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Disney acquires own streaming facilities, will pull Netflix content

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Re: Disney acquires own streaming facilities, will pull Netflix content

#441

Post by such_a_casual »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #274
flashman wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> No parent will pay $10-$20 month That's literally what my family used to pay in VHS rentals. One new release and one weekly movie, three or four times a month.

There was a whole industry for production of the cassettes, warehousing, distribution, retail space, service personnel which all cost a pretty packet. The cost now of putting the post-edit file on a server with a web payment has gotta be virtually zero. Any schmuck can serve a torrent to the world for the price of an internet connection -- sure, that's the baseline, and it relies on others paying the (small) real cos…

The cost of software (which is essentially just information) vs what people will pay for is fucking mindblowing.

Re: Disney acquires own streaming facilities, will pull Netflix content

#442

Post by jonnathanson »

Anatidae wrote: post #30

If every studio thinks I'm going to pay them $10+ a month to stream their content, they are going to be very mistaken. I can't imagine that a lot of people want to spend the collective hundreds of dollars to sign up for all the streaming services. It's almost asking to drive people to torrents. Now, if Disney does something like $30/year or something really affordable - sure. I might do that on a whim. I guess it's a…

Disney is the one studio with the brand recognition, loyalty, wide customer base across a variety of demographics, worldwide range, wide variety of content (including sports), and essential franchises to have a shot at pulling this off.

Re: Disney acquires own streaming facilities, will pull Netflix content

#443

Post by prawn »

reitanqild wrote: post #20

I'm happy to pay Spotify a monthly fee. It is more than I ever spent on music before though (not a pirate, just didn't buy much music.) Same with netflix. I'll not be happy with paying monthly for n different channels to watch a film. I want to pay. But either one service with all I need like Spotify or paying for the stiff I actually watch.

I think they're betting that many people will eventually drop Netflix and push their $10/mo towards Disney/etc.

Re: Disney acquires own streaming facilities, will pull Netflix content

#445

Post by iends »

nebabyte wrote: post #353
TallGuyShort wrote: post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> Before you know it everyone will be paying for an ad-hoc cable subscription. Still better than a cable subscription. That's my biggest beef. I want 2 channels and I can't get them for less than $150 a month. So they get nothing and neither do I.

If we move fully into that model, how long do you think it will be before they realize merging with smaller networks to start hiking prices is more lucrative than letting people pick and choose?

That model is clearly not working currently.

Re: Disney acquires own streaming facilities, will pull Netflix content

#446

Post by dkrich »

peter303 wrote: post #328
dkrich wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right, and people on here also seem to forget that they own ESPN. There are seemingly endless ways that Disney could package their content in ways that it would appeal to customers in every segment. Sell ESPN with SEC Network, ESPN 2, and all of its networks as a standalone service to sports fans who don't care about the rest of Disney's offerings. Sell Disney's older catalog plus kids shows on demand for people who…

ESPN viewership is dropping. As the largest asset of Disney it drags their stock down. Most other Disney assets are printing money, but not enough to compensate ESPN. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_assets_owned_by_Disn...

I think this ESPN story is overblown. ESPN is itself printing money, it's just been in decline because of cord-cutting.

But that's just recent history. Everyone can see that the cable tv industry is going to be replaced by streaming. When that happens, content owners like Disney will be able to sell directly to the consumer without the middleman. I actually think ESPN viewership will increase as more people are liberated to sign up for just ESPN and not NBCSN, Fox Sports Regional, and every other sports channel you're forced to pay for with cable.

Re: Disney acquires own streaming facilities, will pull Netflix content

#447

Post by julianz »

px1999 wrote: post #373
fweespeech wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The big Media companies want it to work like cable because they think their "premium content" will get people to pay more. In reality, they are likely to trigger a backlash that increases piracy instead.

People will definitely turn to piracy if it becomes too difficult/fragmented to watch the content they want to watch. As a result, for these services to be successful, we'll probably see some renewed fighting against piracy and some work toward increasing regulation on the internet. Unfortunately, the political climate is probably pretty good in the US right now for Disney and other big content creators to start push…

Or just not watch. It's just TV. If it's too hard I'll go and do something else and not even miss it. That doesn't help the content creators long term if I'm no longer even interested in their product.

Re: Disney acquires own streaming facilities, will pull Netflix content

#448

Post by SllX »

cfmcdonald wrote: post #397
ehsankia wrote: post #324

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So then your issue isn't the cost, and if someone came with an app that would "merge" all service into a single app where you can stream for all of them from a single place, you'd be happy? I don't think that's what others are complaining about though. Price was definitely the issue of the top commenter as they mention 10$/month and 30$/year. But it makes no sense because back in the cable days, people paid 50-100$ i…

Where do you pay $5 for coffee? I think you are getting ripped off.

Used to work in a café. It's not the coffee people are paying for, it's all the milk and sugar added on top. Unless you go to Philz*. Sometimes you're also paying for quality, but even then that only comes out to about a dollar premium, but a latte is literally just a crapton of steamed milk poured over some coffee, plus whatever syrups and other crap (chocolate and maybe whipped cream if you want a mocha) thrown in.

Then it's the labor and time you're paying for because a pour-over takes 4 minutes per cup if you do it right, and each employee can only do so many of those at one station. 4 minutes of an employee's time at minimum wage in San Francisco is almost a dollar, about 93.33¢ give or take, and that's assuming the employee is being paid minimum wage and not more.

Re: Disney acquires own streaming facilities, will pull Netflix content

#449

Post by such_a_casual »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #290
ghostbrainalpha wrote: post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. That's why they HAD to make this move. The Disney channel is getting hurt badly by families cutting the cord. Disney streaming will be just as much about "The Mickey Mouse Club" as it is about big budget blockbusters. I have a 2 year old. I will be wherever the Disney content is, and they could charge me basically whatever price they want.

Why is Disney content so important to you, do you think watching a specific brand of movie/show is _that_ enriching to your child's life? Disney's attitude to selling to children is toxic IMO. But perhaps if you fully inhale you actually do start to get happier by just buying the latest movie franchise tie-in toy, made of cheap plastic using exploited labour?

I'll make an argument that has nothing to do with the quality of disney's entertainment or disney's ability to give value to your child in the form of happiness/lessons.

Being a human being is a social experience. If all of a kid's friends watch disney movies and have disney toys, there is an opportunity to connect with his friends. There is also the opportunity to feel excluded, to miss out on experiences and discussions with his friends. I remember quite fondly how excited me and my friends would get talking and arguing about Star Wars and Indiana Jones in the sandbox.

Re: Disney acquires own streaming facilities, will pull Netflix content

#450

Post by cookiecaper »

dasil003 wrote: post #347
marssaxman wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is this "a la carte"? I don't care about channels; I'd be willing to pay a couple bucks to watch some specific movie or TV show, but "you have to sign up for a monthly subscription to some corporation's arbitrary bundle of media offerings in order to get access to the one or two things you actually want to see" is pretty much the opposite of "a la carte TV".

It's a la carte because for decades you had to buy bundles of schlock from your cable company to get the one thing you wanted (typically ESPN). Presumably you want finer-grained a la carte, like individual shows and movies. You can get that today via iTunes but it is insanely expensive, and it doesn't really make economic sense because not enough consumers watch little enough TV for that to make sense, therefore the…

When you say "market forces", it is important to understand we are operating within the confines of the completely arbitrary market dictated by copyright law. The natural market for "intellectual goods" like music, movies, and TV is very weak (which is why copyright was created in the first place).

Cable companies and centralized distributors are the natural conclusion of our copyright mechanisms. Online video has already been coalescing on Netflix and Amazon as the next-gen cable cos instead of Comcast and AT&T.

If we don't want to be stuck with the same thing over and over again, we need to change the way that we've constructed the artificial market for intellectual goods, so that subscription bundles a la cable is no longer the only feasible economic model.

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