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Netflix’s bad habits have caught up with it

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Re: Netflix’s bad habits have caught up with it

#91
post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The holders would pay less in taxes when the valuation drops, why would they get a credit? Also, the only people who would be subject to those taxes are already extraordinarily wealthy, so who cares?

Because the policy will bankrupt founders. Imagine you're the founder of NFLX and you held $1 billion worth of stock at the peak last year ($690 / share) The IRS says you owe $300 million (30% of your unrealized gains) Fast forward to spring 2022. The stock has crashed to $186, your shares are worth only $270 million but you owe a $300 million tax bill. Not to mention the impossible situation this creates for corpora…

The majority of the hypothetical Reed Hastings in that scenario are also borrowing against and investing off of that $1B in equity. Maybe he should have diversified better, and I don’t see why the average person should care.

Re: Netflix’s bad habits have caught up with it

#92
post #28

Netflix really had a value proposition a few years ago before all the other players came in. A good selection of rotating movies and shows, sharing accounts with a good model (# of simultaneously running screens). This was way better than cable TV and more convenient than torrent. Now it’s mostly quite mediocre content across services that easily cost $100+ a month, so we’re back to the old cable days in terms of cos…

I keep hearing this $100+ argument all the time, but do you really need all the services simultaneously? As you point out, there isn't that much to watch. So just unsubscribe for a few months, let the new content build up and safe money in the meantime.

Re: Netflix’s bad habits have caught up with it

#93
>Netflix is further eroding its connection to audiences through its unwritten mandate to end the vast majority of its new shows after no more than three seasons, with only the very biggest (or most cost-efficient) scripted hits lasting longer.

One of my favorite shows by far was Disjointed. It was a very silly Stoner take on Roxanne. Cancelled after 2 seasons.

I get the feeling Netflix doesn't want niche shows, everything needs to be Squid Game.

I imagine experimenting with other rev models might work. You can already buy Stranger Things on DVD.

Let me buy the shows I want a la carta.

I've found Disney Plus / Hulu to be a better deal. Surprisingly stuff like Marvel What IF tends to be much more enjoyable compared to whatever animation Netflix is putting out.

Hulu has a better back catalog,

HBO Max has a better bang for buck when it comes to investing my time. The shows have decent writing.

Half the Netflix shows feel like you took a 20 year old English major, paid them in Blue Moon and asked them to write a script.

The best thing ends up being the show premise, once I have to sit down and watch it I'm not having a good time

Re: Netflix’s bad habits have caught up with it

#94
post #53

>Its stock price collapsed by more than 35 percent Wednesday, erasing more than $50 billion in value in a single day. For people who want to be able to tax unrealized gains like stock, what is the plan for these kinds of events? Would stockholders receive a credit from the IRS when the valuation dips?

It would obviously work the same way a realized loss works currently. They’d be able to offset the loss against other gains and carry over any excess loss into future tax years.

Re: Netflix’s bad habits have caught up with it

#96
post #28

Netflix really had a value proposition a few years ago before all the other players came in. A good selection of rotating movies and shows, sharing accounts with a good model (# of simultaneously running screens). This was way better than cable TV and more convenient than torrent. Now it’s mostly quite mediocre content across services that easily cost $100+ a month, so we’re back to the old cable days in terms of cos…

I know a number of people who have just gone back to torrenting everything they care about (such as For All Mankind or Foundation) and are very unlikely to ever subscribe to a 2nd, 3rd, 4th streaming service. They either picked netflix and have stayed with it at $22/mo or have changed from netflix to 1 other service like paramount+ or whatever, but the idea of paying $50-60-80 a month for more services on top of thei…

Interesting to call out Netflix for high price and then the examples for torrenting are Apple shows which is much cheaper.

Re: Netflix’s bad habits have caught up with it

#97

It doesn't help that Netflix stands on principle and blocks all accounts in Russia, one of their major sources of subscriber growth. America, while being the most lucrative market, was already pretty saturated. Cutting off the countries with huge growth makes it extremely difficult to keep growing paying customers. But, principle comes first at Netflix, to the chagrin of their stock holders and employees.

>But, principle comes first at Netflix, to the chagrin of their stock holders and employees. You're saying that as if that was a bad thing.

Isn't the whole point of stock investments for consumers is to grow their money. All this ethics/morals is all passe . What they want is to invest in oil, defense companies and then talk to real people about global warming and peace on earth.

Re: Netflix’s bad habits have caught up with it

#98
post #16

So the problem with media conglomerates (including big studios) is they want predictable returns. More specifically, they want a formula. Let me introduce you to Save the Cat [1]. This book has become so influential that you can read this book and then watch pretty much any movie and you'll be able to tick off everything in the movie to this structure. It's why studios love sequels and franchises. They have a built-i…

I would add that "a formula" doesn't mean it's bad. I regularly drank beer since like when I was 14 until when I was like 35 or something? I do it way less now but still sometimes drink beer. My favorite style changes. Sometime I just drink a new one because like dopamine hits and I get excited about the potential novelty and discovery. But it's beer, and I think there's nothing wrong with it. From bud light to like…

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Re: Netflix’s bad habits have caught up with it

#99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Stupid is probably the wrong word here; "clueless"? I personally think consumers are on the verge of reinventing TV channels, with each streaming service acting like a channel. Consumers, who liked that Netflix had so much content in one place, are slowly pushing time to go backward.

I still don't see how it's the consumers' fault. Say there was one single person out there who wasn't an idiot or clueless, and just wanted to watch some TV after work. What should this person have done?

Consumers want high quality, entertaining content, at low cost, with little commitment, at any time. Prior to Netflix, there wasn't such an intersecting product. Now, Netflix has low quality content, but still has all the other stuff. Consumers see this, forget what life was like back in the early 2000s, and switch/sign up for several other services. It's where consumers spend their money that will result in this regression.

You ask what this person should have done? Not sign up for other services. The other providers are better quality, but regresses on all the rest of the experience. Youtube TV is more than $60 a month. Disney+ great content, but an extremely narrow content offering ("few but ripe"). HBO lagged like crazy when the season finale of GOT came out. When the regular person you asked about spends money on these other services, it encourages them to grow. The content is great, but the bad-experience, price, and schism is what they will get in return. They are unknowingly demanding it.

Re: Netflix’s bad habits have caught up with it

#100
post #53

>Its stock price collapsed by more than 35 percent Wednesday, erasing more than $50 billion in value in a single day. For people who want to be able to tax unrealized gains like stock, what is the plan for these kinds of events? Would stockholders receive a credit from the IRS when the valuation dips?

The question is asked like it is some sort of gotcha, but there are clear answers for both the general proposals floating around:

(a) wealth tax. Every year each household with over $XX million in net worth pays y% of the amount above the threshold in taxes. No refund if your net worth goes down in subsequent years.

(b) treat unrealized capital gains as income. Each year you pay income taxes on the increase in the value of your stock portfolio, even if you don’t sell. Any losses can be written off subsequent years’ taxes.

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