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Netflix Won't Join Apple's Video Streaming Service (cnet.com)

Posted by msmash on from the no-thanks dept.

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings confirmed that his company won't be playing a role in Apple's upcoming video streaming service. From a report: "We want to have people watch our content on our service," he said Monday. "We've chosen not to integrate into their service." Apple is expected to reveal its offering at an event next Monday. Apple is trying to supplement its original shows by finalizing deals with networks like HBO, Showtime and Starz to license a library of already released content. Hastings pointed out that Netflix has already been competing with Amazon, so it's used to rivals with deep pockets. "You do your best job when you have great competitors," he said, but he acknowledged that sourcing original content is getting more expensive.

18 of 46 comments (clear)

  1. Original Content? by CohibaVancouver · · Score: 4, Insightful

    he acknowledged that sourcing original content is getting more expensive

    I have no doubt that sourcing original content is expensive - But there is so much existing content that could be offered that never is -

    M*A*S*H
    St. Elsewhere
    Hill Street Blues
    Northern Exposure
    Max Headroom
    Boston Legal
    The X-Files
    Miami Vice
    24
    ER

    I'm sure everyone here could come up with their own list...

    1. Re:Original Content? by Geoffrey.landis · · Score: 2

      Yes, I believe that would be covered by the phrase "license a library of already released content."

      --
      http://www.geoffreylandis.com
    2. Re:Original Content? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Law and Order - why do we never see that any more?

    3. Re:Original Content? by CohibaVancouver · · Score: 3

      Because sometimes, you (or your wife) just wanna push the "Netflix" button on your TV remote.

    4. Re: Original Content? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Sure, but when you spend 2 weeks downloading the content, you appreciate it more.

    5. Re:Original Content? by grep+-v+'.*'+* · · Score: 1

      I'm sure everyone here could come up with their own list

      I have my own list. It's all available (and has been) on my Plex server. Most of it's not new, and the few things that are magically have No Commercials. Hell, I'm STILL catching up on a few things and they've been finished for decades.

      The same with music albums from the '70s and '80s - for some reason they're not making those much anymore.

      --
      If the universe is someone's simulation -- does that mean the stars are just stuck pixels?
    6. Re:Original Content? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Because there's two networks currently running 24/7 Law & Order episodes so you can literally watch it any time you want over the air for free.

    7. Re:Original Content? by jjbenz · · Score: 1

      Hell yeah. One of the best shows ever.

  2. Video on demand is becoming ever more crowded by rmdingler · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Amazon Prime, HBO Now, Hulu, Youtube, TV channels themselves, Playstation Vue, Sling, Hotstar... Apple and Disney are coming in as well.

    Sadly contrary to the rules of market forces, this additional competition may not benefit the consumer with lower prices and a better product.

    Fractured access to what you wish to watch renders each platform somewhat less likely to provide it, resulting in the need to subscribe to more and more platforms, erasing much/all of the savings of cord-cutting.

    --
    Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

    Ernest Hemingway

    1. Re:Video on demand is becoming ever more crowded by rtb61 · · Score: 1

      It will generate a new weirdness in content consumption, invisible content creators.

      Here is how it will work. Most subscribed content is commercial free and to be honest, that is the only way you can 'sell' it in numbers. So advertising free, well, that means that off channel content advertisements are never seen and these people are not watching free to air either, so they do not see alternate content in any real sense.

      Right now the exclusive content is running on old publicly known content, new content is only seen by the streamers on your services and you can only effectively market that content on free to air services and that is rapidly becoming wasted money, only people who can not afford commercial free streaming content are still there.

      So no chance to pump your 'unknown' content to new users to bring them to your services, you are forced to sell content cheap to your competitors to get it seen, else are unaware of it. Claim all the exclusive content you want, it is all unknown to users outside of your user content.

      So sell it a year old to your competitors but problem there, people prefer to binge watch a season, rather than individual episodes. So maybe two years after the content has come out. Natural corporate solutions, cartels form to conspire a price and sell each others content with a two year delay and share customers with nearly identical services.

      If they try to play the exclusive game, they will isolate effective advertisement of their content to their own platform only, they have nothing to sell to users on other platforms because they have no real awareness of the entertainment worth of that content. Once you stream commercial free, you do not go back of full of shit commercial screaming at you content, you simply do not. After a five years of largely TV commercial free life, the negative impact of them screaming in my face, is really quite bad, I will actively stop me from buying that product or dealing with that company, it is really personal environment invasive and feels really quite offensive.

      Force ads on me with Youtube and make no mistake you are actively going out of your way to make sure I am NOT a customer, seriously. Youtube ads need to be voluntary after content because idiots are paying you to lose customers right now.

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
    2. Re:Video on demand is becoming ever more crowded by Can'tNot · · Score: 1

      erasing much/all of the savings of cord-cutting

      I expect that in the end a full complement of streaming services will cost more than a full cable package, simply because there aren't any commercials. Although, realistically, they'll probably just add commercials at some point. Streaming does provide a little savings in the form of removing a middle-man, the cable TV company, but I can't imagine that offsetting the extra money from advertising.

    3. Re:Video on demand is becoming ever more crowded by gravewax · · Score: 1

      It may for some, for me it will just drive me back to torrenting. If I can't access a wide range of content (that I want) at a reasonable price from just one or at most 2 providers I just won't pay any of them. certainly won't be subscribing to apple or the upcoming Disney and it is already right at the point where paying any one or 2 does not provide a sufficient variety of content, especially with the reduction in Netflix content.

  3. Delivery should be separated from Content by aberglas · · Score: 1

    The internet is better than cable, but Netflix is still an issue.

    TVs only work properly on a few providers. There should be no need for a special app to view content. Just a URL. And maybe some sort of centralized billing.

  4. I didn't think any other company was... by SuperKendall · · Score: 1

    I thought Apple's service was all original content anyway, so is this really a story? The bigger question is are ANY other companies known to be in on Apple's service? I had not heard of any. I didn't think it was going to be a Netflix competitor, but rather something more like HBO with custom programming...

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:I didn't think any other company was... by tlhIngan · · Score: 1

      I thought Apple's service was all original content anyway, so is this really a story? The bigger question is are ANY other companies known to be in on Apple's service? I had not heard of any. I didn't think it was going to be a Netflix competitor, but rather something more like HBO with custom programming...

      I think Apple's service is less content provider and more content aggregator. If we take what Apple has done with AppleTV, and why Netflix is entering into this discussion, you basically tell Apple (or subscribe through Apple) to the TV providers you want. Apple handles the billing and all that and you get a list of shows you can watch

      In the end, there can be 1000 different content providers, you subscribe to some of them through Apple, and Apple generates a TV grid and search results based on what you can get.

      That's why Netflix is saying they will not participate - Apple may want access to search Netflix's content archives so if a user subscribes to Netflix, they can search Netflix through the general Apple interface.

      You want to watch TV, Apple makes it easy by aggregating all the providers together so you get one TV grid if you want to watch something upcoming or new, or if you search, Apple will search those provider's back catalogs as well.

      So instead of trying to manually manage 100 providers. Apple's service does it for you, searching and "what's on TV now and in the future" And if you let Apple, they can handle the billing as well making it trivially easy to subscribe to new providers like Disney without having to do it manually.

  5. What a shock by Altus · · Score: 1

    Netflix never supports any integration... they don't even work with search on any platform I'm aware of. They want to be the one and only but might find themselves in for a rude awakening as new services start to eat their lunch. If I'm signed up for a number of services Im likely to lean heavily on platform based searches (particularly as voice search has become more popular) if results aren't showing up for Netflix I might find myself going to the app less and less, which might result in ultimately dropping the service.

    --

    "In America, first you get the sugar, then you get the power, then you get the women..." -H. Simpson

  6. Re:war by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I'm pretty sure Spacey destroyed himself.

  7. They will learn by trevc · · Score: 1

    I guess they are just going to have to learn the hard way then.