Netflix Is Now Available Around the World • Hacker News Board

Re: Netflix Is Now Available Around the World

#261

Post by gordon_freeman » Wed, Jan 06, 2016, 10:12 PM UTC

macspoofing wrote: post #147

fudged71 wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe a stupid questions but what if they disrupted not just TV but also cinema? I assume that the distribution of films around the world is more limited than we think. At some point when Netflix has a much larger subscriber base, it may make more sense for films to be released directly to Netflix for global consumption. They could even be clever about it and have it only open for "live showings" at specific hours or…

>Maybe a stupid questions but what if they disrupted not just TV but also cinema? They are trying. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 2 is being released simultaneously in theaters and on Netflix. Some chains complained and are refusing to show it. But honestly, I don't see it. Cinema is $10-15/person/visit, and Netflix is $10/mo for an entire library of content. Profit margins for Hollywood aren't that great - so how do…

Don't you think that the humongous scale of Netflix customers combined with the ease of access will compensate for that?

For ex: (10 million movie-goers * $10 tkt price =$100 m rev)

(100 million Netflix users * $1(considering that Force Awakens title in Netflix library is being accessed by 1/10th of total library and N'flix is paying Star Wars accordingly) =$100 m)

Re: Netflix Is Now Available Around the World

#262

Post by satish-shetty » Wed, Jan 06, 2016, 10:13 PM UTC

deepuj wrote: post #113

Netflix will have a positive effect in countries like India. Their entry will help force ISPs to upgrade their infrastructure and increase average speeds. The benefits will hopefully trickle down to all internet users!

Very unlikely. Unless they start offering movies in Indian languages (Hindi, Tamil & Telugu to start with), the amount of traffic will not be high enough to justify ISPs to upgrade.

Re: Netflix Is Now Available Around the World

#263

Post by gknoy » Wed, Jan 06, 2016, 10:14 PM UTC

petke wrote: post #220

geodel wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it would be interesting to see rise of actors' fees over that period of time. Sure cable companies make money but most money seems to be going to TV networks and in turn TV actors.

Most of the cost of blockbusters is marketing. > Hollywood continues to wrestle with rising marketing costs, particularly overseas, which can make up 70 percent of a film's gross. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/200-million-rising-hol...

I would not be surprised if they did that to move money into the "costs" column for the movie, while still funneling value into advertising companies owned by the parent.

Re: Netflix Is Now Available Around the World

#264

Post by LordKano » Wed, Jan 06, 2016, 10:15 PM UTC

TeMPOraL wrote: post #213

shortstuffsushi wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unless they move to a model where you have to PPV for new / premium content like box office movies.

Here's an idea your comment made me think of: I wonder when are we going to see DLCs for movies? Imagine - you buy the base Force Awakens for $10, and then they offer you extra movie parts - $1 for one in which Chewbacca does something silly, $2 for one which features an additional 10-minutes-long scene of starships shooting at each other, etc.

That's called "The Unrated Director's Cut".

Re: Netflix Is Now Available Around the World

#265

Post by natch » Wed, Jan 06, 2016, 10:15 PM UTC

Netflix managed to snag Lee Collins (one of the original creators of Unicode) from Apple recently, which helps explain how they could accomplish the i18n aspects of this with such a broad range of countries.

Re: Netflix Is Now Available Around the World

#266

Post by danielki » Wed, Jan 06, 2016, 10:18 PM UTC

TeMPOraL wrote: post #213

shortstuffsushi wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unless they move to a model where you have to PPV for new / premium content like box office movies.

Here's an idea your comment made me think of: I wonder when are we going to see DLCs for movies? Imagine - you buy the base Force Awakens for $10, and then they offer you extra movie parts - $1 for one in which Chewbacca does something silly, $2 for one which features an additional 10-minutes-long scene of starships shooting at each other, etc.

I could see it being more like the DVD/BluRay Extras model - $5 for a pack of commentary tracks, $2 for deleted scenes, another $2-4 for the behind-the-scenes featurette, etc. It would be similar to the more successful DLC implementations, where a handful of enthusiastic users would make up a significant amount of the revenue.

It would be interesting to see how this would/could be applied to both rentals and purchases - rent the bonus features for $0.50-2 each, purchase them for $2-5 each or something like that.

Re: Netflix Is Now Available Around the World

#267

Post by maus42 » Wed, Jan 06, 2016, 10:21 PM UTC

pilsetnieks wrote: post #174

r3bl wrote: post #97

Aaaand... they don't accept my credit card. I swear to god, I see this over and over again: services becoming available in my country (in Europe), but refusing credit cards that are pretty popular in Europe (like Maestro and Visa Electron).

It's not Netflix's fault that your Maestro and Visa Electron aren't usable on the internet. Also, they are debit cards, not credit.

>Maestro and Visa Electron aren't usable on the internet

...Spotify disagrees.

Re: Netflix Is Now Available Around the World

#268

Post by zanny » Wed, Jan 06, 2016, 10:22 PM UTC

stcredzero wrote: post #250

jsmeaton wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly, supply and demand. He demanded what the studio could afford to pay. If the movie is no longer generating so much revenue (because streaming) then actors will no longer be able to (successfully) demand 8 figure payments. I think some of the low to medium budget movies will make the transition to simultaneous streaming releases where it may be easier to recoup money early on. This may or may not force a simila…

If the movie is no longer generating so much revenue (because streaming) then actors will no longer be able to (successfully) demand 8 figure payments. Pretty much what happened to authors of novels.

Were publishing companies hiring authors for millions of dollars?

I know authors usually use publishers for review / editing / publication, but I'm not aware of a time where the relationship was not "publisher gets X% cut of revenue". When was it "author gets X million dollars"?

The same applies to music. Pretty much every creative industry outside film is paying the performers or creators a percentage of sales. Its just harder for that to scale to endeavors that take thousands of people like modern blockbusters.

Re: Netflix Is Now Available Around the World

#269

Post by zanny » Wed, Jan 06, 2016, 10:24 PM UTC

LordKano wrote: post #260

jsmeaton wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe it'll force Hollywood to pay actors far far less. Harrison Ford was paid somewhere between 10 and 25 million (probably towards the lower end of that scale). Flipping the question a little bit, how do you justify paying actors 40 million for a movie if they're being streamed online for $5 a pop? I'm of the belief that the better actors are paid far too much and that releasing cinema to streaming services will co…

I'm of the belief that the better actors are paid far too much The market decides these things. It's difficult to argue that there isn't enough profit on a movie that has grossed over 1.5 billion dollars in three weeks to pay A-list actors A-list salaries. A-list actors don't make that kind of money because movie studios are generous. They make it because their presence puts butts in seats. Sure, the "Star Wars" name…

Would the movie have lost more than the amount they paid him, though? I'm pretty sure they could have released a blank tape on the screen, called it Star Wars 7, and made several hundred million dollars. Its hard to approximate the amount of sales exclusively to the presence of a specific actor, versus the reviews, ratings, and social response to good acting.

Re: Netflix Is Now Available Around the World

#270

Post by svachalek » Wed, Jan 06, 2016, 10:27 PM UTC

imh wrote: post #95

geoelectric wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't approach Netflix as "I want to see this movie so I go here," so much as "I want to watch something, so I'll pick from here." I'm never lacking a choice to watch, even with fairly specific criteria in mind. If I know exactly what I want to watch (and don't get lucky enough to find it on Amazon/Netflix/Hulu) I pay for PPV. I don't expect magic for <$10/mo, especially when the going rate for a one-off viewing is…

You sure used to be able to go there for specific movies. I understand why it's not the case anymore, but I miss what it was.

Are you comparing the DVD service to streaming? It's unfortunately apples and oranges; the licensing is completely different for DVD and streaming, and even different between unlimited streaming like Netflix vs. pay-per-view streaming you can get from multiple other sources.