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Netflix Secures Streaming Deal With DreamWorks

nytimes.com

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Re: Netflix Secures Streaming Deal With DreamWorks

#31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would say it probably has fewer movies, but it's selection is more mainstream. However it's model is quite different from netflix's (except if you have a paid for Prime account, with some titles).

I do have Prime account. Does it mean i get free streaming? I couldnt figure from reading.

The free prime streaming is only a subset of their catalog. It's also confusing. You'll click through to a movie and it will give you options to buy, rent in HD or stream with prime for free.

Re: Netflix Secures Streaming Deal With DreamWorks

#33
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The exception to this was their movie suggestion algorithm. But lately it seems to be pointing me to their cheapest-to-consume content, not the best content given my rating history. (I say this primarily because of the prevalence of old, old movies, of which I am pretty much never a fan.)

Netflix often hid high demand movies from customers on the new releases page. They would showcase new release movies on their main webpage & in marketing, but if you actually signed in to your account & looked at the new releases section you would find those movies either hard to find or missing altogether. I would not find it surprising that they might tweak their algorithm to direct people to lower cost content.

Lower cost in what sense? I was under the impression that Netflix didn't pay per viewer, but rather, licensed the content to stream as much as they want for a certain time frame. Is that not correct?

edited to add: Here we go. From the Q2 investor conference call -- "For streaming content, we buy like our industry and pay television and network TV buys and cable networks, which is you have to commit upfront, and you have to pay a fixed amount per time period, typically per year, for access to that content on your network."[1]

[1] http://files.shareholder.com/downloads/NFLX/1414867676x0x485...

[Disclosure] I own a bit of NFLX.

Re: Netflix Secures Streaming Deal With DreamWorks

#34
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Netflix often hid high demand movies from customers on the new releases page. They would showcase new release movies on their main webpage & in marketing, but if you actually signed in to your account & looked at the new releases section you would find those movies either hard to find or missing altogether. I would not find it surprising that they might tweak their algorithm to direct people to lower cost content.

Lower cost in what sense? I was under the impression that Netflix didn't pay per viewer, but rather, licensed the content to stream as much as they want for a certain time frame. Is that not correct? edited to add: Here we go. From the Q2 investor conference call -- "For streaming content, we buy like our industry and pay television and network TV buys and cable networks, which is you have to commit upfront, and you…

I think this was referring only to physical DVDs.

That's where the recommendation system is most prominent due to the high opportunity cost in the movie-by-mail system.

The Netflix Prize, awarded just two years ago, is so irrelevant to Netflix today that they'll probably sell the license to the winning algorithm along with Qwikster.

Re: Netflix Secures Streaming Deal With DreamWorks

#35

While I'm rooting for Netflix to succeed in the short term, I have doubts about its long-term viability. Currently, in the media-delivery industry, Netflix is elbowing out the un-innovative rent-extracting cable TV industry, which is unequivocally a good thing. Delivering better choices for lower prices, while consigning cable companies to delivering commodity broadband access can only help consumers. In the longer t…

> In the longer term, however, I fail to see how Netflix can avoid having its product turn into a commodity.

One way is by targeting as many delivery platforms as possible and just being there first. My TV for example has a Netflix "app" so I would likely pick Netflix. Many BlueRay players have built-in access to Netflix. Maybe built native apps for all the major mobile devices.

> what's stopping Dreamworks from simply charging and delivering the movie to consumers directly?

Becaus then users would end up having a bunch of hardware/software specific to each studio. Not common way to organize & sort your media queue.

Yes, Netflix already fucked it up by splitting off Qwickster but imagine having a different service for each studio.

Re: Netflix Secures Streaming Deal With DreamWorks

#36
post #5

I am still waiting when I can play Netflix on Linux.

You can use the netflix extension for chrome. Look in the chrome app store. Edit: According to rglullis, this is wrong. I have left it for context. Sorry - I had read something about it, but it appears to not be true.

The Linux Chrome plugin is still being beta tested. Netflix has mentioned that it might be available sometime next year.

In the mean time, buy a Roku and plug it into one of your monitor's other outputs.

Re: Netflix Secures Streaming Deal With DreamWorks

#37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't see how any online streaming service can survive longterm. There is still quite a digital divide (lack of affordable, highspeed internet access in the US in many areas). By the time this is resolved, storage media will become so inexpensive and dense, it will be possible to store years of tv shows and movies locally and very cheaply. Personally, I have grown tired already of having certain tv shows or movies…

While high-speed isn't available everywhere (I know, because it isn't on every street where I live) it does cover a majority of Americans. Netflix already makes plenty of money and doesn't seem to be suffering from not being available to all Americans. It doesn't matter how dense the media is as you still need to get the content onto it. This will be done by downloading or purchasing it at a store on some other media…

Ever been here to Canal Street?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canal_Street_%28Manhattan%29 ' Many vendors there are not bothered by licensing costs.

Re: Netflix Secures Streaming Deal With DreamWorks

#38

While I'm rooting for Netflix to succeed in the short term, I have doubts about its long-term viability. Currently, in the media-delivery industry, Netflix is elbowing out the un-innovative rent-extracting cable TV industry, which is unequivocally a good thing. Delivering better choices for lower prices, while consigning cable companies to delivering commodity broadband access can only help consumers. In the longer t…

Think grocery stores.

Much as content producers may want their own self-focused delivery stores, there isn't a chain of Nabisco Stores or such around. Some stores kinda get there, with heavy promotion of "store brands" or label-focused ones like Trader Joe's and Aldi, but while they win on price their success is tempered by lack of range. Likewise, Dreamworks and Sony and Disney etc. may want to provide direct sourcing of their material to customers, and may succeed to some degree, what most customers want is a centralized "I don't care who made it, I just want it" aggregator & distributor and not have to hunt down "awright, what studio made Shrek...good graphics, so it must be Pixar, which is owned by Disney, check Disney.com...nope, not there...Sony Animation Stuido? they did Open Season which looked similar, check Sony.com...nope, aw crap ya wanna watch my Over The Hedge DVD again?"

So the aggregator/distributor model is key. Publix, Wegmans, Piggly Wiggly, IGA, Whole Foods, etc. make deals with major product/content producers for distribution rights. Smaller ones have to pay for those rights, bigger ones are paid; the supply-and-demand model works out in its intricate complexity. Different distributors provide one benefit or another (ditto deficiencies), which when in competition with other near-identical distributors means innovating and maintaining something which garners more attention. They can exist side-by-side, what with Super Walmart carrying the greatest quantity & variety of most popular stuff cheap, Aldi giving near no variety (but pretty good what's there) stuff dirt cheap, IGA being "it's a grocery store, no more or less", Wegmans selling everything imaginable albeit higher priced, Whole Foods having high-priced premium selection, etc. Likewise, Netflix gets first-there broad-spectrum appeal, Hulu having better TV options, ABC/CBS/NBC/etc. having super-popular but limited offerings, Redbox (assuming they go streaming) featuring broad-range latest big-name short-availability content, etc.

The content producers can't develop enough following to garner customer loyalty to a single streaming source; nobody is a Dreamworks fan to the exclusion of most everything else. An aggregator/distributor can, however, will have to license Dreamworks content because customers want it (even if they don't know who made it). No aggregator can satisfy all customers; improving one feature set will degrade others; a complete slate of new big-budget titles will be limited and pricy, a long-tail library is thorough and "affordable" but lacks the biggest latest cheap, a low-price source may limit to second-tier content, a small distributor may specialize in obscure content for a premium.

NOBODY can provide EVERYTHING with COMPLETE satisfaction; there will always be room for a varying portfolio of content to offer, various delivery mechanisms which will appeal more to some than others, pricing which mirrors demand, etc. Just like grocery stores, each has its limits and annoyances and features and preferences.

Re: Netflix Secures Streaming Deal With DreamWorks

#39

While I'm rooting for Netflix to succeed in the short term, I have doubts about its long-term viability. Currently, in the media-delivery industry, Netflix is elbowing out the un-innovative rent-extracting cable TV industry, which is unequivocally a good thing. Delivering better choices for lower prices, while consigning cable companies to delivering commodity broadband access can only help consumers. In the longer t…

Think grocery stores. Much as content producers may want their own self-focused delivery stores, there isn't a chain of Nabisco Stores or such around. Some stores kinda get there, with heavy promotion of "store brands" or label-focused ones like Trader Joe's and Aldi, but while they win on price their success is tempered by lack of range. Likewise, Dreamworks and Sony and Disney etc. may want to provide direct sourci…

> Trader Joe's

TJ's and pretty much all grocery stores just relabel another brand that's out there.

Re: Netflix Secures Streaming Deal With DreamWorks

#40

While I'm rooting for Netflix to succeed in the short term, I have doubts about its long-term viability. Currently, in the media-delivery industry, Netflix is elbowing out the un-innovative rent-extracting cable TV industry, which is unequivocally a good thing. Delivering better choices for lower prices, while consigning cable companies to delivering commodity broadband access can only help consumers. In the longer t…

Think grocery stores. Much as content producers may want their own self-focused delivery stores, there isn't a chain of Nabisco Stores or such around. Some stores kinda get there, with heavy promotion of "store brands" or label-focused ones like Trader Joe's and Aldi, but while they win on price their success is tempered by lack of range. Likewise, Dreamworks and Sony and Disney etc. may want to provide direct sourci…

The comparison of virtual good to physical good is not apt. Most consumers would type "rent shrek" into Google. This hardly compares to having to drive to different physical stores.

The browsing experience will similarly be taken over by google. Today if I want to go see a movie, I type "movies" into google and and get a summary of "Movies for City, ST". I click on a movie and it shows me all places nearby that it's showing.

Tomorrow, Google will include a "Rentals" link, which shows a list of movies for rent, with a convenient link to whichever study rents the movie.

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