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Quickflix Wants Netflix To Drop Australian VPN Users
ashshy writes 200,000 Australian residents reportedly use Netflix today, tunneling their video traffic to the US, UK, and other Netflix markets via VPN connections. A proper Netflix Down Under service isn't expected to launch until 2015. Last week, Aussie video streaming company Quickflix told Netflix to stop this practice, so Australian viewers can return to Quickflix and other local alternatives. But Quickflix CEO Stephen Langsford didn't explain how Netflix could restrict Australian VPN users, beyond the IP geolocating and credit card billing address checks it already runs. Today, ZDNet's Josh Taylor ripped into the absurdity of Quickflix's demands. From the article: "If Netflix cuts those people off, they're going to know that it was at the behest of Foxtel and Quickflix, and would likely boycott those services instead of flocking to them. If nothing else, it would encourage those who have tried to do the right thing by subscribing and paying for content on Netflix to return to copyright infringement."
So they want a competitor to cut off customers which they can't serve (or because they can't compete)?
If your service is good and it's what people want, you will survive. If it isn't, and people go elsewhere ... too damned bad. If I was dealing with a company, and their competitor made them stop providing me service, there is no way in hell I'd go with the competitor, since they effectively blocked me from getting the service I do want.
This just sounds like "waah, we can't compete with Netflix, so Netflix needs to stop serving the customers we haven't been able to attract". Screw that. Your "local alternative" may not be as good, and the consumer shouldn't be forced into using your crappy product just because you say so.
I'd be seriously pissed at Quickflix for being self entitles assholes. And I sure as hell wouldn't do business with them.
Why do companies feel they are entitled to our business? I'll do business with whomever I want.
These clowns sound like candidates for the B-ark.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
It says a lot about Quickflix's service when Netflix via VPN is an actual competitive problem for them.
It's not hard from a technology perspective, and it never has been.
It's hard from a "these corporations are greedy bastards" perspective. They want to maximize profits. Pure and simple.
If that means telling the consumer "no, you can't have our product until we can figure out how to sell it to you for more money", they're OK with that.
You don't need to look beyond money, because technology isn't the roadblock here.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
I keep hearing "greed" but that is a copout. Greedy people do not refuse to license their products for decades.
They do if they believe that the new channel will cannibalize their existing channels (DVDs) and produce lower net revenue.
The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!