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Netflix now bigger than HBO

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Re: Netflix now bigger than HBO

#81

Post by gamblor956 »

jfb wrote: post #59
filmgirlcw wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's absolutely licensing. When content is licensed, there are different licenses that are distributed based on who pays and what the service is: * First-run -- you get to broadcast it first * Syndication -- you get to broadcast second * Digital -- you can also show the product on a digital platform (this was how Netflix was able to do their loophole with Starz back in the day, Starz sold the digital license and stre…

There are more and crazier ones: exclusive windows for airplanes, hotel PPV, &c. When you're frustrated by some lacuna in a video service's offering, 99% of the time the feature is missing, the reason is "licensing". Content ownership is going to devolve into small offices of tens of attorneys and support staff, managing these licensing deals. Universal Studios et al will simply be licensees of Jaws properties for th…

Content ownership is already small offices of attorneys and support staff. Most major IPs are actually owned by small production companies. These production companies are in turn generally wholly or partially owned by the major movie studios.

It's done this way for financial bookkeeping, legal liability, and tax structuring reasons. This type of setup is more popularly known as "Hollywood Accounting" and is the reason why a movie can make hundreds of millions but still yield a "loss." (The studio acts as a distributor and is payed a distribution fee; the IP owning company receives royalties; the production company that actually writes the checks for expenses gets its cut "last" after the income has been redirected to various other entities.)

Re: Netflix now bigger than HBO

#82

Post by protomyth »

dhughes wrote: post #13

I've battled with Netflix many times. Its Canadian content is a joke, compared to what's available in the US I can't imagine why anyone would stay with Netflix Canada for more than a month. Yes I've tried various VPNs and it's far better but I don't like the layout they changed it since I had used it the first time. The biggest problem is the bizarre customer service which seems to be very amateurish. I was billed tw…

Isn't part of the problem the Canadian content laws?

Re: Netflix now bigger than HBO

#83

Post by anotherbadlogin »

edouard1234567 wrote: post #2

One interesting piece of information from this article : During peak periods of internet use in the US, Netflix constitutes 33% of all downstream traffic. Impressive!

Less impressive is logic like this: "Facebook obviously controls a large share of internet use, but the content it serves isn’t as rich, or bandwidth-heavy, as YouTube or Netflix. In theory, the richer media should ultimately translate into more revenue."

That makes no sense. Why would that be true? A gigabyte of Facebooking would be a SHITLOAD of Facebooking, seeing lots of different pages and ads, and providing loads of demographic data. A gigabyte of video is what, one hour-long show at max quality?

Re: Netflix now bigger than HBO

#84

Post by protomyth »

CamperBob2 wrote: post #80
dangrossman wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If HBO were to go internet-only, it'd lose the major cable operators heavily promoting them for free. They only market premium channels so hard because it helps sell expensive cable TV service. HBO would lose subscribers immediately as operators no longer actively replace subscribers for them as others churn out. To make up for the lost stream of customer acquisition, they'd have to: a) Cut prices by more than 50% to…

HBO would lose subscribers immediately as operators no longer actively replace subscribers for them as others churn out. But that's going to happen -- and is happening -- anyway. "no, we shouldn't throw away $10+bn/year to give Bob his internet subscription while we're in the midst of a death battle for the future of digital entertainment distribution". "What? A phone that plays music?! Are you crazy? Do you realize…

I don't think anyone at HBO believes they won't go to an internet subscription service, but I do believe they still think it is too soon to switch. They have to pick the point correctly or have some bad quarterly earning reports.

Re: Netflix now bigger than HBO

#85

Post by thezilch »

filmgirlcw wrote: post #53
thezilch wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm pretty sure people consistently pay $8/mon, despite the original content. You literally need only stay out of my way, be easy to use on multiple devices, and only entertain me 2-4hrs/mon to keep me coming back.

No, by consistently I mean without churn. See, what happens with Netflix, HBO, Showtime -- even regular cable -- is that subscriber churn happens. It's often cyclical. One of the reasons HBO staggers its release schedule for its programming is to try to get people to pay year-round (it's also why they introduced HBO Go -- in essence they gave up their home video revenue, or greatly limited it -- in exchange for keepi…

I'm sure Netflix has churn; I'm sure they have clients that turn the service on for only a few months of the year; I'm NOT sure that is the majority, which is what I assumed you and I were referencing when quoting "people."

I'd literally pay 3-4x as much for the non-original content. Again, that is only 6-16hrs of content Netflix has to serve up, that is only remotely interesting. The convenience and paying for the business model I believe in does the rest.

If HBO offered its service unencumbered of cable subscriptions, I'd still find it less valuable than Netflix.

Re: Netflix now bigger than HBO

#86

Post by jacques_chester »

CamperBob2 wrote: post #80
dangrossman wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If HBO were to go internet-only, it'd lose the major cable operators heavily promoting them for free. They only market premium channels so hard because it helps sell expensive cable TV service. HBO would lose subscribers immediately as operators no longer actively replace subscribers for them as others churn out. To make up for the lost stream of customer acquisition, they'd have to: a) Cut prices by more than 50% to…

HBO would lose subscribers immediately as operators no longer actively replace subscribers for them as others churn out. But that's going to happen -- and is happening -- anyway. "no, we shouldn't throw away $10+bn/year to give Bob his internet subscription while we're in the midst of a death battle for the future of digital entertainment distribution". "What? A phone that plays music?! Are you crazy? Do you realize…

This is a poor analogy. The net profit on an iPhone is higher than the net profit on an iPod.

Re: Netflix now bigger than HBO

#87

Post by untog »

brndn wrote: post #57
untog wrote: post #3

I think that HBO are quietly positioning themselves to prosper when the cable bubble finally bursts, though- HBOGO is great. Compare that to Showtime, for example, whose app offerings are widely panned.

Showtime has a similar offering called Showtime Anytime.

And the reviews are spectacular:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/showtime-anytime/id484232467...

Re: Netflix now bigger than HBO

#88

Post by jfoutz »

tnuc wrote: post #55
arjn wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, House of Cards with Spacey is excellent. I started and liked it so much I finished watching all episodes in 2 days. Its really good to see companies like HBO and Netflix giving the traditional TV media houses a run for their money. BTW, if you liked House of Cards, check out Game of Thrones.

>... if you liked House of Cards, check out Game of Thrones. Is there anyone on hn who hasn't checked out Game of thrones?

Me. I don't have HBO, and I'm not willing to pirate it.

Re: Netflix now bigger than HBO

#89

Post by anotherbadlogin »

dhughes wrote: post #13

I've battled with Netflix many times. Its Canadian content is a joke, compared to what's available in the US I can't imagine why anyone would stay with Netflix Canada for more than a month. Yes I've tried various VPNs and it's far better but I don't like the layout they changed it since I had used it the first time. The biggest problem is the bizarre customer service which seems to be very amateurish. I was billed tw…

Their customer service is indeed embarrassing. I called to complain about my video quality, which was just pathetically bad: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8321/8001863565_4764150145_b.j...

There was no GUI control for quality anywhere in the Netflix UI on my Blu-Ray player. Turns out that it only exists on the Netflix Web site under your account settings, and had magically been degraded to the "good" setting. Netflix, no doubt trying to save bandwidth costs, probably degraded everyone's setting en masse to see who'd even notice.

Risky strategy. The quality was so bad (despite my having set it to "HD" originally) that I was just going to shitcan the service. But I bothered to call. How many people would? But they weigh that against how many people notice they're watching a mottled pastiche of dogshit.

Even more ridiculous was the reaction of the customer-support rep, who tried to excuse the unauthorized degradation of my settings by saying that not all devices had enough storage space to hold entire shows at high quality. Yes, the Netflix support rep didn't understand that it's a STREAMING service. I had to explain this to him.

Re: Netflix now bigger than HBO

#90

Post by david927 »

cwp wrote: post #64
sneak wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't like the genre (fantasy), and I don't like soaps. "OMG, $x is fucking $y!" isn't my idea of entertainment unless $x and $y are people I know personally.

Ok... But have you checked it out?

I watched the first episode and honestly didn't find it interesting.
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