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Netflix, HBO and Cable Giants Are Coming for Password Sharers

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Re: Netflix, HBO and Cable Giants Are Coming for Password Sharers

#151
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you feel entitled to get the product of other peoples work for free?

The moment I needed a bloody table with different companies/packages/subscription in order to figure-out how to watch that show I heard from a friend, I just go to a place where i can get it right now and watch it with my food still warm. Its not customer's fault that the only option for that is now piracy. You want my business earn it, I've yet to see people jumping hurdles and run 10km to get McD burger. Then momen…

> The moment I needed a bloody table with different companies/packages/subscription in order to figure-out how to watch that show I heard from a friend, I just go to a place where i can get it right now and watch it with my food still warm.

Not true, there are many ways to search multiple companies offerings. Apple has one, Roku have one on their devices. Others do too I am sure.

Re: Netflix, HBO and Cable Giants Are Coming for Password Sharers

#152

> If none of those tactics work, pay-TV subscribers could someday be required to sign into their accounts using their thumbprints. This feels like an idea from some idiot corporate suit who said "Well there are fingerprint readers on phones, let's use that to lock down accounts" without understanding that your app just gets as "Yes" or a "No" when you ask the phone to scan a fingerprint. The apps themselves don't get…

Right now, you can only use a fingerprint to authenticate to the device. It's not so far-fetched to one day have the OS offer to link fingerprints to an app, and to let an app limit how many registered fingerprints is accepts (unified count across all devices using the account), or for the app to scan your fingerprint using the webcam. The OSes are DRM-friendly, so they'd play ball.

Re: Netflix, HBO and Cable Giants Are Coming for Password Sharers

#153
post #125
post #9

> “I feel like I’m beating my head against the wall,” Tom Rutledge, the chief executive officer of Charter Communications Inc., said during an earnings call last month. “It’s just too easy to get the product without paying for it.” Boo hoo. All these companies thinking they can split all their content up and get people to pay for every single service are in for a (totally expected) surprise. I'll share my plex server…

>Boo hoo. All these companies thinking they can split all their content up and get people to pay for every single service are in for a (totally expected) surprise. But people complained just as loud when cable TV "made them pay for everything even though they only watch three channels".

All people want is everything for a tiny price. They are morally entitled to that, no?

Re: Netflix, HBO and Cable Giants Are Coming for Password Sharers

#154
post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The moment I needed a bloody table with different companies/packages/subscription in order to figure-out how to watch that show I heard from a friend, I just go to a place where i can get it right now and watch it with my food still warm. Its not customer's fault that the only option for that is now piracy. You want my business earn it, I've yet to see people jumping hurdles and run 10km to get McD burger. Then momen…

I remember 10 years ago that the answer to rayiner's question was always "I don't want to pay a ton of money for a whole bundle of crap I don't want when all I want to watch is one specific thing." I saw it all the time. Now people complain about the complexities of unbundling. It's fairly clear to me that these complaints, while real, aren't the core issue which is: people would rather get content for free than pay…

> I remember 10 years ago that the answer to rayiner's question was always "I don't want to pay a ton of money for a whole bundle of crap I don't want when all I want to watch is one specific thing." I saw it all the time.

> Now people complain about the complexities of unbundling.

Why do you treat people like they are one amorphous blob? People want different things. There will always be people unhappy with the way things are. Are you trying to discount their complaints?

Re: Netflix, HBO and Cable Giants Are Coming for Password Sharers

#155
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The entitlement people feel to steal is always surprising. Especially on this board. I understand a lot of reddit is younger and irresponsible so piracy-as-the-norm is a popular trope, but among the engineers whose livelihoods depend on subscription models, we still promote service theft without so much as a hint of shame? If the economics of a service don't make sense to you, then do not subscribe. But to turn aroun…

making a copy of something is not the same as stealing

You're right, of course. But this isn't a court of law and so we use terms like piracy and theft when we are talking about copyright infringement and nobody is really confused.

Re: Netflix, HBO and Cable Giants Are Coming for Password Sharers

#156
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

making a copy of something is not the same as stealing

How about copying a $100 bill?

There's nothing wrong with copying a $100 bill. It's when you try to exchange it for goods that have value that it becomes an issue.

Re: Netflix, HBO and Cable Giants Are Coming for Password Sharers

#157
post #128
post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember 10 years ago that the answer to rayiner's question was always "I don't want to pay a ton of money for a whole bundle of crap I don't want when all I want to watch is one specific thing." I saw it all the time. Now people complain about the complexities of unbundling. It's fairly clear to me that these complaints, while real, aren't the core issue which is: people would rather get content for free than pay…

I think people aren't articulating what they want. People hate the cable companies because you're paying high prices for a bunch of bullshit. People hate the plethora of streaming services because now they have to pay 50 different places. Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, HBO, etc. What people want to do is choose what "channels" or shows they want and pay one entity. Basically Amazon Prime's model of adding on CBS All Access o…

> People hate the cable companies because you're paying high prices for a bunch of bullshit.

People also love cable companies because of all the content, always have and always will. That is why they pay them billions a year. I am not sure what your point is?

Re: Netflix, HBO and Cable Giants Are Coming for Password Sharers

#158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There will be people who cannot afford entertainment and will pirate no matter what. That a red hearing and it doesn't matter. I don't care about bundles/deal/special arrangement all I care about is convenience. Netflix used to be more convenient to watch quality series and I was using it exclusively. I paid fair price for convenience. Starting show where you left of skipping intros etc, all of those things made me p…

So far no solution besides “pirating” has met this one simple requirement: “On-demand access to any movie or TV show I can think of that has ever been digitized, from one service.” That’s it. If you can provide that, take my money. In the, say 20 years since broadband existed, literally no legit company has offered this yet, for any price.

> That’s it. If you can provide that, take my money. In the, say 20 years since broadband existed, literally no legit company has offered this yet, for any price.

That's because they insist on (and we permit) keeping control of both licensing and distribution. If content companies couldn't distribute themselves, or make exclusive deals for distribution, and just had to say "here's the price sheet, anyone who wants our stuff and can pay our rates can distribute it" there'd probably be such a pay-one-bill-and-watch-anything service—but it'd own no content itself. There'd also probably be a few cheaper ones licensing a wide variety of cheaper content—a single, cheapish streaming service with damn near every B-movie and failed or obscure TV show ever made, as an example. The services would have to compete on price and UX, not primarily by which content they can prevent other services from accessing—so, better for the viewer than the current situation.

Given that entertainment media aren't like other goods (you can't just go find someone else to make you a satisfactory replacement for Casablanca, say) and we grant legal monopolies on copyright, it seems anti-consumer and anti-competitive to allow same entities to also own & control distribution.

Re: Netflix, HBO and Cable Giants Are Coming for Password Sharers

#159
post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Netflix showed how much content you could get for a cheap cost relative to cable. Now everyone company wants to charge the same for their meager library.

Netflix pricing was always temporary. Content owners werent ready to destroy their old business models, they temporarily rented licensing rights to Netflix while they figured out how they were going to handle shifts in consumption. It's almost the same thing as Uber prices being VC subsidized. And now Disney is following the same playbook, sell Disney+ at or below cost for a while until they can inflate MAU enough th…

>>We are also talking about a generation who is saying "I wont pay $7-$15 four times, thats too expensive" but while growing up, who's parents were paying $150/m to Comcast or DirecTV.

Yea I'm part of the group of millenials killing everything. Here's my honest to god thoughts: I don't care if piracy is killing the industry, or if these people aren't able to keep operating. Let the whole thing burn to the ground. We'll figure it out. It would be painful (the jobs! The lives disrupted! The profits!!!) and I'm aware of that. I just don't care.

The industry has opened Pandora's box. And I'm not going to feel bad when Disney or Verizon or whatever megacorp the other 5% of the industry those two don't has their business disrupted. The entertainment industry has gotten gross and stagnant and continues to progress towards a monopoly.

This current era is going to shift, and likely very fast. There's too many services, and piracy is still an easy option. You can slow roll price increases, but only so far and only if there's a very small (2-5?) number of services people feel they're getting value from.

Re: Netflix, HBO and Cable Giants Are Coming for Password Sharers

#160
post #145
post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

plus I don’t have to sign up on yet another service for just one film/show. I am 100% in for paying for the films/shows. Just give me a convenient cross-platform option to do so without any BS

Don't Google/Apple all have pay per view for movies and shows? You don't have to have a subscription.

they don’t have everything (and I regulary buy things from them). Try watching “Spirited Away” there or upcoming “Mandolorian”. Also, what you can watch on Netflix depends on where you are.
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