Netflix goes bat@#%@ insane, it's $16 a month now if you want to keep 1 DVD + streaming, $18 for 1 B (1 Viewer)

[Sam Posten]

Crouching Theaters, Hidden Streaming:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/30/business/media/with-crouching-tiger-sequel-netflix-takes-aim-at-hollywood.html?_r=0

 

[Towergrove]

Crouching Theaters, Hidden Streaming:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/30/business/media/with-crouching-tiger-sequel-netflix-takes-aim-at-hollywood.html?_r=0

Not so fast...
Regal, Cinemark Slam Imax, Weinstein Co. for 'Crouching Tiger 2' Netflix Deal
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/regal-cinemark-slam-imax-weinstein-736692

 

[TravisR]

^ Good to see that theaters aren't dumb enough to play that movie.

 

[Sam Posten]

Related:
http://stratechery.com/2010/apple-innovators-dilemma/

 

[TravisR]

I wish that wasn't true but it is. I hate that the theater experience is dying and while I realize that I'm in the minority (especially when it comes to kids who think that they're seeing a movie when they watch it on a phone) but no home theater is as good as seeing a movie with a crowd in a good theater.

 

[Sam Posten]

I'm with you there Travis. I have expended considerable funds to try to make an impressive bang-for-the-buck home theater and yet I love the experience of going to see a movie in a crowded theater. I don't go to see anything but big new releases because of that any more and if everyone did that there would be no theaters left because blockbusters alone aren't enough.

I'm not sure what the answer is or what the future holds but it's clear that the traditional theaters are NOT reacting to these changes and the meteor IS coming whether they want it or not. The Innovator's Dillema is all about such situations and the only way to avoid it seems to be creating a culture of disrupting yourself, which is VERY rare and so far the best exemplar of it is Apple of all companies.

 

[ChromeJob]

I will actually go see an older film in a good theater (particularly locally owned, and with quality projection systems) because my own home theater could never equal that. Now, seeing something like THE THIRD MAN in a grand old movie palace will give me a way, way, WAY better experience than seeing FROZEN at the local Dodecahedtroplex with the rude masses. I've seen the theater experience decline for decades, partly due to the rise of home theater encouraging a lot of movie goers to transplant their at-home behavior to the public venue. Generally, I won't see stuff that's poorly reviewed; at my age, I can wait for it on home video (any media).

It's almost like the 1950s again, where I'll make the trek to my local true IMAX theater (not "IMAX Experience" at chain theater) to see something that's been printed for that venue, or has IMAX-specific content (a la THE DARK KNIGHT, TRON LEGACY). IF I'm interested in the film. Growing up, i was certainly more interested in a film if it had a viewing gimmick involved, e.g. MIDWAY, DAMNATION ALLEY.

 

[Sam Posten]

Netflix aims to kill region locking according to this article:
http://www.overclock3d.net/articles/misc_hardware/netflix_wants_to_make_neflix_global/1

“The VPN thing is a small little asterisk compared to piracy,” “Piracy is really the problem around the world.”​

“The basic solution is for Netflix to get global and have its content be the same all around the world so there’s no incentive to [use a VPN]. Then we can work on the more important part which is piracy,” ​

“The key thing about piracy is that some fraction of it is because [users] couldn’t get the content. That part we can fix. Some part of piracy however is because they just don’t want to pay. That’s a harder part. As an industry, we need to fix global content,”​

No clue on accuracy but I am all for it.

 

[Al.Anderson]

I didn't even know that "VPN Piracy" was a thing. But to your comment, I associate region locking to discs and I don't think Netflix is concerned about that; I think they want to fix region licensing.

 

[Ejanss]

“The VPN thing is a small little asterisk compared to piracy,” “Piracy is really the problem around the world.”
“The basic solution is for Netflix to get global and have its content be the same all around the world so there’s no incentive to [use a VPN]. Then we can work on the more important part which is piracy,”

“The key thing about piracy is that some fraction of it is because [users] couldn’t get the content. That part we can fix. Some part of piracy however is because they just don’t want to pay. That’s a harder part. As an industry, we need to fix global content,”

In the other countries, it's MORE about "They don't want to pay" (or, more accurately, "They want to show off their access to the outside/American world through the neat bits of Internet hacking they learned about.")

As long as American movies have more mystique in other countries than they do here, you're not going to stop Asian piracy just by letting them see it.


(I remember the Usenet days on one of the movie groups, where most of the outside world thought Usenet was about porn and free hacking codes, and our movie discussions used to be besieged by English-impaired Dutch and German posts asking where "all the free pirate movies were".

Causing us to ask "Do they actually have no theaters in Amsterdam?? ")

 

[Sam Posten]

Hell no:
http://www.engadget.com/2015/06/01/netflix-is-testing-ads/

 

[RolandL]

Hell no:
http://www.engadget.com/2015/06/01/netflix-is-testing-ads/

Before and after is OK. I can fast forward the before, don't care about the after.

 

[David Deeb]

Hell no:
http://www.engadget.com/2015/06/01/netflix-is-testing-ads/

From the article: "Netflix tells TechCrunch that there are currently "no plans" to run third-party ads. Instead, this would be more to get you checking out other exclusive shows"


Then I'd say, they should just add a section where you can stream their promos for their other exclusive shows.


They may be gearing to offer an "ad subscription" and an "ad free subscription" model. Would hate to see Netflix do this.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Any advertising during programming is a deal breaker and would lead me to cancel my subscription. But the occasional before and after ads, much like HBO does on their GO and NOW services and most TV networks do on their iTunes and Amazon Prime encodes, don't really bother me.

 

[ChromeJob]

I'm paying them for content, nor access to content (as in cable,). Introducing ads changes the value proposition.

 

[TonyD]

Hulu does ads. That's why I dont use it.