Live data from Hacker News

Don’t ruin streaming by turning it into cable

techcrunch.com

51–60 of 156 posts

Re: Don’t ruin streaming by turning it into cable

#51
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am paying $120 for 300mbps internet + TV + phone and some soccer sport pass right now, I just contacted Charter (who bought TWC here) to ask how much just the internet would cost me, and they told me it is going to cost $105 just for the internet. So by "cord cutting" I actually only hurting myself here, no?

Technically you're saving 15 dollars a month, so it's not really "hurting" per se.

I am assuming that he is implying that if he cord cut, he would have to spend more than 15$/ month in subscription fees. That seems like a much more reasonable interpretation than assuming he doesn't know that 120 > 105

Re: Don’t ruin streaming by turning it into cable

#52
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

word. unlicensed content delivery platforms still vastly superior in terms of quality and depth of content after over a decade and billions spent by netflix, hulu, etc. if you really want people to pay for a product you should offer better quality than the people who give it away.

The quality may be better, but can you stream pirated content on, say, an iPad app or on a pre-installed TV app? Netflix and other legal providers seem to have a real value proposition versus illegal providers, but I'll admit it's been several years since I've taken any interest in piracy.

Yes, you can easily stream your owned multimedia content to basically any device.

https://emby.media/community/index.php?/forum/18-emby-apps/

https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/203082707-Supporte...

Re: Don’t ruin streaming by turning it into cable

#54
I just signed up for HBO Now. The streaming does not work as good as Netflix. Neither do the browse/search features. It would be nice to have a streaming platform that just worked, and was a marketplace for all the content providers. I couldn't even sign up for HBO now via webpage, I had to download their app, just to sign up. Terrible UI. Terrible platform, but its the only option to watch their content [legally].

Re: Don’t ruin streaming by turning it into cable

#55

I remember how people on the internet used to complain about how they didn’t want all of the garbage channels that were bundled with cable. Now they are complaining about being able to pick and choose what they pay for. (Yes you don’t need to have access to every subscription service) Two things to note, pirates will always find some way to rationalize their theft and the consumer is a child that wants to have their…

Copyright infringement isn't theft.

Thank you for proving my point

Re: Don’t ruin streaming by turning it into cable

#56
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am paying $120 for 300mbps internet + TV + phone and some soccer sport pass right now, I just contacted Charter (who bought TWC here) to ask how much just the internet would cost me, and they told me it is going to cost $105 just for the internet. So by "cord cutting" I actually only hurting myself here, no?

If Charter is anything like Comcast, by not going through them for my cable I save monthly: $50 - 5 additional cable box rentals $10 - "HD Technology Fee" $5 -- Broadcast access fee $3 -- Regional Sorts Fee That's $68 I avoid by using Hulu + Sling + CBS All Access. We have 6 TVs, 3 Roku sticks, a Roku TV, and 3 Apple TV's.

Out of curiosity, what are you doing with 6 TVs? Even when I lived with my parents we only had two.

Re: Don’t ruin streaming by turning it into cable

#57
The solution is, of course, for Netflix to open up to pricing differentiation. There is no reason for HBO Now to be offered outside of Netflix other than haggling over pricing.

What's wrong with Netflix rising above the rabble and focusing instead on providing excellent user experiences and rock-solid world-class reliability?

Just put in a checkbox somewhere that, when checked, added HBO for $X/month. Boom, it's opt-in and a-la-carte, the holy grail desired by cord-cutters everywhere.

At this point it's only Netflix's fault that the content owners are running away and it's within their capability to remedy the situation while keeping everybody happy. Let the children have their candy!

Re: Don’t ruin streaming by turning it into cable

#58

Stupid article. There is the atavistic fantasy of "you can watch everything you want at one low price", except the price is not a low price, it is a high price. The big anti-competitive problem with cable is that cable and satellite providers do not offer a choice of packages. You get basically the same thing with all providers. Hollywood loves it because they get paid no matter how good or bad the stuff they make is…

well, there is a way to fulfill that fantasy: piracy. pretty much everything anyone wants, at the low, low price of free.

Piracy's been declining, but only by around 6%, according to this report ("Daily visits to piracy sites", pg 8): https://www.muso.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/MUSO_2017_Gl... And with VPN's, stream ripping, etc. getting more popular & copyright enforcement getting even more lackadaisical it's not clear if that's due to measurement bias or actually represents a decline. (And I don't know why it disagrees with the article's linked stats of 18% to 15% or 12% to 10%: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2016/07/04/internet-pi...)

It's not really clear if piracy's sustainable... will the free/illegal + paid/legal split continue forever? Or will the different sites continue to merge together somehow, despite the failure of streaming sites to offer 'all in one' deals? They almost seem like two different markets, with minimal overlap: https://www.forbes.com/sites/scottmendelson/2017/05/16/box-o...

Re: Don’t ruin streaming by turning it into cable

#59
post #57

The solution is, of course, for Netflix to open up to pricing differentiation. There is no reason for HBO Now to be offered outside of Netflix other than haggling over pricing. What's wrong with Netflix rising above the rabble and focusing instead on providing excellent user experiences and rock-solid world-class reliability? Just put in a checkbox somewhere that, when checked, added HBO for $X/month. Boom, it's opt-…

Amazon is already doing this; if you have Prime, you can add on subscriptions to HBO, Starz, Cinemax, and a bunch of other channels for a monthly fee.

Re: Don’t ruin streaming by turning it into cable

#60

Stupid article. There is the atavistic fantasy of "you can watch everything you want at one low price", except the price is not a low price, it is a high price. The big anti-competitive problem with cable is that cable and satellite providers do not offer a choice of packages. You get basically the same thing with all providers. Hollywood loves it because they get paid no matter how good or bad the stuff they make is…

don't forget that producing all this content costs 10's of billions per year so someone has to pay for it. both the cost of production and the amount produced keeps increasing so prices need to go up to.

Unless demand goes down.
Post reply on HN