Netflix Is Why AT&T bought Time Warner, and Comcast and Disney want Fox

Post by Agathos » Sun, Jun 17, 2018, 7:17 PM UTC

coralreef wrote: post #12

empath75 wrote: post #5

If those company think it’s about content libraries they’re going to lose. All those companies think: we own a lot of media, we can just build a streaming media platform. And I think they’re way underestimating how hard it is to build the technology stack and processes that Netflix has. Netflix has an engineering team and a development and deployment process that has some production studios attached to it. Disney can…

Getting the engineering to scale fast would be difficult, but IMO isn't a fundamental issue. Streaming video is basically a solved problem and is not where the money is. People subscribe for the content, not the technology. HBO isn't a tech first company but is probably doing a disproportionate amount of subscriptions thanks to Game of Thrones.

Post by vincentmarle » Sun, Jun 17, 2018, 7:19 PM UTC

yebyen wrote: post #16

skinnymuch wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lionsgate Starz isn’t a big company with a lot of products so paying extra to watch things for that channel will be a challenge no matter what. On the other hand, HBO seems to be doing well enough with their not so cheap stand alone offering. Disney with Fox’s media would be a pretty big streaming provider and many people would likely get onto it. Good chance of it becoming a standard streaming service. So I don’t se…

If you're talking about HBO Go, I don't know how you gauge success, but if it's subscriber numbers I would take that with a grain of salt. I am a Comcast subscriber, and like many Comcast subscribers I'm sure, I have one of their boxes in my house, with the most basic Cable TV package, because if I don't take it my cost goes up (I mean the overall price of the monthly billed amount from Comcast/Xfinity). We get crapp…

Post by JetSpiegel » Sun, Jun 17, 2018, 7:25 PM UTC

waffle_ss wrote: post #32

compcoffee wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If those company think it’s about content libraries they’re going to lose. As long as your platform meets some bare minimum standard of reliability (and every service I use seems to be able to) then content is the only thing that matters. > And I think they’re way underestimating how hard it is to build the technology stack and processes that Netflix has. I think you are way overestimating the complexity. Sure, it'…

Nobody in here seems to appreciate the networking complexity that Netflix deals with - they are 37% of North America's internet traffic! At that point the network isn't an abstraction that "just works" like most web apps; you have to be aware of physical and business realities that dictate traffic (e.g. negotiate peering agreements, deploy caching/CDN boxes to network POPs, etc.).

Post by tzs » Sun, Jun 17, 2018, 7:36 PM UTC

MisterTea wrote: post #3

These companies are obsessed with fragmenting the market for the sake of owning content from production to delivery. I have bad news for them: you're going to lose. People don't want to go back to paying $100/month for a dozen streaming "channels" with one or two good shows and a the same crap the rest of the other "channels" have. We want an on-demand nexus. A single hub. Just the other day I had the urge to watch g…

Post by rayiner » Sun, Jun 17, 2018, 7:42 PM UTC

sosborn wrote: post #42

MisterTea wrote: post #3

These companies are obsessed with fragmenting the market for the sake of owning content from production to delivery. I have bad news for them: you're going to lose. People don't want to go back to paying $100/month for a dozen streaming "channels" with one or two good shows and a the same crap the rest of the other "channels" have. We want an on-demand nexus. A single hub. Just the other day I had the urge to watch g…

> Off to a torrent site or asking around to see if someone has rips or a box set. The other option is to just not watch it.