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Latest Netflix Earnings Report Mixed
nmpost writes with one interpretation of Netflix's Q2 results (PDF). From the article: "The beginning of the end may be at hand for Netflix. On Tuesday, the movie rental company posted its second quarter results, and they were not promising. While the company returned to profitability following a first quarter loss, Netflix had a 91% drop in net income. The company's troubles began when it attempted to split its DVD-by-mail and streaming services, effectively doubling the price it was charging customers. External forces are now beginning to weigh on the company, and its doom appears to be within sight. The biggest challenges facing Netflix over the coming months are going to be competition and licensing fees. Three huge companies are competing against Netflix in the streaming arena, which has already surpassed its DVD-by-mail business. Amazon, Apple, and Google all offer streaming content as well. As movie and television studios began to demand higher licensing fees, Netflix will not be able to pay, while these tech giants will. Netflix will eventually be priced out of the market."
Engadget, on the other hand, shines some positive light on the report: "The results are in from its Q2 2012 earnings report, and it's claiming 27.56 million streaming subscribers worldwide, up from 26 million last quarter. In the US alone that includes 23.94 million customers, after it reported 23.4 million in Q1, while DVD customers dropped by 850k to 9.24 million." So it appears that Netflix is either gaining new streaming customers, or converting those expensive DVD customers into more lucrative streaming-only customers.
If Netflix dies I guess that's the end of DVD-by-mail. I know at least one person who won't be happy. He rents the DVD and then he & his wife watch the movie or TV show together.
My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
q on q it's.. well, I don't know how you'd use percentages to turn a negative into a positive, but over(under) minus -100% ?
they're profitable at least now.
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
Why pay for streaming with Netflix, which doesn't work on Linux, when I can use Amazon and the other services which work everywhere.
Fuck Reed Hastings and his company.
Mod me down, my New Earth Global Warmingist friends!
Since nearly all the content people want to watch needs to be licensed willingly be the major studios, this should be no surprise. They'll just keep raising their rates until Netflix goes out of business. This is the inevitable failure of a permission-based service provider.
At least with DVDs they weren't existing at the whim of the studios. They could make them horribly angry and still operate legally. With streaming they have no such independence.
This is what happens when you isolate your company to one country.
Sure, Netflix is in Canada (and perhaps elsewhere now) but their offering is staggeringly poor outside the US. So little to watch when it came out I didn't even bother with a free trial.
Of course, this is probably the fault of copyright, but either way, you're doomed to a 5% marketshare if you only properly support the US.
first they charged more, then they split services and then they wanted me to accept a new TOS. That was it for me.
Plus their service in other countries sucks for the locals.
"The beginning of the end may be at hand for Netflix. [...] its doom appears to be within sight." Are you kidding? The company with 28+ million subscribers is not going to fold any time soon. In fact, it's not going anywhere ever. Worst case scenario, they get bought by someone else who can do it for cheaper.
Please stop pluralizing words with an apostrophe. That is not what it is there for.
>> Amazon, Apple, and Google all offer streaming content as well.
Now how about offering these services in Europe as well so I don't have to pirate anymore. Why won't they take my money?
NetFlix may not survive, but even if they die out I couldn't be happier for their contribution to the world.
You may not like their policies, business decisions or CEO, but NetFlix was a pioneer in their field. They were the first company to provide cheap, easy, unlimited streaming compatible with dozens of devices. That genie is out of the bottle now, and while there's a long battle ahead over licensing fees, royalties, etc ... there has been a permanent shift in the way we watch movies.
NetFlix has also established a very nice base price-point. If Amazon, Apple, Google or any other competitor want to charge more than $8-10 a month, they'd better provide some added value.
This signature is false.
streaming is all hype but in the end you're just a billing company. with DVD's there is the infrastructure cost that drives small startups away and most people won't switch unless there is a reason to.
with streaming you're just another middle man. you don't own anything. i dumped netflix and went to amazon. same content, in fact amazon seems a little better
netflix streaming was crap and they refused to change to a tiered pricing model. not only was netflix's selection crap but they constantly lost content every day. and no way to rent a single movie unlike amazon
just like henry ford so many years ago refused to change and lost market share to GM.
in summary this is what happens when you outsource everything like netflix did. you have nothing to call your own and to have a competitive advantage with. its the scam of the low monthly payment. yes its cheaper, but in the long run you lose. netflix was just a bunch of devs in an office. the content was outsourced to level 3. the corporate data center was on amazon's cloud. not too hard to replicate this model, just sign some content deals.
Perhaps one of the competitors will actually provide a service that is DRM free, or at least value for money like Spotify. Until users get uncontrolled access to the media they want to purchase, their will only be one company that will remain solid and stable: p2p sharing. Die or survive, I don't think I could care less for netflix.
They could have done what Showtime and HBO do and create their own content.
A note to the MPAA. You better be careful what you wish for.
My family loves and adores Netflix. It is an creative and innovative method of consuming entertainment.
If the MPAA succeeds in their obscene desire to destroy Netflix at any cost, I WILL NEVER EVER respect their "IP" rights. I will steal any content I want.
I am sick to death of the entertainment industry on bing hellbent on not letting me enjoy the entertainment they are selling in the way I choose to.
They should view Netflix as a godsend that enables them to have a future. Instead they view it as the enemy.
If they destroy Netflix, I will have no ethical problem stealing what the movie and TV industry creates. Their obscene greed and arrogance doesn't give them any moral standing to lecture the customers who they depend on for their existence.
GIVE US WHAT WE WANT! Oh and what we want is to not wait months after DVDs are released to stream movies, and we don't want to pay $5 to rent a streaming video, and we don't think ridiculous DRM schemes (hello ultraviolet) are reasonable.
If I want to watch Breaking Bad I can pay google $8 per season or $2 per episode, or I can pay Amazon $22 per season (!!!).
Or I can pay Netflix flat rate of $20 and watch all four seasons, then watch Dexter, Weeds, Black Adder, for no extra cost.
How is Google/Amazon's model even remotely a threat to Netflix?
Clearly I'm missing something.
https://www.accountkiller.com/removal-requested
but if the movie studios kill Netflix due to these ridiculous licensing fees, I just may be done with that form of content. A majority of the content I stream on the internet now days is user created content anyway, so if the movie/music industry wants to continue to be the "whores" they are, then the only way to send them a message is to just stop subscribing to their content, no matter which company it's through. Regarding the DVD rentals, Netflix hurt themselves there.
wife acceptance factor?
OK I got the roku box. So, honey, I can sign up for amazon prime or netflix. If I sign up for amazon prime I'll never pay for postage again and it'll all be 2 day instead of next week or so, but netflix offers nothin extra. You can guess how that discussion turned out.
The crazy thing is amazon prime is basically free for me because I buy so much stuff from them that I profit WRT to annual fee vs no more postage. I assume this free postage stuff will go away if I buy too many 40 pound bags of kitty litter from the other side of the country. I have to look into that. I'll need road salt in a couple more months and I was thinking ten 80 pound bags of crystal solar salt might work.
"Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
Let's hope the whole proprietary streaming industry collapses. Not just Netflix, but Amazon's and Apple's too. If you need a weirdo client to play the videos, then you have taken a technological step backward from OTA TV or analog cable TV. I am not going to pay for their weird luddite religion.
The current state of the art is offered by pirates: here's the file and it Just Works, with whatever software you want to use, on any box that you want to play it on, to be played at any time of day that you want.
Solutions which generate revenue for the industry, need to become at least as good as that. Nothing less, will ever get a cent from me. Until then, piracy will both serve consumer needs, and also (two birds with one stone!) deny revenue/reward to the industry which is doing everything it can to retard (and even regress) progress. Starve them until they offer what we want.
The world won't miss Netflix. We already have something much better, more convenient, more reliable, more interoperative, which also come with that good feeling that the technophobes in Hollywood aren't getting your money. The best part of it all, is that when they match all the technical aspects (the convenience, the reliability, the interoperability) then the good feeling will flip at the same moment, and money will start falling into their laps. It's all so easily solvable; just say yes to customers, like every other industry learns to do. Hollywood, you're not a special exception to this ancient principle.
"Believe me!" -- Donald Trump
There are so many skills to master, and interesting subjects to study. The paltry entertainment value of the lowest-common-denominator quality of movies and TV programs pale in comparison to the value of being awesomer than one's peers.
Drop netflix and engratin yourself.
(yes, "engratin" is a perfectly cromulent word)
(yes, that previous comment implies a direct contradiction of everything I said before. That was on purpose.)
(No, I do not do comedy for a living).
I've tried HULU and for the most part their offering of recent TV shows is pretty bland. If Netflix focused on streaming TV shows the day after it aired then I would be more interested. Get steaming of other TV shows other then the 4 main networks (ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX). More from History Channel, Discovery, SciFi, FX, TNT and so on.
TPB for life.
Netflix had an opportunity to transform their business and their clientele but chose instead to overreact. They should have slowly phased out DVD-by-mail by paring down the available DVD catalog in favor of streaming offerings without charging their customers higher fees. I personally would not have been offended by having to stream a show or a movie because it was no longer offered as a DVD. I might have been disappointed that Blu-Ray was no longer an option for certain things but doubt I would have quit as a subscriber over that. They took exactly the wrong action: cut down my options and ask me to pay double. Instant ragequit.
We really need your help
http://www.gofundme.com/help-sherry
Ok I know that sometimes I miss things but which of those 3 offer a flat rate of $8/month to stream all content avail. Isn't amazon per show/season, same with apple. Not sure what google is offering outside youtube.
I'm generally curious. The wife and I get all our content from either netflix or sickbeard+sab+astraweb. And I only use the latter when Netflix doesn't carry it, cause I try to support legal options for streaming. Also is my roku/bluray going to support these other options? (I know roku does have amazon)
(Oh I do use the latter to DL the 720p versions of the DVD's I already own cause I'm not rebuying at same price (charge me $2-$4 I probably would) for the better quality (don't have a 1080p TV my 50"/32" have been fine past 5 years and plan to get many more))
Having just gone through the process of buying an internet-enabled Blu-ray player, the thing that sticks out is that Netflix gets a dedicated red button on the remote. I'm not sure what that cost them but what a great starting point for getting people hooked. Kind of like Microsoft bundling IE with Windows. People tend towards the path of least resistance. So I presume Netflix will do well as long as the red button works.
Personally however, I didn't find anything of theirs I wanted to rent. Instead I rent on demand from other services. I don't get to push that nice red button ... most disheartening.
They still have options the "tech giants" won't touch.
Equals no discs, ever.
I'm not proud of the pirating aspect, but there doesn't seem to be a one-stop, stream-everything-ever-made service, which is what I want. So, because such a service doesn't exist, I know I'm not taking business away from anyone.
The Engadget article isn't really negative at all, while TFA is completely slanted and makes it seem like Netflix is about to fall any day. And maybe I've been living under a rock, but I've never heard of "NorthMobilePost.com". Just seems like flame bait or competitor propaganda to me. Netflix is still the king of the hill and their subscriber base is growing.
lol, stalked by a registered user?
NONE of us like you. please leave this site and go brag about having fucking dialup somewhere else, moron.
I know I'm only a lowly UK subscriber, and I don't use any fancy VPN stuff to get access to the full NetFlix library, but I really like their service as it is. We don't get the DVD rental service from them over in the UK, and here's the thing - we don't want it! All we want from NetFlix over here is more content. The UK library gets additional content every so often, but there's never many films/shows added at a time.
I specifically chose NetFlix over Amazon's LoveFilm offering because NetFlix offered better picture/sound quality and more of the content I actually wanted to watch.
I love NetFlix because it works on all my devices (PC, PS3, Android, iOS) and because the user interface is so easy to use, the Wifely Person can use it without asking for help. It's simple, it's cheap, it's legal, and it should not die.
Last I heard streaming content was nowhere in size near DVD based content
Yeah if they are still using Silverlight they are missing out on all the phone and tablet users as well.
WTF? I watch Netlfix all the time through its iPhone app.
Drill baby drill - on Mars
The drop in net income for Netflix is according to plan. The plan is to rapidly expand into new markets, investing current income in growth, rather than taking it as profit. Subscriber numbers and hours of content streamed both show the plan is proceeding nicely. The size of the subscription base gives them the income to buy the content to keep subscribers happy. In my house, we watch about 3 movies a week streamed from Netflix, and about 2 movies a month individually rented from Amazon. So they're each getting 8 bucks from us. But Amazon Prime isn't worth it - the selection is far slimmer than Netflix's, and with our purchases of other stuff from them over $25, the shipping's free anyway.
Anyway, Netflix wasn't looking for immediate profit this last quarter. They were looking for income to reinvest. They got it. They grew. Since when was it the wrong strategy for an Internet company to get really, really big first, and worry about profit afterwards? Worked for Google. And Amazon.
"with their freedom lost all virtue lose" - Milton
I use dialup when traveling.
You could always buy an Android tablet with enough storage to hold multiple movies and then rent enough movies from Google Play to last you through your trip. I seem to remember having an option to download the entire rented movie to DRM storage before watching it. (Look for the push-pin icon.) Or what am I missing?
You have to wait 2 days for it to show up in the mail, but with a stream, it's instant and you can watch what you want when you want.
With a stream, it eats into your monthly data transfer allowance, and someone living in an area where the best home broadband has a single digit GB/mo cap (e.g. satellite or WISP) isn't going to be watching a lot of movies in a month.
The DVD side is a legacy, and will go away just like horse drawn buggies.
If the roads in your area were unsuitable for cars, you'd have to use a horse drawn buggy. The DVD side will go away once streaming is available everywhere in the same sense that electric power and land-line telephone service are available everywhere.
My Dad is interested in Netflix, but the problem is what to get for him. Apple TV ties him to a walled garden, Boxee is too complicated for him (seriously). Then you are stuck with a bunch of middling boxes that never rate very well.
There are a slew of people that probably have heard of Netflix streaming but just do not have any idea how to get it on their TV. older folks tend to think of TV's as requiring some component attached to them to get content.
So why doesn't Netflix just market a TV box or HDMI dongle to access their service, period.
I guarantee that the 50+ crowd would flock to their local big box electronics stores, see a "Netflix" product and snap them up.
Yeah, there are tons of solutions for Netflix on TV's, but there is a large slew of people out there that don't have the time, inclination or desire to investigate one of the 100's of possible ways to get Netflix on their TV, they just want to buy something and plug it in without it being too complicated or convoluted in presentation to use.
Netflix subscription rates are not increasing, this suggest they have tapped the market of technically savvy enough people that can and will find a way to connect Netflix to their TV. What Netflix needs to realize is that to grow their market they need to find even easier ways to access their services. As incredible as that might seem to us Slashdotters, the flat line subscription numbers are speaking volumes of the need fore easier to use electronics as the "Baby Boomers" start retiring with limited pensions and gobs of free time.
I haven't thought of anything clever to put here, but then again most of you haven't either.
if Netflix is gone maybe the vacuum will spur someone to finally crack the enigma that is "Streaming Rentals" that don't cost an arm and a leg.
The enigma in question is the rural last mile, and that's an issue of "technology or logistics" for ISPs to solve. Disc rental by mail is the only practical service if all you can get in your area are dial-up and satellite, not DSL, cable, or fiber.
The netflix selection is [...] good enough vs what is on TV anyway.
By "what is on TV anyway" do you mean cable or OTA?
Hello,
I just don't understand why the media business likes to lose money. ;)
If Netflix dies, I will simply download torrents. Maybe go over to the Usenet side of things.
Never will I pay for TV, and simply TV will die.
they do provide an app for linux, but it's requirements are that you run android on that linux
Say I install Android for x86 on a desktop or laptop PC. How do I get Google Play Store onto Android for x86 on a PC so that I can install Netflix? I understand that Google Play Store comes only prepackaged with devices, and I'm not aware of any x86 laptops that come with Google Play Store.
Both, the vast majority of everything ever is garbage.
This includes streaming selections.
I know you will mention you and your children enjoy child molester ball, I mean handegg, I mean football. I can honestly do without sports if they don't want my money. I am not so emotionally attached to the accomplishments of others.
If the pipe providers have anything to do with it (and they will) you'll start seeing caps on the amount of data you can download per month. One or two of them have already started this. We're seeing it with the cellphone providers doing away with "unlimited" data packages. Streaming an HD movie takes a lot of bandwidth. Until recently the problem was the speed of the home connection. Now you can get very fast home internet connections so speed is no longer an issue. The next issue will be the so called "bandwidth hogs". Those greedy telco pricks will no doubt find a way to put caps on the amount of data you can download with your broadband connection, probably by offering tiered pricing. And if you're someone that likes to download a lot of movies be prepared to take it up the ass when those plans get announced. In the end it will cost more for streaming than getting DVD's by mail, maybe a lot more. At that point a lot of people will go back to the DVD my mail model. Yet another example of technology advances getting stymied by greedy companies looking to squeeze every nickel they can from you.
So somebody managed to type =R55/M55 and figure out that Net Income is 9% of what it was last June. Congrats on an entirely useless analysis. NetFlix was losing money last quarter and now isn't. This is a good thing, and anything but an indication that NetFlix is on its way out.
If anything's interesting, it's that they're now paying $155,000,000 more to deliver those subscriptions to only about 10% more subscribers. Without spending any time looking for the answer (I'm not a NetFlix investor, so I don't care), I'd infer that content providers are taking a bigger bite of the value NetFlix creates. They're STILL managing to do that profitably. If they can't, they'll raise prices and a lot of people, including me, will probably still find them a compelling value at $10-12 a month. It's possible content providers will price them out of the market, but they have a financial incentive not to unless they're directly competing with NetFlix.
I get the Netflix DVD service, not the streaming. The streaming is heavily skewed to boring, hyper-commercial new releases, whereas the DVD collection is a vast library of indie, foreign, and artistic films and videos essentially unavailable anywhere else. Losing that would be a tragedy. I don't give a flying fuck about the latest movie star vehicles or blockbuster action crap. I can't stand the cardboard acting or shallow and contrived writing of most commercial movies that are on the streaming service. Bummer.
Not that anyone cares, but my thoughts:
Netflix: reasonable price, good feeds but selection can be lacking and TV series a season or more behind
Hulu Plus: great price, selection on TV shows sometimes fills in what Netflix is missing (and vice versa). Can't stand the ads
Amazon Instant Video: unlike the others no monthly fee, everything is single purchases or a season. Discounts and some free stuff for prime members. Up to date but streaming can sometimes be problematic compared to the others on the ps3
Vudu: like amazon no single monthly fee, everything is single purchases or a season. Streams great and their HDX format is top notch for streaming. Absolutely great picture with 5.1 audio, but also the most costly of the group.
We can look forward to rapacious bullshit from the cable companies to empower the fuck out of all of us. Time Warner would jack their prices day one, reduce their on-demand services and move that whole catalog to pay per view.
Sorry, that doesn't make sense to me. Are they saying Amazon, Apple and Google are going to be operating their streaming service at a loss? And since those companies have other revenues, they can afford to go on while Netflix will die? Seriously? Sounds like a really stupid business model to get into.
Here's my take on it: Most the major studios are/have ISP themselves, so why do they want to lose out on profits they can be making themselves? HBO Go They of course, aren't licensing their stuff to Netflix, because they want the money for themselves. Other studios are hmm, cut out the middle man, but the middle man is giving us money, so how about we just make it more expensive for him?
For example, if you use Comcast streaming stuff (which costs), it doesn't go on your 250gb cap. But if you use netflix, it does.
The truth is, the studio were really fucking slow to get on the bandwagon, and Netflix appeared to fill a need, now, the studios in the greedy grab to get as much money before the system collapses, are going to fuck the middleman until they are the only option left for consumers.
I honestly think the various Corporations involved in the Corporate Greed Policy, know their days are numbered, and are getting what they can, while they can, before enough people wake up and put a stop to it.
It's the sacking of Rome. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sack_of_Rome
Be seeing you...
Replace MPAA with RIAA and Netflix with MP3s and it is the exact same argument from the late 90s.
They have the same MO. They create this desire, the NEED for this entertainment. Then they have to control how you get it. People will either get turned off to it, or find ways around it. It happened with MP3s. It was all about ripping/sharing/DLing (napster). What the RIAA *should* have done was embraced MP3s, converted their massive backlog of music to that format, and set up a cheap pricing structure and ways for people to get them. Instead, they fought to destroy digital music.
We see how well that worked.
Hell, this is the 2nd time around for the MPAA, they fought in court to get VCRs banned, declared illegal. Look how much money they made off of VHS/DVD sales.
I love Netflix, we've watched all kinds of stuff we wouldn't have set out to watch otherwise. Just got done with United States of Tara. We do the DVD and streaming options, with kids it's well worth it. I hope Netflix thrives despite the licensing challenges ahead of them.
My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.
Netflix is investing heavily to expand into international markets. That's where the lion's share of their revenue has gone. I feel they have a stronger brand in movies-on-demand than anyone else, and the single price point is easier to grok than other companies - which is a lot friendlier to the customers. Being an internet company, their brand preceeds them overseas by word of mouth, so I'm betting their revenues will be up in the coming quarters.
If these results are such a bad sign, shouldn't the "beginning of the end" have been when Netflix's guidance in its previous quarterly report projected this performance? Or even a quarter before that when they predicted multiple quarters of losses due to the expense of expanding their streaming business to other countries?
I watch movies all the time via the Cable subscription channels and I rarely watch regular TV. But now I'm becoming very frustrated with all providers of movies whether it be streaming, paid channels or even NetFlix. I pay for 2 sets of premium channels a month and HD channels (limited #no.) for my entertainment, and it used to be that if I paid for the premium channels, any movies they are currently showing during a specified time frame I could watch on demand. Now, that's barely even available.
NetFlix was bothered me at first because I didn't like the idea of wasting $$ when I might not watch a movie in a month. Eventually it really took off and I really enjoyed it for the DVDs were sent to the house and there weren't late fees. It basically destroyed the Video stores. I can't find one anywhere anymore. When they offered streaming, WOW, awesome. But the ISP's have jumped all over that and the MPAA and everyone has to have their hand in the cookie jar and double dip too.
Cable providers tack on their own fees for everything and frankly cable prices are sky high for (in my opinion) not so great selections of programming content.
I hate going to the movie theater because movie prices are just too expensive in my eyes, and lets not talk concession, or about all the people who refuse to turn off their phones or leave their kids at home for R rated movies. I do still, but very very limited.
I'm frustrated that their is virtually no where I can go to peruse a video selection from outside my home and have an expansive selection to choose from. Best Buy, FYE have a large selection, to buy.
NetFlix has a varying selection. Sometimes content is available, sometimes it's not. DVDs are disappearing and Streaming is becoming the norm. And with everyone else killing it or tacking on their own fees, it's ridiculous. Augh.
I know old video stores were a pain in the butt, but at least they existed.
Life takes interesting turns, but the most interest is when you're off the beaten path.
I dropped cable TV and phone service from cable companies. I use a $30 per year VoIP service that works 99.99% of the time. No bull hockey FCC taxes helping the poor or people living far out from cities.
We use the local library, Netflix streaming with 1 DVD per month rental, and OTA HDTV for PBS. I save over $900 a year over what I used to pay and I enjoy the service much better.
The Netflix CEO and some of their management have been acting like idiots lately. I would pay $40 a month for what I'm getting right now (I'd still save $450 a year). It's way better and costs less than crappy cable or satellite choices.
Netflix greatest values to me are 1) selection of movies on demand 2) streaming 3) quality of video 4) no commercials. My family has decided to give up on watching movies altogether over Internet if our only choice is pay per view. If we want pay per view I'll go sit in the theatre. All the other Internet video that only do pay per view will never get money from my family.
I've emailed Netflix but they have their head in their a$$. A few good programmers could easily add value for very little impact on their infrastructure.
Netflix, add filters to queue! It would be most excellent for a Netflix subscriber to add "filters". So when movies are added to queue, the option to apply particular filters would be part of process, a simply menu display queues with a check box in ones I frequently select. Then, on my Smart HDTVs and other Netflix devices I can default to "KID" filter so my kids are not subject my adult swim recommendations. When I watch TV when kids are in bed I can remove "kid" filter and use "dad" filter. The fact that you show all my R movies, adult swim, and stuff to my young children who want to simply watch a youthful tells me your management has their head up their A$$. It's simply, there is GREAT value in filters, it's cheap, quick, and wouldn't change your infrastructure that much. YOU CAN CHARGE FOR FILTERS. You got some smart folks, use their brain power to figure out some more ways.
Second suggestion. Let users select their own style sheets. Your red colors and design are boring. There is no reason why you can't let people select their own styles and use them. Charge people for each style. Let people pick other people style (even let people buy others and you get a cut). Point is, use the flexibility of browsers, dynamic site content, and database to extract more value.
You need any more tips, I got a lot more. You probably won't listen. I'll simply use you while you last.
I don't really watch TV much to begin with. So, they can either give me equal or greater content at the $10 a month price point or less and I can use them OR they can attempt to sell me a crappy service missing most of the good stuff and/or at a price above $10 a month and I can take my business to ThePirateBay or just plain do without and save the $10. The choice is theirs.
The loss of content on Netflix has already reached a dismal level at times. I don't blame them for it though, I blame the distributors trying to push them out, so I will make sure to NEVER use any company they endorse to try and gain more control. Cause I can easily see them lure people in and when the competition is all but gone, jack up the prices to current cable levels or worse.
This is what happens when you isolate your company to one country...you're doomed to a 5% marketshare if you only properly support the US.
That is one of the more staggeringly stupid comments I've read recently.
Short of expanding to China or Russia, almost anywhere else they could potentially expand would only offer a small increase in potential marketshare. To sustain that, they have to figure out the supply chain logistics, marketing strategy, support infrastructure, and goodness knows what else in an entirely different context.
Doing that in Canada is one thing; proximity makes it quite a bit easier. But overseas?
Do yourself a favor and do an MBA. I know people on Slashdot love to bash MBAs, but it's comments like this that demonstrate why more geeks could stand to learn something.
Their selection of streaming movies sucks. Films listed under 'recently acquired' have been there for a year or more. They used to have agreat selection of documentaries but I've seen most of them. A few good foreign films get in. The point is that they spend as little as possible licensing movies rather than paying more for good ones and attracting more viewers. They're penny wise and pound foolish. Lots of businesses make this mistake and most go down the tubes.
Licensing is the big issue. Imagine a service able to stream every movie ever made in every language. Storage is nothing. Bandwidth would give ISPs seizures. But licensing? Negotiating those would be a nightmare no one would want to face.
The quality of what we can stream was better. As it is now, no, I would cancel.
Since I subscribed, I haven't been downloading so much, well, I download what Netflix doesn't have available. Most of us can tell the quality of the titles available are going downhill, with titles like Thor being released to stream in SD instead of HD.
I'd pay more for HBO and Showtime content and entire seasons of TV shows instead the partial seasons on some shows that we have available to watch now.
I am perfectly happy with Netflix as it is right now but not if I have to pay more.
The movies were always old, the TV shows stale, they barely brought out new content and then they decided to give a big middle finger to DIY'ers by packaging it in Silverlight and refusing to give any sort of API for integration in any Open/Free/Commercial product.
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You've got several layers of business here: (1) the studio, (2) the production company that funds the studio (the studio might be independent and the production company purchases content from the studio or the studio might be in-house for the production company), (3) the first level of distribution (think "network" like NBC or Comedy Central), (4) the physical distributors (cable companies, satellite companies, streaming companies, wholesalers, retailers, etc.).
It is increasingly the case that all four of these are owned by a single company. For example, TimeWarner owns the studios that make much of the content for the CW network, they fund those studios, they own CW, and they own Time Warner cable and some CW stations that brings the content to your door. And, herein, lies the problem. If you decide to stream a CW show, it does increase the profit at the third level (or at the second level depending on how the contract works) but at the fourth level they are losing revenue _and_ incurring greater costs.
For TimeWarner to "realize there is a ton of money to be made" they have to figure out a way that they make more money _across the board_ and that is a harder problem than first appears. I'm not saying that it can't be done, mind you. But it isn't as simple as saying that _x number of people will pay to stream title y and therefore they will make metric truckloads of money_. For example, say they start streaming all the CW original shows and charging for it. They now have an additional income stream. But this disinclines terrestrial stations from airing that same content so the CW network may lose affiliates that decide other content is more profitable because they won't have to compete with streaming. It also disinclines cable and satellite providers from paying Time Warner to broadcast CW stations. So here are two places where Time Warner as a whole is losing revenue from the decision to stream CW content. Moreover, they lose ratings because they lose marketshare so CW looks less like the young and hip network that it is supposed to look like. And Time Warner cable now has to build out additional capacity because streaming video is taking off.
If this problem could be solved, most content providers would move to streaming in a heartbeat. Why? Because streaming enables what they really want: charging per viewing per device. They really do not like DVD sales at all because they allow for rentals. Their ideal paradigm is that each viewer pay a nominal fee every time that a show is watched. Right now, cable (and satellite) offers the best way to do that with the encrypted digital signals that most cable companies are moving to. Streaming will eventually catch up with the delivery mechanisms of digital cable. Once it does, that will probably be disruptive.
Studios keep raising their streaming prices _because_ Netflix is in the DVD business. Disc rentals are kryptonite to the big studios. What they want is to earn money per view. They earn a small, one-time fee when Netflix buys a physical disc. That one disc is then eventually viewed by hundreds if not thousands of viewers over the life of the disc. They'd much rather earn a nominal fee each time a show is viewed. This is one reason Netflix wanted to divest itself of its DVD business, to facilitate negotiations with the content studios.
The other problem they have with Netflix is that it's independent of the physical distribution arms owned by the studios. Time Warner, for example, wants people chained to Time Warner cable. They have an incentive not to license their content to a service which can be used by cable companies that compete with Time Warner.
My family watches Netflix streaming every day, every night. What we want, when we want, with no commercials. There are no Disney offerings, no Hollywood blockbusters, but I view that as a net positive. My kids don't know who Mickey Mouse is and so don't pester me to buy them Disney crap or take them to Disneyworld. They don't pester me for any merchandized crap. That saves me a ton of $. As a beleaguered parent, I'm grateful for that.
In the meantime I get to discover very fine films and TV shows from indys and overseas that I would otherwise never have been exposed to. I get to watch entire seasons of US TV shows without the incredibly annoying extended commercial breaks or airing delays.
We still have DVDs in our plan, but they've become an afterthought. Why wait for a DVD with the latest from Hollywood's hype machine when streaming scratches the itch without wait, post office BS, or anything else?
Disney, the Hollywood studios, and all the rest of the gang of usual suspects are missing us, and relegating themselves to cultural irrelevance because they refuse to adapt to technology. Good f*ing riddance, guys!
If not us, who? If not now, when?