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Netflix's Subscriber Boom Shows the World is Accepting Internet TV (cnbc.com)
Netflix's boom in subscribers is a sign that the world is accepting internet TV, meaning without commercials and on-demand, said CEO Reed Hastings during an earnings call with investors. From a report: "The basic demand is increasing as people get more comfortable and more aware of Internet television where you don't get the commercial interruptions, where you get to watch where and when you want," said Hastings. Netflix reported $2.47 billion in revenue during Q4 2016, and earnings per share of 15 cents. The streaming giant wildly beat its original projections for subscriber additions, bringing in 7.05 million new customers compared to its Q3 estimate of 5.2 million. The majority of adds were from international viewers. Even though some shows -- like "Gilmore Girls" -- started as traditional TV shows before moving to Netflix, a large part of the draw for new subscribers came from original shows. Almost half of the most searched for shows this year were Netflix originals, said Ted Sarandos, chief content officer. The company has 42 launches coming up, including Marvel's "Iron Fist" and Drew Barrymore's zombie comedy "Santa Clarita Diet."
Advertisers and network operators shat their beds and this is direct consequence of their greed. How greedy must you be to CHARGE $100/mo and then FORCE people to sit through 15 minutes of commercial per hour all while providing the worst possible customer service? Consumers, on the whole, are not stupid and will move away from business and practices that are not consumer friendly.
At least initially, people moved to Netflix not because they had tons of good content, but because it was cheap and without ads. Now Netflix grew into viable challenger to established networks, in another couple years networks will start going out of business as subscriber loss keep accelerating.
Plus, this gouging will get Gov't involved - they are asking for repeat of breakup of Bell.
You obviously have been in a coma for a while.
Der Trumpenfuhrer and the Republicans who control congress are absolutely opposed to anything that prevents ISPs and the big media companies from screwing consumers as much as possible.
Thanks to unlimited approval of mergers, the biggest ISPs, who have monopoly control of Internet access, are also owners of most of the content creators.
Sadly, for those of us in the United States at least, this will just give additional motivation for domestic ISP's to start capping monthly data at home. Also, with net neutrality on the ropes, they can try and extract their "cut" by forcing streaming services to pay up so that they can bypass data caps and bandwidth limitations.
Neither major party candidate had a great deal of support to give for net neutrality. Hillary was somewhat in favor of it, Trump was opposed and linked it to censorship (specifically the fairness doctrine) and is opposed. Sanders was furiously in favor of the idea, but of course, he didn't get the nomination. I've had a hard time following how it is supported or opposed in Congress, but my general impression is that a few more Democrats normally favor it, versus Republicans. Regardless, I don't think net neutrality will last under Trump, and I think it would have been hurt under Clinton.
The real reason net neutrality is on the ropes is this: the idea was barely discussed by anyone during the election, in comparison to other issues. The companies that stand to profit from net neutrality are electronic media companies, and the companies that stand to profit from its removal are electronic infrastructure companies, and both will continue their fight under the covers. There wasn't much input from the electorate on the topic at all this cycle.
I saw the future 20+ years ago. I had DSL in an apartment rather than cable TV (I could afford one or the other -- not both). Antenna reception was crap. There were a bunch of sites that offered (then free) live video feeds (go go Real Video!). Local news, 1950's tv programming and even some cable programming. I lived that way for quite some time. Then I got married and wife just wanted to push a button and have the screen magically show what she wants to see. It was a few years ago when we finally got rid of cable again.
It wasn't 1080p, but a lot of it was about as good as an analog TV could display.
From the Kodi website:
IMPORTANT: The official Kodi version does not contain any content whatsoever. This means that you should provide your own content from a local or remote storage location, DVD, Blu-Ray or any other media carrier that you own.
Netflix's boom in subscribers is a sign that the world is accepting internet TV, meaning without commercials and on-demand, said CEO Reed Hastings
Yeah we've seen the "no commercials" promise before when cable TV was becoming a thing and it was bullshit then too. They'll only stay away from commercials long enough to get a subscriber base. Commercials are where most of the money is and it will be hard for them to ignore that fact. I have a hard time imagining Netflix being immune to the siren's call of that much cash forever.
Do not give too much control over a single industry to a single corporate interest. I am a netflix subscriber splitting a 4k account 4-ways, but I have absolutely no doubt when they have the market they want, the only way they are gonna keep investors interested, the 3rd-party studios low-balling prices, or their own production assets happy with their salaries is by breaking the current service in some way. It surely won't be ads, but I'm betting 4k or even HD will at some point increase to become prohibitively expensive for a big chunk of their user base that currently has those and people will have to compromise. (it already increased in the past). Either that or the account-sharing capability will be cut-off.
Subscription services have flat rates, and when the user-base stops growing and also becomes flat while you have already optimized your entire business process, the company freezes financially, which is also known as stagnation. If you look at other industries that have peaked, such as ISP and other communication providers, you know exactly what happens: they increase prices, decrease quality, or bundle useless services to artificially raise prices. And these guys have competition to cope with, while Netflix is like Apple and Android ecosystems together, while Hulu, HBO Go and whatever else are like Windows Phone. It's not gonna be pretty when it happens.
And... Spotify is gonna be just the same, with the difference the music industry provides a infinitesimally cheaper product (music production is almost free when compared to film/tv) at a much higher end-user cost. Spotify knows they have a high-margin, "premium" feeling product and they don't sell it cheap. There's a reason they are so restrictive with family plans as opposed to Netflix account sharing.
Different industry example: Console games - just launched prices have risen from around 40bucks to 70 in less than a decade. Another industry: smartphones - top-tier flagships now cost more than 1000 dollars unlocked. The first iPhone fully spec'd out cost 599$ while top of the line 7 Plus costs 969$. 370 bucks is no joke my friends, apple needs cash to build that UFO.
Yes, Virginia, you are entitled to free content: It's called over-the-air broadcast television. Just get an antenna; free HDTV! The government even guarantees that no one can tell you that you can't have an antenna on your house. Of course if you live in an apartment complex and they don't have an antenna system and cut a deal with the cable companies to force it down your throat then you have my sympathy, but you can always move somewhere else I guess.
So do you get all upset when you go to a friends' house (do you have friends?) and they haven't put black electrical tape over all the brand names on things in their house and in their kitchen? Removed the manufacturer logos from the cars in their driveway? LOL unless shows start taking 4th-wall-breaking breaks in the middle of the plot to show off some product or other, you just ignore it like everything else and move on with your life.