'Jeopardy!' has placed new restrictions on streaming — fans are unhappy about the new rule

"Jeopardy!" is mostly making news for the controversies and speculation around the exit of its past hosts, as well as Ken Jennings. But the most recent reason for the dissatisfaction of its fans is an odd streaming restriction that has been put in place. According to a press release, the new episodes of the show will stream on Peacock, Hulu, and Disney+, the day after the episodes air, but not all of them will be available throughout the season, as only five of the most recent episodes will be available on the platforms to stream. This restriction hasn't gone down well with the fans, and some have taken to social media to demand a change.

Fans took to Reddit to discuss the change and find ways to work around it. "Peacock and Hulu won’t have indefinite access to every new episode. Sony says audiences will be able to stream only the five most recent installments of each show. That means that next week’s Wheel and Jeopardy! Season openers will disappear from streaming platforms by the following Wednesday, with Tuesday’s episodes leaving the following Thursday, and so on," explained @kianworld. 

Several fans chimed in on the discussion, complaining about how inconvenient it would be for the viewers. “It’s unfortunate for things like vacations, though. Even bumping it to 10 would make a big difference,” wrote @travis_jeopardy. “Bad news for me. I’m always 30 or 40 episodes behind,” added @Thelonius16.

Fans literally begged the studio to revert to normal streaming in exchange for anything. “Dear Sony, access to every episode of Jeopardy is something I would willingly sit through ads to watch. Just make it happen,” suggested @No-Necessary7448. 

Meanwhile, one viewer called @ImDonaldDunn, suggested that they had already found a way around the restriction.  “And this is why I’ll keep recording them over the air,” the user wrote.

However, a few fans weren't bothered by the change and thought it made sense. “Honestly, with the sheer number of episodes released each year, I’m not too surprised by this. And in almost every circumstance, it shouldn’t be too hard to catch up within a week anyway,” wrote @Barzalicious.

On the other hand, some fans decided to get to the bottom of it and find out why the change was made, as a viewer @Jumboliva asked, "Why is this always the case? Why has there never been a good (legal) way to watch reruns??"

"Part of it goes back to long-standing agreements with local syndication affiliates. They didn't want to lose viewers to streaming services, so their agreements with Sony/Jeopardy included rules that said that there wouldn't be massive archives of recent games. Just having next-day games is a huge upgrade from that, but either some rules still exist, or they're just being normal huge companies afraid of giving people what they want," explained one fan, @Mean-Pizza6915.

"Yup, even non-game shows like The View have this five-day restriction, and that show is free on YouTube," added @ChaosMagician777.

More on Market Realist: 

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'Jeopardy' host Ken Jennings was nearly 'stabbed' with a knife — then it took an unusual turn

'Jeopardy' icon Sam Buttrey has an excellent advice for anyone hoping to compete on the show