As one of the first casualties of the Streaming Wars, MGM is shuttering “Stargate Command”, the single-franchise streaming service for the Stargate franchise, on December 31, 2019, at 12 pm Pacific Time. The official Stargate web site at StargateCommand.co and the mobile app will both cease to function on that date as well. All-Access Pass customers whose subscriptions do not expire until 2020 will get a full refund.
Since they were having trouble getting people to climb their mountain, they have now decided that it would be easier to bring the mountain to them: they have already begun migrating the web site’s original video content to the Stargate Command YouTube channel on YouTube.
“We’re excited to announce that we’ll be transitioning much of our Stargate Command content to YouTube. Shows like Dialing Home and Recon, which were previously only available to All-Access Pass holders, will be made available on YouTube without charge beginning in 2020. It’s important to us that Stargate content reaches fans everywhere and we believe YouTube is the right place to help us achieve that goal,” MGM said in a statement on their website.
The YouTube content kicks off with a new piece on Stargate history with with Stargate SG-1 executive producer Brad Wright talking about the show’s fans during its ninth season (which filmed in 2005). There are behind-the-scenes interviews and other special features.
Eventually this will include all the content previously locked behind the subscription paywall. That will eventually include content previously locked behind the subscription paywall. The Stargate Command web site will go offline at year’s end, taking its written content with it. Stargate Command launched a bit over two years ago in September of 2017, and MGM produced a ten part web series Stargate Origins, premiering in 2018, as exclusive content for it – there’s no word on whether or not that web series will make it to YouTube.
While the streamer gave subscribers access to the three movies and the collective seventeen seasons of three Stargate TV series, none of that content will make it to YouTube, of course, because those still have significant value as licensable properties – but since most of that is already on Amazon Prime among abundant other content, Stargate Command subscribers won’t have to miss out.
If you’re looking for merch, though, this would be the time to get it. Stargate stuff has gone on sale with a 50% discount on most of what they sell on the studio store.
MGM has said in a statement that they remain committed to the Stargate franchise and its fans, but maintaining a streaming service just for them turns out to be more than they can handle.
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