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Amazon Prime Strikes Deal for Most PBS Children’s Shows

nytimes.com

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Re: Amazon Prime Strikes Deal for Most PBS Children’s Shows

#61

Post by op00to »

JshWright wrote: post #50
Retric wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IMO, there is a large gap between taxes and donations. Taxpayers would be better served by open access, but donors may feel funding for PBS is a better option. As taxpayers are only 15 percent and this may reduce PBS's funding needs it's probably a good approach to licence the content widely for a reasonable cost.

It _was_ widely available, on Hulu and Netflix. Swapping those two ubiquitous services our for Amazon Instant Video is a dramatic decrease in availability, given the limited number of devices that Amazon allows access on (i.e. no Chromecase, no Apple TV, etc).

Can't you cast from the Amazon app on your Android and iOS phone?

Re: Amazon Prime Strikes Deal for Most PBS Children’s Shows

#62

Post by sillypog »

j2bax wrote: post #58
sillypog wrote: post #38

I'm sure everyone will enjoy explaining to their toddlers why they can't watch Daniel Tiger anymore. We actually have Amazon Prime, but I had been streaming Daniel Tiger to the television over a Chromecast using the Hulu app on an iPad. I don't think Amazon Prime works with Chromecast so now I have to look into an alternative, equally convoluted, option.

Personally, I purchased all the seasons of Daniel Tiger on iTunes so that we can watch them offline when in the car on our tablets/iPhones. I have no doubt we have already gotten enough mileage out of them to be a worthwhile purchase. Our girl will likely continue watching them over and over for another couple years. We really try to limit the amount of screentime she has, but sometimes (like when in the car) it's a…

My daughter practically couldn't be in the car before we put some videos on an iPad for her, I definitely second this as a good investment. We just went with a handful of favourite episodes though - it amazes me how many times she can rewatch the same story but I think that given the option she prefers episodes she knows.

I realise now that we've been watching Daniel Tiger through the PBS for Kids app, the videos we bought on iTunes, casting to the TV over Hulu, sometimes catching the morning showing over cable, and now we have Amazon Prime over PS3 as an option. I should probably make a donation to PBS!

Re: Amazon Prime Strikes Deal for Most PBS Children’s Shows

#63

Post by spartango »

aresant wrote: post #47

"Much of PBS Kids programming . . . will be REMOVED from rival streaming sites like Netflix and Hulu, and will be available only on Amazon Prime." Oh goody. So now instead of being able to use Netflix via Apple TV to watch her favorite PBS show my 5 year old is going to have to figure out how to bring up Amazon Prime through the shitty Samsung TV interface. Or better yet maybe I'll have to buy another device that wil…

For what it's worth, PBS has an app[1] for Apple TV, and it has much of PBS' content.

With that said, the general problem of certain services being restricted from/to specific platforms is extremely frustrating, and will only get more painful as exclusives become common.

[1] http://www.pbs.org/anywhere/connected-tv/apple-tv/

Re: Amazon Prime Strikes Deal for Most PBS Children’s Shows

#64

Post by shostack »

Retric wrote: post #8
techdmn wrote: post #6

My feeling is that since PBS is largely funded by taxes and donations, all their content should be available freely just about anywhere. They really ought to publish directly to YouTube as well.

IMO, there is a large gap between taxes and donations. Taxpayers would be better served by open access, but donors may feel funding for PBS is a better option. As taxpayers are only 15 percent and this may reduce PBS's funding needs it's probably a good approach to licence the content widely for a reasonable cost.

If there are ANY tax payer dollars involved, shouldn't the tax payers have some say in this?

Re: Amazon Prime Strikes Deal for Most PBS Children’s Shows

#65

Post by shostack »

rhino369 wrote: post #51
sillypog wrote: post #38

I'm sure everyone will enjoy explaining to their toddlers why they can't watch Daniel Tiger anymore. We actually have Amazon Prime, but I had been streaming Daniel Tiger to the television over a Chromecast using the Hulu app on an iPad. I don't think Amazon Prime works with Chromecast so now I have to look into an alternative, equally convoluted, option.

I find a roku is much more convient than casting. Roku has Amazon, google play, and Netflix. The only thing it's really missing is Apple stuff. The roku stick 2016 version is pretty cheap. Though if you want Ethernet you have to get a roku 3. If you want 4K you have to buy a roku 4.

If only their interface weren't so painful. I love what my Roku does for my media on my TV with connecting everything, but man is it clunky to navigate.

Re: Amazon Prime Strikes Deal for Most PBS Children’s Shows

#66

Post by scragg »

Retric wrote: post #8
techdmn wrote: post #6

My feeling is that since PBS is largely funded by taxes and donations, all their content should be available freely just about anywhere. They really ought to publish directly to YouTube as well.

IMO, there is a large gap between taxes and donations. Taxpayers would be better served by open access, but donors may feel funding for PBS is a better option. As taxpayers are only 15 percent and this may reduce PBS's funding needs it's probably a good approach to licence the content widely for a reasonable cost.

> As taxpayers are only 15 percent

Only because they are very successfully at monetizing their content which was originally bootstrapped by tax and donations. After this exclusive deal that percentage may drop further.

Re: Amazon Prime Strikes Deal for Most PBS Children’s Shows

#67

Post by cjensen »

aresant wrote: post #47

"Much of PBS Kids programming . . . will be REMOVED from rival streaming sites like Netflix and Hulu, and will be available only on Amazon Prime." Oh goody. So now instead of being able to use Netflix via Apple TV to watch her favorite PBS show my 5 year old is going to have to figure out how to bring up Amazon Prime through the shitty Samsung TV interface. Or better yet maybe I'll have to buy another device that wil…

Apple isn't preventing an Amazon app from existing! Amazon is just not willing to create one under the current terms-and-conditions.

The terms are the same as iOS: if your app allows in-app purchase of digital goods, then you have to use Apple's payments system and Apple gets their 30% cut.

On iOS, Amazon Video works fine, Amazon works around the 30% by not allowing signups within the app, and by not providing a link to the Amazon website for signing up.

Amazon is using the AppleTV as a test case for fighting against this policy. They can afford to do that because so few people have AppleTVs compared to iOS devices.

Re: Amazon Prime Strikes Deal for Most PBS Children’s Shows

#68

Post by nathancahill »

cmdrfred wrote: post #55
rhino369 wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe it's time for app nuetrality along side net nuetrality.

Its called linux.

I'd just like to interject for a moment. What you’re referring to as Linux, is in fact, GNU/Linux, or as I’ve recently taken to calling it, GNU plus Linux. Linux is not an operating system unto itself, but rather another free component of a fully functioning GNU system made useful by the GNU corelibs, shell utilities and vital system components comprising a full OS as defined by POSIX.

Re: Amazon Prime Strikes Deal for Most PBS Children’s Shows

#69

Post by sib »

jlarocco wrote: post #40
jonknee wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is presumably more money for PBS than they were getting before which means they will have a larger budget for new programming. Also, the content is already free to access for those consumers you are so worried about: > All of the titles moving to Amazon will still be broadcast on local PBS stations, on PBS’s website and the PBS Kids Video app. Amazon Prime will have the streaming rights to shows approximately si…

Is there a (good) reason PBS can't license it to both Netflix and Amazon? Is it possible Amazon (or Netflix) are really willing to pay more for exclusive access than Amazon and Netflix combined would pay for non-exclusive access?

The good reason is precisely that one distributor is willing to pay more for the content on an exclusive basis than multiple providers would on a non-exclusive basis. If PBS were getting more from Amazon + Hulu + Netflix on a non-exclusive basis, they wouldn't have done this deal and reduced their revenue.

Re: Amazon Prime Strikes Deal for Most PBS Children’s Shows

#70

Post by lips »

JshWright wrote: post #49
aresant wrote: post #47

"Much of PBS Kids programming . . . will be REMOVED from rival streaming sites like Netflix and Hulu, and will be available only on Amazon Prime." Oh goody. So now instead of being able to use Netflix via Apple TV to watch her favorite PBS show my 5 year old is going to have to figure out how to bring up Amazon Prime through the shitty Samsung TV interface. Or better yet maybe I'll have to buy another device that wil…

Same here, just s/Apple TV/Chromecast/ While we are Amazon Prime subscribers, the hassle of actually watching anything on Amazon Prime Instant Video means we never bother. I think we have a BluRay player that is technically capable of it, but it's a couple minutes worth of annoying menu navigation to use it... My three year old has an old android phone that she has no trouble casting from. Fortunately, it seems the P…

Having had the unfortunate experience of using one Amazon app (xbox), I wonder if PBS will see viewership decrease, simply because of the buggy garbage interface their viewers will have to use. To me, it's actually that bad. I have AP for free, never use it.
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