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Netflix to Offer Movie Downloads
kev0153 writes "Over at CNN Money they are reporting on a story about Netflix offering a video on demand over the web service in '05. They are also eyeing the multibillion-dollar video game market. "We're playing it a little defensively, because if we lose the digital download market, you'll soon be hearing about the rise and fall of Netflix," said Netflix CEO Reed Hastings."
I really wonder how they ever expect to have this idea profit, while shooting GB's worth of files constantly down the pipes, and if I can download it off bit torrent, why would I want to pay for it?
Cool idea, but some questions should be answered first
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I don't think anybody can launch a Hollywood-movies-on-demand without having the cable companies on board. They can place servers closer to their users, and have the advantage of being able to allocate more bandwidth to themselves on their cable systems. They're going to have an advantage over any outside provider...
Netflix doesn't rent porn.
They will once they look at the numbers. Porn is one of the best selling things ever, and nobody would want to lose an opportunity that large. Except, possibly, some religious or morally incensed people, but greed should rule those out.
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So I get a video on demand over the internet - and I assume that it'll stream and make use of my cache (or some other temp file). If I keep the cache/temp file, does that mean I can keep/own the movie??
Or will these guys have some kind of no-cache proxy in place?
How can games be downloaded from netflix or any other place. For instance X-Box games have to ripped from the DVD and converted into a ISO using something like XISO. Then you have to burn it to a CD so that you can play it on your X-Box. Or you can FTP over to your X-Box which in either case require a mod-chip. Are they honestly expecting us to delete the game once we done "renting" it. I mean I'm not going to pay $0.75 for a DVD that I just burned a very good game, just to throw it away after a few days.
The other side is are you required to have a mod-chip on your gaming console so that you can download and play these games. In either case I think the gaming downloads will fail miserably but the movie downloads will be huge hit.
I can't say that I'm exactly super-pleased with Netflix. The past three DVD's that I've sent back haven't even arrived in time for the next weekend when they were mailed out on the previous Sunday and it's not even like I rent a ton of movies-- these three were over the course of 5 weeks!
And it failed miserably. They're going to have a very hard time convincing the MPAA and the studios to allow them to stream the content without some serious consideration to DRM.
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Heh, the joke's on you buddy! You THINK you're saving money, when in the meantime you're buying blanks, bigger hard drives, faster burners, more shelves to hold your growing DVD/game collection, markers & stickers to label your collection, a bigger TV to watch it all on...
Which goes to show you, in the end, money DOES get spent after all. "Piracy" doesn't damage the economy - it merely displaces where the money goes. In this case, it goes to Netflix, to the people who produced the DVDs (they probably have a contract with Netflix, giving them a percentage), the people who make DVD blanks (along with the whole import chain that delivered them into your hands), the Post Office...
I wonder if there's a restriction against lending Netflix movies to friends before you return em?
They certainly seem alert enough to be using both eyes!
:)
I think it's really refreshing to see a CEO doing more than spouting positive press for their stock holders. NetFlix isn't scared to say it like it is: "Yeah, we've got this market covered; but competition is heating up, and we need to expand or things could get rocky!" Way to go, NetFlix.
'Course, I'm a big NetFlix fan. Love seeing those red envelopes in the mail.
Lion's Gate (LGF ) owns a majority stake in CinemaNow, the closest competition. LGF stock has been all over the place in the past few months due to Video-On-Demand deals with major studios. Unlike LGF, which grew from strength to strength after acquiring Artisan Films, is based in Hollywood, and has exclusive rights to several hundred movies as well as ties with the major players in the entertainment business, Netflix is more a rental mall for DVDs.
otoh, Netflix's CEO has been predicting his entry into the VOD market for the past few years, and they did trails with sample footage for most DVDs.
Competition's always beneficial to the consumer.
Netflix has a problem now with discs that are broken in the mail or otherwise go lost. When this happens, they apologize and send you another disc. Only rarely is the consumer blamed for this -- and when he is, there's no fine assessed, the account is simply closed. So Netflix is currently eating 100% of the cost of lost, broken, and stolen discs, which by some accounts has hit 1% of all shipments. Charging a fee is loaded with problems, since the US Mail service is probably responsible most of the time, and if Netflix tried to bill me for something that wasn't my fault, I'd cancel my account immediately.
The problem here is not just that games will cost the company more, but they're probably more likely to be stolen than DVDs, and there's not a lot the company can do about it. With a brick and mortar Blockbuster, there's no intermediary to blame, so they can get away with charging you for losing the game.
filmcritic.com - Movie reviews on Internet time
I guess they realized that it was too hard to compete with newsgroups and p2p programs. Why go to your door to pick up the porn you ordered, it's too much effort!
If that made any sense, why doesn't Netflix insure shipments already? The USPO would absolutely not give insurance to Netflix for free, that would be ludicrous. They may give a nice discount as they do with all bulk mail, but it won't be more than 30% or so... In any event, postal insurance costs (retail) $1.20 per shipment minimum -- and that would be $2.40 to ship both ways. Considering the current shipment cost to Netflix is about $.60 round trip, bumping that up to $3.00 per shipment would quickly kill the company. Even at $2.00 per shipment, there's no way the company could make money without dramatically raising costs -- which, in the case of games, they may have to do. My theory is that they would return to standard $X per rental pricing where you are entitled to have it out for Y number of days... or possibly X number of rentals per month for fee $Y (vs. all you can eat).
In any event if a disc got stolen, Netflix would break even; they wouldn't profit, as they would have to prove the cost of the disc they insured.
filmcritic.com - Movie reviews on Internet time
How did the MPAA not managed to shove similar legislation down our throats?
Has the video industry just not been successful at squashing Netflix via "senators-in-the-pocket", or are they actually embracing these rentals?
They deliver DVDs and games to your door in under an hour. Order your movies or games online or by phone and they'll be at your door before a pizza would.
Their trick is they have vans driving around with all of their inventory inside. Talk about bandwidth!
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I decided not to do business with Netflix a while back, because they send spam. (That's not my page, but the guy who posted it apparently got the same spam messages I did.) I encourage everybody to avoid doing business with them until they stop abusing our inboxes.
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Sony is also looking to get in the downloading act: "Crucially Reeves [A Sony Big Boss] also mentioned Sony's 'ultimate goal' for PlayStation 3: 'To get into electronic broadband distribution'. By 2006, when Reeves anticipates that all of Sony's currently in-development hardware products should be available, Sony hopes users will have always available online access along with viable broadband distribution....This massive statement has huge potential ramifications for the industry at large and is likely to cause a storm among retailers, with the suggestion that Sony plans eventually to sell its games as downloads, cutting overheads, cutting out the middle men and, ultimately, cutting the cost to the consumer." http://www.plugincinema.com/plugin/news/newslist1. php
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While other people have tried similar ideas, no one has really brought it into the spotlight as successful, probably due to download speeds. However, perhaps if Netflix uses an improved transmission system such as the proposed FAST TCP, it will make the downloads a bit easier. Furthermore, we are seeing continuous increases in bandwidth by the broadband ISPs who are conforming to pressures of competition. I'm thinking with a 3 Mbps pipe, downloading several movies per week should be no problem, as long as your ISP doesn't mind.
But think about it: we're in the digital age of downloading everything. iTunes has shown to be a tremendous success, and it's only a short while before movies are all downloaded as well. Someone will have to nail the movie download market, and Netflix already has an enormous user population. While people rip and burn Netflix DVD's in a pipelined fashion, there would be no need for such efforts if you could, say, begin watching a movie that's still downloading after only, say, 15 minutes of starting the process. Why would people need to pirate DVD's if they could get whatever they want whenever they want? I'm a big fan of this system and will happily use it, assuming I have a very nice high speed connection.
I'm just hoping they put up archives of Discovery Channel. Movies on Demand -- I love it!
i'm surprised no one has mentioned that greencine.com has had video-on-demand available to its members since last year, including adult titles.