.
 
Compile said:
Wonder if the class action suit includes Amazon and Microsoft or is it vs Apple because they are the bigger company.
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Correct me if I'm wrong, but to my knowledge Amazon and Microsoft don't charge for a full season pass before all the episodes are available, or do they?

In any case, the problem is that iTunes had this text on the store page, as it does for most (all?) season passes:

"This Season Pass includes all current and future episodes of Breaking Bad, Season 5."

Which was clearly not the case. I suspect it was just a standard boilerplate text that they forgot to modify, but I can understand that customers expected to get what was promised.
 
Bravo!

I am one of the buyers, who did expect having bought the whole season - not a half one.
My contract was with Apple. Apple's offering was misleading. I have understanding for the anger. I am angry, too.
 
Gus Van Der Mee said:
You can't put it all on just Apple or AMC. Both are at foult here. AMC for splitting the season without any heads up and proper information about it and Apple for not asking AMC why.


The store is still Apple's and that doesn't mean that it all is left for content providers without any curation.
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Apple, however, does not post the content. AMC does. Further, people assume Apple knew it was an issue.

Soon as the Complaint sought class action status, I lost sympathy for the person. First, I almost guarantee Apple would have gave the guy a credit if he asked.
 
Compile said:
Should I sue bestbuy is I walk into it pay $21.99 for it then realize it only 8 episodes?!

Apple (when it comes to video/audio) is a distributer, they don't make the content, they just give you a convenient location to buy it.

Again Apple doesn't set pricing for video (they have a hell of a lot of pull with music), they just distribute what companies ask them to for a fee.
Click to expand...


Yes, Apple is the merchant. If you bought a lawn mower Home Depot, then found out it was broken or missing the blades, that you would only be able to sue the manufacturer with no recourse against Home Depot. Apple might be able to sue AMC to indemnify it if it loses (and AMC is probably also a named party), but that has nothing to do with whether the consumer can go after the merchant.
 
Iconoclysm said:
This was made clear though, last year.
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It might be made clear somewhere, but Apple is the vendor. They should make it clear what you're buying and avoid this "all current and future episodes of season 5" stuff. They should let people know what they are buying and not count on the consumer to go research the content.

While they are at it, they can also knock it off with the "deluxe" season passes. Buying a season pass to content, then finding out later that they've launched a deluxe season pass of the same content, with bonus material, sucks. And it's often the same price you paid months ago, before they dreamed up the extra crap that you can't get without re-buying the whole season.

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Compile said:
Should I sue bestbuy is I walk into it pay $21.99 for it then realize it only 8 episodes?!
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At Best Buy you can read the box and see exactly what you're getting.

In this case, if you read the iTunes description then you'd later find that you got half of what was described. That's the issue.
 
Apple did this first with the a season of South Park a few years ago, some time between 2006 and 2008. Season pass! Sure, I'll have one. Ha, that was only first half of the season, give us moneys again! Nope, I raised a stink with Apple and got the full season pass.

So, somebody is a slow learner. Or I should have gotten a lawyer back then?
 
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