Netflix Calls Out HBO For Not Letting Subscribers Binge On New Shows (arstechnica.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Netflix has gleefully poked a stick at its competitors in the video streaming market, after revealing it had added more than seven million subscribers to its service in the last three months of 2016. HBO also got a special mention. In a letter to shareholders, the company's boss Reed Hastings teased the TV drama maker by noting that, if the BBC was willing to stream shows before they air on television, then maybe HBO -- which has rigidly stuck to its strategy of eking out episodes to viewers -- should do the same. He said: "[...] the BBC has become the first major linear network to announce plans to go binge-first with new seasons, favoring internet over linear viewers. We presume HBO is not far behind the BBC. In short, it's becoming an Internet TV world, which presents both challenges and opportunities for Netflix as we strive to earn screen time." But it's worth noting that HBO currently has an exclusive deal with Sky in the UK, Ireland, Germany, Austria, and Italy, allowing the broadcaster to have first-run rights on the likes of Game of Thrones and Westworld until 2020 -- so any such change isn't likely to happen in the near-term. Late last year, it struck a deal with Netflix rival Amazon, allowing Prime members in the US to sign up for a monthly HBO subscription. "We have a very successful partnership with this great company that continues to evolve," said HBO exec Sofia Chang in December. The company's HBO Now streaming service shows no sign of shifting strategy, either, with programs airing simultaneously on traditional TV and online.

Comments

BBC iPlayer for the UK Only

[omnichad]

Now if only the BBC would offer paid subscriptions to their iPlayer content to other coountries. Cord cutters are not going to subscribe to BBC America but are willing to pay for better access.

Re:BBC iPlayer for the UK Only

[Darinbob]

Sherlock is on Netflix. I'm waiting for access to the last two years of Doctor Who, and other decent BBC shows. It's in a quandary though; it wants a piece of the streaming pie, but is also restricted in how it can offer taxpayer sponsored programming to other countries.

Re:No thanks

[omnichad]

This has been true since the advent of the DVR (or even the VCR to a lesser extent), unless you are a slave to broadcast schedules. Just get better at avoiding spoilers. It's a better viewing experience to wait until you have the whole season at once rather than mixing one episode of show X and an episode of show Y the next day.

Batching Means Delay

[Luthair]

If you publish the entire season at once this means you were sitting on progressively more unreleased for a period of time. Imagine if one were to instead release this content as it were available instead of making people wait...

Re:Batching Means Delay

[Anonymous Coward]

As opposed to the delay of making people each week for the show then going on hiatus for a few months at a time because its not "sweeps month"?

I'd much rather the show come out all at once than in spits and spurts because if I'm really into the story nothing pisses me off more than having to wait for 3 months while they make more, or pre-empt it around some sporting / cultural events, or because they're waiting for the "best" time to exact the maximum value from the advertisers.

Having it all at once lets me watch it on my schedule, and I don't mind waiting for that in the slightest.

Re:Batching Means Delay

[Dorianny]

If you publish the entire season at once this means you were sitting on progressively more unreleased for a period of time. Imagine if one were to instead release this content as it were available instead of making people wait...

This would be true for studio based TV shows which are typically shot sequentially. On location series are typically shot all at once, movie style. The extra wait for the entire series to be finished would be a couple of weeks of post-production

Re:Batching Means Delay

[Darinbob]

The linear networks don't do that either. At the very start of the season they usually have half the season at least already complete, and sometimes the full season (especially British stuff that doesn't have the length 22 episode seasons).

Meh

[sexconker]

Binging new content is one of the worst things about Netflix.

Shows become a chore to get through. You have to get through them soon or you risk getting spoiled and can't talk about it with other people.
Once you get through it, you've got nothing for a year or more. There are a finite number of shows any one person gives a shit about, so this quickly becomes a problem.

Those are personal problems, however. Dumping an entire season at once results in major problems that hurt all users.

Look at Netflix's original content - their own series mostly suck but still get 4-5 star reviews out the ass simply because there are people who feel the need latch onto SOMETHING to binge on, and Netflix keeps churning them out. On the other end of the spectrum, you get people who spend 2 minutes watching 1 episode giving the whole series a 1 star review. I don't know if they're sock puppeting, but the reviews for Netflix Originals are worse than useless.

Netflix seems to be going after quantity instead of quality. They let a few hits get to their head and now churn out mostly crap they gets overrated because it's from Netflix. (HBO had a similar thing going on 15 years ago or so - everything they put out got hyped and praised regardless of how shitty it was.)

Seriously, go look at House of Cards Season 1 and compare it to House of Cards Season Who Gives a Shit?. Compare Archer to Netflix's pathetic copy Pacific Heat. Everyone was masturbating loudly about Stranger Things, so I watched it. It's pretty poor substitute for The Goonies. Black Mirror Season 3 is incredibly worse than Seasons 1 and 2 (not made by Netflix) - and that says a lot because Seasons 1 and 2 were pretty bad themselves. People compared it to The Twilight Zone! How the FUCK are you going to do that and then expect me to believe you're sane and not being paid by Netflix to say such shit?

Even their non-fiction shit is pure crap. From The Grand Tour (which is somehow even more wooden and scripted than that other show) to The White Rabbit Project, Netflix has awful, awful shit with a few gems. Their good shit is usually their animated shit - from Bojack to F is for Family to Voltron. (Of course, we can't forget Pacific Heat.) Hell, Netflix even managed to fuck up Arrested Development!

Look at their films as well - ARQ, Coin Heist, The Ridiculous 6. It's a shithouse!

This all matters because Netflix is becoming more and more like another network/studio that churns out shit that I end up paying for. Dumping/Binging means they have more gaps to fill in the calendar and makes them run into the same problems as traditional networks/studios.

If I could pay for Netflix without funding production of a full season of Fuller House, or whatever failure gets 10 episodes up front but would've been shitcanned after 1 (PACIFIC HEAT) I would. And I say this as someone who has repeatedly said I would gladly give up Amazon Video / Amazon Pantry / Amazon Buttwiper / whatever to get a free shipping only, yet has turned to Amazon Video instead of Netflix because Netflix's library is 95% shit.

Re:Meh

[MightyMartian]

I don't like all of Netflix's offerings, to be sure, but series like Jessica Jones, Bojack Horseman, Stranger Things and even The OA (which does get weird for weird's sake sometimes) are all as good, if not better, than anything on network TV.

Stranger Things, in particular, is just a glorious piece of awesomeness, celebrating an era that's essentially my youth. Seeing those kids eating takeout pizza and playing D&D in the basement, well, that could have been me back in 1982-83. It evokes the era so well it just made the hairs on my arm stand on end, and that's before any weird monsters showed up!

It's nothing but SPOILERS

[l0ungeb0y]

I like the weekly release of shows like Game of Thrones and West World -- you get to talk to other viewers about the Show as it progresses rather than just in past tense. Binge Watching is nice if you want to get a Show or Season done and over right away. But I find that with quality Shows, I'll take the time to batch them out on my own to draw the viewing experience out longer

Amazon

[JustAnotherOldGuy]

I find the video access that comes with Amazon Prime to be superior to Netflix. It may just be that my personal tastes align better with what Amazon has to offer, but I think Amazon also has a lot more content so I'm more likely to find something I want to watch.

You also get access to about a bazillion ebooks as well...I haven't used that as much but I have downloaded a few that interested me.

Not a bad deal for $99 a year considering it also includes free 2-day shipping for most of the stuff Amazon sells. .