Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Netflix’s Prices Are Rising Faster Than Cable

interneteconomist.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

321–330 of 507 posts

Re: Netflix’s Prices Are Rising Faster Than Cable

#321

Post by ozzythecat »

gentleman11 wrote: post #80

Typical startup play: charge almost nothing for a decade or longer, then raise prices or reduce offerings later on after killing almost every competing offering in the world. This time, there are still several competitors left though. One day these services that aim to replace cable will be basically identical to cable but more expensive, or else there will be a bunch of walled gardens It’s like YouTube will the ad s…

> Typical startup play: charge almost nothing for a decade or longer, then raise prices or reduce offerings later on after killing almost every competing offering in the world.

If this is meant to describe Netflix, it’s categorically incorrect.

10 years ago, Netflix was a library of third party content. Today, their top content consists of Netflix’s own produced shows.

The nature of their business has changed. You may appreciate their content or think all their originals are horrible. Regardless, it’s unreasonable in my mind that after 10 years in an evolving business, prices would stay the same.

> One day these services that aim to replace cable will be basically identical to cable but more expensive, or else there will be a bunch of walled gardens

Again - cable services were merely an intermediary. The business model shifted where you pay the content house directly and watch shows without ads. I don’t see any direct comparison here.

Re: Netflix’s Prices Are Rising Faster Than Cable

#322

Post by xboxnolifes »

berberous wrote: post #279
cm2012 wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plus Arcane which is in the top 20 tv shows of all time on IMBD.

First I’ve heard of Arcane. Is it actually good and worth watching if I have zero interest and know nothing about Lol, or is it really just rated highly because of anime/gaming fans?

If you enjoy animated shows, you don't need to enjoy league.

Re: Netflix’s Prices Are Rising Faster Than Cable

#323

Post by azinman2 »

JohnJamesRambo wrote: post #131
lofties wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Netflix needs to realize, if it hasn't already, that it's not a technology company, but a production company.

They need to be priced as one. Netflix PE ratio is 47x. Paramount is 8x. Universal is 12x.

What’s the likelihood of any of those 3 companies pivoting and offering a fundamentally new entertainment experience?

My money would be on Netflix. They’ve done it at least twice already; it’s in their DNA.

Re: Netflix’s Prices Are Rising Faster Than Cable

#324

Post by cronix »

stathibus wrote: post #10

Netflix is part of the FAANG acronym because they have all these highly paid engineers. Presumably those people have been doing something for the past 5 years in anticipation of being disrupted by Disney/HBO/etc. besides maintaining their CDN and tweaking recommendation engines, but it's not clear what - the product is more or less the same as it always was.

The infrastructure engineers built an awesome highway, but the other half (content creators) aren't creating enough quality cars. Content creators, and the people who make content/entertainment decisions, are not the same people as the infrastructure engineers and have little in common except they both use computers.

Re: Netflix’s Prices Are Rising Faster Than Cable

#325

Post by clircle »

That's fine. With one, (still) cheap subscription I'm entertaining people in three different households right now. It's well worth it. I don't even like much of the content on Netflix anymore, I'm just glad I can entertain so many people without three cable bills.

When they take away multi-household family support, I'll either cancel or pass the buck to someone else.

Re: Netflix’s Prices Are Rising Faster Than Cable

#327

Post by mandernt »

yonaguska wrote: post #172
arch-ninja wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I cancelled my subscription shortly after they started getting rid of small-time films and started producing their own content; the two reasons were (1) I don't like businesses that can't cooperate with others and (2) their own content sucks and likely continues to suck to this day because their KPI is "how many people watched >1s of this?" and not "did we allow passionate, talented people to do work they are now pro…

I actually surprisingly enjoy their international content, Dark, Squid Game, Vikings, etc- but their American content does suck. It also comes off as too preachy/propaganda-ish. If I was actually the one paying for the account, I simply wouldn't subscribe.

No post body was provided.

Re: Netflix’s Prices Are Rising Faster Than Cable

#328

Post by noahtallen »

rchaud wrote: post #116

The golden age of Netflix was when it had a full library of other networks' shows. It was completely unsustainable at $8.99/mo or whatever it was back in 2013-15. The price of the brick went up each time renewal discussions happened, and the rights holders were planning to set up their own networks anyway. What I didn't anticipate was how fast Netflix would dump AAA content and replace it with a deluge of B and C gra…

While obviously Netflix has a lot to loose here, it don’t think it’s “their fault” for dumping AAA content. The reality is that every content producer on the planet knows they’ll make more money selling their own subscription platform. Netflix can’t continue to get Marvel movies, for example, now that Disney has pulled the plug. There’s not any amount of cash Netflix could afford to pay which would be enough for The Mouse to take content off of Disney+.

This is the same for every studio out there — well-loved shows like The Office, Brooklyn 99, Parks & Rec, etc. are getting taken back by their owners. Dozens of new streaming services are appearing.

In reality, there’s not much Netflix can do about it besides double down on original content.

I think an ideal future for consumers would be federated media platforms, where all content is available in any number of media platforms, and the amount you pay is passed back to the content owners based on what you watch. But I doubt that will ever happen under current IP laws.

In capitalism, profit wins. Right now, streaming services are essentially pure profit and make money because content owners have exclusive access to their own content — who would pay for Disney+ if all of their content was available elsewhere?

It really sucks for consumers.

Re: Netflix’s Prices Are Rising Faster Than Cable

#329

Post by tomjen3 »

bilater wrote: post #319
discardable_dan wrote: post #2

I said this again recently, but it's worth repeating: Netflix is on the very fast downward slope. Their catalog is wilting, the space is heating up with well-established competitors moving in and serving the precise content that Netflix originally built their brand on, and their efforts to fund a new catalog with new IP (and taking ownership of old IP) is destroying the business model that made them so appealing in t…

Respectfully, this is a lazy take. If you even slightly dig into the numbers the price increase makes complete sense. Netflix spent 17 billion dollars on content last year. They are outspending competitors 2 to 1 if not more. Their catalog is thriving - you have big names like DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Ryan Reynolds, Gal Gadot, The Rock etc signing on for movies. You have shows like Squid Game attracting ridiculou…

The benefit of Netflix was that you could binge 7 seasons of a show you didn't get to see back when it was new, for whatever reason. They have to heavily promote their own content and often there are only one or two "seasons", where a season is only about 10 episodes.

In short they may be spending a ton on content, but so does all the others and while I do pay for Netflix, I continually wonder if I should just cancel.

Post reply on HN