http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/KeepCirculatingTheTapes

This entry is trivia, which is cool and all, but not a trope. On a work, it goes on the Trivia tab.

Brad Jones, DVD-R Hell. "I don't like the idea of something existing if I can't get a copy of it."

There once was a show. You know, that show. It was a really good show. Or maybe it was something else. Still, you'd love to relive the memories, and share it with your friends.

There's just one problem: It's impossible.

Watch and record reruns? Of course you would... if it were on.

Buy the DVD? You'd already have it on pre-order... if it existed.

Advertisement:

Netflix? Hulu? iTunes? Not there.

Or maybe it is actually available, just not in the original version.

So what's a fan to do? You're not trying to break copyright law — you'd be more than happy to pay to acquire it legally! But since you can't, you have to go to your last resort option — get it illegally (or at least in a legal grey area somewhere).

Once the steam stops escaping from your ears, your first question is probably why the distributor wouldn't even bother selling copies of a work when there are so many people like you (at least according to your fan forum) who would be willing to buy one. There are a lot of reasons this happens, and not very many will make you feel better.

On television, you had to deal with all the following things:

On TV, the first to popularize the concept of home video was HBO with The Sopranos, and nowadays, with the ease of putting a show on DVD or a streaming service and easily replicating and distributing it, the fragility and expense problems of VHS are a thing of the past — but for older shows, they have to be converted to digital first. You still have issues with rightsholders, censorship, and distributors wanting to protect their TV channels — it's especially a problem in certain countries where the networks are so profit-driven that the advertisers decide which programs they show and will block the whole DVD thing to get you to see the ads. Also, not every streaming service is available in every country, and even when it is, it might not have as extensive a library there as it might elsewhere. This might be why piracy is so much more prevalent in parts of the third world.

Of course, it's entirely possible that your show is just so niche that it really isn't worth it for the distributor to make and sell a home video release just for you and your five friends on your fan forum. No matter how many petitions you send them.

The Trope Namer is Mystery Science Theater 3000, which used the phrase in the credits of early episodes to encourage fans to share the show with each other — it was a niche thing, and the makers knew it. They also knew that the show would hit serious licensing issues later on, as each episode showed someone else's movie so that they could riff on it, and a few episodes of the show remain unobtainable (legally) even today without the proverbial tape circulation.

See also No Export for You, Missing Episode, The Shelf of Movie Languishment, and Screwed by the Network, all dealing with situations where they easily could make the work available but don't. This trope is a way of dealing with the situation. See also also Archive Team, the Wayback Machine, and the DataHoarder subreddit, which make an effort to preserve Web pages in this manner (with varying results).

Important notice: It is against TV Tropes rules to provide links or directions to pirated material. Please do not tell readers where can illegally obtain any work. When writing examples, just say that it can be found online and leave it at that. (Think of it this way: if the link becomes too popular, they'll take it down.)

And please accept our apologies if you thought this trope was about a certain creepy woman in a well.

Examples