When the AT&T-Roku feud broke out, I knew the writing was on the wall. Little Roku has realized that, with 50M users, they are a powerful gatekeeper between HBO Max etc and the customers, and they are seeing what they can get away with. AT&T, Google etc aren't used to being kicked around by a minnow but I think in this case, the minnow has some serious shark teeth.
Roku would never try this with Netflix or Disney+, because those are too popular and there would be hell to pay. I guess I'll keep my Roku TV as long as these feuds don't interrupt my streaming preferences but when they do, I'll look around for a better option, if one exists. It may be something of a nuisance to swap out hardware but it's far from impossible and my Roku TV is getting pretty old by now anyway.
Netflix et al are global platforms. They have to be. You can't spend billions and charge peanuts without huge efficiencies of scale that you can only get from tapping into a global audience.
So that means Netflix needs content to serve the world, not just this or that country. If every country wants to carve out their chunk, and why wouldn't they all do this, then Netflix will have quotas far in excess of 100% when they're all added up.
So then Netflix responds by eliminating content that it otherwise would have the rights to, based on national quotas. And there goes the chance to get rid of everybody's favorite thing, geoblocking.
And imagine when Disney+ becomes a serious force (they're catching up with Netflix fast). How is that going to work? Is Canada going to demand a Disney princess movie about a lumberjack or something? Princess Hoser, here we come.
Theodore Geisel has been dead for 30 years and nobody else has the right to keep profiting from his works. If Dr. Seuss' works were in the public domain, then the "racist content" problem would be solved. People could publish their own versions, with the racism removed. Other people could be smartasses and make them even more racist.
Whatever, it doesn't matter, people will do what they do. The problem is copyright law squelches all of this and in doing so definitely squelches free speech.
You can't live a modern lifestyle without the internet, which puts it in the same class as water and power. Hey you could live without water and power if you wanted to be a caveman.
So the internet should be regulated as a utility. And there's more justification for it vs water and power because the US government invented the internet. Why has private enterprise been allowed to hijack it at all? Why shouldn't every American get free internet considering that our (well our parents and grandparents) taxes were used to invent it?
Other than sports and news, there's no good reason for TV to be "live" anyway. Netflix, Disney+, Amazon, HBO Max etc are taking over what used to be called live TV. It's live when you want to watch it.
As for sports, I think that's taking shape on streaming now. Fubo or maybe Amazon will figure out the right approach.
News? Not sure what role it plays in streaming. Nobody seems willing to pay for news, unless it's some kind of wingnut/moonbat conspiracy nonsense. Trumps' "news" streaming platform should do very well. There's one born every minute...
If you define being greedy and profit-driven as "corrupt," then I hate to break it to ya: all corporations are corrupt. Stop giving them money if this bothers you. Make your own clothes, grow your own crops. You want "corrupt," the clothing and agriculture industries are two of the most abusive around. Netflix is a fluffy bunny compared with them. And don't get me started on big pharma. Better make your own medicines too.
I know why this happened. Some minion at Netflix thought "hey I can look good to the boss by squeezing a little more profit out of subscribers." Netflix runs tests like this all the time. They tested their shuffle feature, found that it was successful and rolled it out to the whole subscriber base. Now they're cracking down on pw sharing as a test.
They can see if they are making more or less money with the test group compared with the control group. Depending on the results, they will roll it out or cancel it entirely. I bet it works and they roll it out to the whole population, and the person who thought of it gets a raise or maybe just to keep their job. Netflix is notorious for being rough on employees who don't perform.
"It's because if there was no piracy, they wouldn't consume the content at all."
Nope. It's been well documented that pirates are heavier-than-average media consumers, including paying for Netflix, Disney etc. If they couldn't pirate media, they wouldn't stop paying for what they already pay for (why would they?) and possibly pay for more. Why not crack down and see if you can get them to pay for more?
Compared with the bigger issues Netflix faces, I don't see pw sharing as being a very important factor. More of a side experiment Netflix is running to see if they can squeeze a little more profit out of subscribers.
But the big issues revolve around competition and expansion. Disney can wield big brands like Star Wars and Marvel while Netflix doesn't have that option, how big of a problem is that for them in the future? What about markets like India where ARPU is rock bottom, how do they deal with markets like that?
I've worked for companies pre-IPO and they act just as greedy before the IPO as after. People don't found companies as charities unless it's planned to be a nonprofit all along.
Pre-IPO, the focus is on pleasing the initial investors and launching a successful IPO to pay them off. Private or public, corporations always have investors who provide funds with an eye towards profit. The IPO just opens the investment up to a larger group of greedy shareholders.
I doubt that there was any time in Netflix's history when they were materially less greedy and profit-focused than they are right now.
Netflix is just running an experiment to see if cracking down on pw sharing makes them more money than it loses. Depending on how this turns out, they will continue it or not.
It's cute seeing people rage about how "corrupt" this is. This is just business as usual and Netflix has never been non-corrupt in this regards. It has always been a greedy, profit-hungry corporation just like all the rest of them.
Sure the streaming options are better than cable but I just wonder how many of them will be viable businesses vs being acquired by more successful streamers. HBO Max will probably make it. I don't think Peacock will. Maybe it will limp along with older or cheap programming. Reality TV & the like.
If some guy with a gun stops me for speeding, I generally will maintain a polite attitude. This rule obviously would apply only to white people anyway. Black people who mouth off to cops generally end up in the morgue so perhaps it's only fair white people should have to mind their manners too?
On the post: Roku Users Lose Access To YouTube TV As Dumb Contract Fights Shift From Cable TV To Streaming
Re: Re: Roku getting cockier...
Roku is definitely testing to see what they can get away with. They have the customers that all these streaming competitors are desperate to get to.
On the post: Roku Users Lose Access To YouTube TV As Dumb Contract Fights Shift From Cable TV To Streaming
Re: planning for the future...
I think my next TV will be a dumb TV that can hook up to whatever gizmo isn't having a pissing match with my favorite apps at any given time.
On the post: Roku Users Lose Access To YouTube TV As Dumb Contract Fights Shift From Cable TV To Streaming
brace for more like this
When the AT&T-Roku feud broke out, I knew the writing was on the wall. Little Roku has realized that, with 50M users, they are a powerful gatekeeper between HBO Max etc and the customers, and they are seeing what they can get away with. AT&T, Google etc aren't used to being kicked around by a minnow but I think in this case, the minnow has some serious shark teeth.
Roku would never try this with Netflix or Disney+, because those are too popular and there would be hell to pay. I guess I'll keep my Roku TV as long as these feuds don't interrupt my streaming preferences but when they do, I'll look around for a better option, if one exists. It may be something of a nuisance to swap out hardware but it's far from impossible and my Roku TV is getting pretty old by now anyway.
On the post: Canadian Government Wants To Regulate Social Media Like Broadcast
clueless governments again sigh
Netflix et al are global platforms. They have to be. You can't spend billions and charge peanuts without huge efficiencies of scale that you can only get from tapping into a global audience.
So that means Netflix needs content to serve the world, not just this or that country. If every country wants to carve out their chunk, and why wouldn't they all do this, then Netflix will have quotas far in excess of 100% when they're all added up.
So then Netflix responds by eliminating content that it otherwise would have the rights to, based on national quotas. And there goes the chance to get rid of everybody's favorite thing, geoblocking.
And imagine when Disney+ becomes a serious force (they're catching up with Netflix fast). How is that going to work? Is Canada going to demand a Disney princess movie about a lumberjack or something? Princess Hoser, here we come.
On the post: Oh Look, Here's Some More Culture Being Canceled, Now Thanks To The Second Circuit
dead copyright walking
Theodore Geisel has been dead for 30 years and nobody else has the right to keep profiting from his works. If Dr. Seuss' works were in the public domain, then the "racist content" problem would be solved. People could publish their own versions, with the racism removed. Other people could be smartasses and make them even more racist.
Whatever, it doesn't matter, people will do what they do. The problem is copyright law squelches all of this and in doing so definitely squelches free speech.
On the post: Judge Says DEA, TSA Can Continue To Be Sued For Stealing Cash From Airline Passengers
poor TSA
But how will they afford their new gold-plated toilets in the TSA break room?
On the post: FCC Wants To Hear Your Thoughts On Crappy US Broadband
Re: the internet is a utility
You can't live a modern lifestyle without the internet, which puts it in the same class as water and power. Hey you could live without water and power if you wanted to be a caveman.
So the internet should be regulated as a utility. And there's more justification for it vs water and power because the US government invented the internet. Why has private enterprise been allowed to hijack it at all? Why shouldn't every American get free internet considering that our (well our parents and grandparents) taxes were used to invent it?
On the post: T-Mobile Kills Live TV Service Just A Few Months After Launch
why does live TV still exist?
Other than sports and news, there's no good reason for TV to be "live" anyway. Netflix, Disney+, Amazon, HBO Max etc are taking over what used to be called live TV. It's live when you want to watch it.
As for sports, I think that's taking shape on streaming now. Fubo or maybe Amazon will figure out the right approach.
News? Not sure what role it plays in streaming. Nobody seems willing to pay for news, unless it's some kind of wingnut/moonbat conspiracy nonsense. Trumps' "news" streaming platform should do very well. There's one born every minute...
On the post: AT&T Whines That California Net Neutrality Rules Are Forcing It To Behave
this is priceless
Cue world's smallest violin.
On the post: Netflix Starts Cracking Down On The Diabolical Menace Of Password Sharing
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: So, okay if I share "Bloof's" or &
I'll bet Netflix has that situation covered in their TOS so go read it and don't ask us.
On the post: Netflix Starts Cracking Down On The Diabolical Menace Of Password Sharing
Re: Re: To paraphrase Harvey Dent…
If you define being greedy and profit-driven as "corrupt," then I hate to break it to ya: all corporations are corrupt. Stop giving them money if this bothers you. Make your own clothes, grow your own crops. You want "corrupt," the clothing and agriculture industries are two of the most abusive around. Netflix is a fluffy bunny compared with them. And don't get me started on big pharma. Better make your own medicines too.
On the post: Netflix Starts Cracking Down On The Diabolical Menace Of Password Sharing
Re: this has nothing to do with the MPAA
I know why this happened. Some minion at Netflix thought "hey I can look good to the boss by squeezing a little more profit out of subscribers." Netflix runs tests like this all the time. They tested their shuffle feature, found that it was successful and rolled it out to the whole subscriber base. Now they're cracking down on pw sharing as a test.
They can see if they are making more or less money with the test group compared with the control group. Depending on the results, they will roll it out or cancel it entirely. I bet it works and they roll it out to the whole population, and the person who thought of it gets a raise or maybe just to keep their job. Netflix is notorious for being rough on employees who don't perform.
"It's because if there was no piracy, they wouldn't consume the content at all."
Nope. It's been well documented that pirates are heavier-than-average media consumers, including paying for Netflix, Disney etc. If they couldn't pirate media, they wouldn't stop paying for what they already pay for (why would they?) and possibly pay for more. Why not crack down and see if you can get them to pay for more?
On the post: Netflix Starts Cracking Down On The Diabolical Menace Of Password Sharing
Re: Re: pw sharing is trivial
Compared with the bigger issues Netflix faces, I don't see pw sharing as being a very important factor. More of a side experiment Netflix is running to see if they can squeeze a little more profit out of subscribers.
But the big issues revolve around competition and expansion. Disney can wield big brands like Star Wars and Marvel while Netflix doesn't have that option, how big of a problem is that for them in the future? What about markets like India where ARPU is rock bottom, how do they deal with markets like that?
On the post: Netflix Starts Cracking Down On The Diabolical Menace Of Password Sharing
Re: not so much
I've worked for companies pre-IPO and they act just as greedy before the IPO as after. People don't found companies as charities unless it's planned to be a nonprofit all along.
Pre-IPO, the focus is on pleasing the initial investors and launching a successful IPO to pay them off. Private or public, corporations always have investors who provide funds with an eye towards profit. The IPO just opens the investment up to a larger group of greedy shareholders.
I doubt that there was any time in Netflix's history when they were materially less greedy and profit-focused than they are right now.
On the post: Netflix Starts Cracking Down On The Diabolical Menace Of Password Sharing
Re: when was Netflix ever friendly?
Netflix has always been focused on profit, like all other corporations.
On the post: Netflix Starts Cracking Down On The Diabolical Menace Of Password Sharing
what's the big deal?
Netflix is just running an experiment to see if cracking down on pw sharing makes them more money than it loses. Depending on how this turns out, they will continue it or not.
It's cute seeing people rage about how "corrupt" this is. This is just business as usual and Netflix has never been non-corrupt in this regards. It has always been a greedy, profit-hungry corporation just like all the rest of them.
On the post: Comcast Lost $914 Million On Its New Streaming Service Last Year
definitely beats cable
Sure the streaming options are better than cable but I just wonder how many of them will be viable businesses vs being acquired by more successful streamers. HBO Max will probably make it. I don't think Peacock will. Maybe it will limp along with older or cheap programming. Reality TV & the like.
On the post: Kentucky Senators Pass Bill That Would Make It A Crime To Say Mean Things To Cops
fair is fair
If some guy with a gun stops me for speeding, I generally will maintain a polite attitude. This rule obviously would apply only to white people anyway. Black people who mouth off to cops generally end up in the morgue so perhaps it's only fair white people should have to mind their manners too?
On the post: Reporter Sues DOJ To See If It Is Trying To Help Devin Nunes Unmask @DevinCow Twitter Account
Re:
I'd call it BS but that's the wrong gender.
On the post: AT&T Spins Off DirecTV After Losing Billions On Its TV Dreams
Re: Re:
They only get a synergy if they pivot some paradigms fast enough.
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