Disney acquires own streaming facilities, will pull Netflix content • Hacker News Board

Re: Disney acquires own streaming facilities, will pull Netflix content

#161

Post by jtbayly » Tue, Aug 08, 2017, 10:37 PM UTC

reitanqild wrote: post #56

ocdtrekkie wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This used to be a thing. It was when you paid $60-120 a month for your cable TV package. Did you really think everyone was gonna let you cut that down to $10 a month?

It is still more than they would get from many of us any other way. Before Spotify I'll buy less than a cd every second or third month maybe. Now I'd probably just stop watching movies. Others will start pirating again.

Spotify also doesn't pay the artists enough for most of them to survive. Studios know this. They know that $10/month isn't enough to support the creation of all the original content that has been supported in the past by $100/month.

Re: Disney acquires own streaming facilities, will pull Netflix content

#162

Post by kthejoker2 » Tue, Aug 08, 2017, 10:37 PM UTC

joezydeco wrote: post #103

codazoda wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We asked for a la carte TV pricing. I think this is what it looks like. I'll probably pay for a few channels and forget the rest.

Sadly, cable bundling is what allowed small channels like AMC and TNT to develop programming and reach an audience that wouldn't have been possible otherwise. That's all going to consolidate into the hands of a couple of major producers (Disney, HBO, Amazon, Netflix, maybe Hulu) and that's about it.

I mean, not to belabaor the point, but when you also include:

NBC/Universal/Comcast Viacom Fox Sony Time Warner BBC

Plus some other deep pockets who are slowly getting in the game (Verizon, AT&T, Apple)

I think there'll be enough competition even among the oligopolies to make it palatable for consumers.

Re: Disney acquires own streaming facilities, will pull Netflix content

#163

Post by dkrich » Tue, Aug 08, 2017, 10:37 PM UTC

TheGRS wrote: post #92

Some kind of surprising comments in this thread. I think many people (obviously not everyone here judging by what I'm reading) would happily pay for a Disney-only service, maybe upwards of $20-$30 per month. Why? Its the mecca for family entertainment. They have Pixar, Disney Animation, Star Wars and Marvel, plus all of their Disney television content from years past. Its a quality brand people trust. Much different…

Right, and people on here also seem to forget that they own ESPN. There are seemingly endless ways that Disney could package their content in ways that it would appeal to customers in every segment.

Sell ESPN with SEC Network, ESPN 2, and all of its networks as a standalone service to sports fans who don't care about the rest of Disney's offerings.

Sell Disney's older catalog plus kids shows on demand for people who don't care about sports but have kids.

Sell a package with everything for people who fall into both camps for a discount.

This still leaves their existing movie business completely in tact.

I honestly think this is a great move on Disney's part. Netflix needs Disney more than Disney needs Netflix. Disney owns the most valuable content portfolio in existence. Netflix has a large customer base and a growing library of its own content, but at the end of the day people shop for cable/streaming packages based on whether ESPN/ABC/Disney is included.

Re: Disney acquires own streaming facilities, will pull Netflix content

#164

Post by bogomipz » Tue, Aug 08, 2017, 10:38 PM UTC

aidenn0 wrote: post #123

Anatidae wrote: post #30

If every studio thinks I'm going to pay them $10+ a month to stream their content, they are going to be very mistaken. I can't imagine that a lot of people want to spend the collective hundreds of dollars to sign up for all the streaming services. It's almost asking to drive people to torrents. Now, if Disney does something like $30/year or something really affordable - sure. I might do that on a whim. I guess it's a…

If all major studios pull their content from Netflix, then it will not have the large library size anymore. Also Disney is currently in a strong position for this right now. They released ~10 movies in 2016 and had the 4 highest grossing films of 2016. This, of course, assumes that Marvel and Lucasfilm properties are put on the Disney streaming service (I would expect that Touchstone label will not be included in thi…

>"If all major studios pull their content from Netflix, then it will not have the large library size anymore."

I think think that happened when they parted ways with Starz.

Re: Disney acquires own streaming facilities, will pull Netflix content

#165

Post by shmerl » Tue, Aug 08, 2017, 10:39 PM UTC

jethro_tell wrote: post #154

shmerl wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I would prefer that content is sold without need for a middle man. Not everyone can afford a CDN and a lot of other things in between the source and the user, especially creators. Sure, in theory they can just sell video from their sites, but in practice infrastructure costs a lot of money. Unless video will move to decentralized distribution (pirated one did already, so why can't legal one too), distributors will…

I don't doubt it. Pirated distribution has nothing in the way of hosting cost so I don't see how that would work with decentralized distribution. What is the set up you are advocating for? People automatically upload content from their streaming apps? How are you going to police amazon/netflix/hulu/whatever service I have to do the uploading in a fair way? My fire TV has 8GB hdd. I don't know what my chrome cast has…

The scale adds up. Cost of entry can be the price paid instead of large monthly subscriptions or higher prices per individual title.

Re: Disney acquires own streaming facilities, will pull Netflix content

#166

Post by dottrap » Tue, Aug 08, 2017, 10:39 PM UTC

Anatidae wrote: post #30

If every studio thinks I'm going to pay them $10+ a month to stream their content, they are going to be very mistaken. I can't imagine that a lot of people want to spend the collective hundreds of dollars to sign up for all the streaming services. It's almost asking to drive people to torrents. Now, if Disney does something like $30/year or something really affordable - sure. I might do that on a whim. I guess it's a…

> If every studio thinks I'm going to pay them $10+ a month to stream their content, they are going to be very mistaken.

I agree. But taking a step back, Disney is probably the one company that can justify this the most by owning so many properties:

the traditional Disney stuff, Star Wars/Lucasfilm, the Marvel movies, Pixar, The Muppets, Touchstone, ESPN, ABC, A&E, Lifetime, History channel. They even have a 30% stake in Hulu.

Re: Disney acquires own streaming facilities, will pull Netflix content

#167

Post by dguo » Tue, Aug 08, 2017, 10:39 PM UTC

I wish there was a sort of white label service for streaming content. One middleman that negotiates with the content owners and then exposes an API to deliver the content on a pay-per-stream basis or something like that. I know it's unrealistic, but I want my choice between Netflix and Hulu or between Spotify and Google Play Music to be about the features and UX, not who has what content. Though this problem doesn't seem to be as significant when it comes to music for some reason.

Exclusive content makes sense from a business perspective. Hence Netflix pouring money into creating its own shows to become HBO faster than HBO can become Netflix[1], but as a consumer, I think I'd prefer a world in which they could still do that, license it through the middleman, and make profit regardless of where it is actually streamed.

Having an API for content could also be awesome for prospective startups, since it would allow any developer to just pay for access rather than having to figure out how to negotiate a licensing deal.

[1] http://gizmodo.com/5980103/netflix-the-goal-is-to-become-hbo...

Re: Disney acquires own streaming facilities, will pull Netflix content

#168

Post by kelnos » Tue, Aug 08, 2017, 10:41 PM UTC

px1999 wrote: post #86

nxsynonym wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. I only pay for netflix and HBO (and amazon, but that's a bonus for paying for prime). HBO doesn't feel like "extra" because it's always been an optional add-on that costs more. First all the "major" studios will split and start charing $10/month. Then adds will start creeping back in. Before you know it everyone will be paying for an ad-hoc cable subscription. I think a better option would be to do what Amazo…

Long term, we'll probably wind up with a couple of major marketplaces that provide a UI that ties together content bundles that you've purchased from different distributors (who will actually serve up their catalogs). It's a bit depressing how similar that sounds to how cable networks work. Or platform specific app stores.

I briefly worked for a company that wanted to do this (Fanhattan/FanTV). It was more an aggregator than a marketplace, but similar concept. But that was back in 2011, so they were a bit ahead of their time (and also seemed allergic to actually shipping things, but that's unrelated, I suppose).

Re: Disney acquires own streaming facilities, will pull Netflix content

#169

Post by adrr » Tue, Aug 08, 2017, 10:41 PM UTC

fullshark wrote: post #46

Anatidae wrote: post #30

If every studio thinks I'm going to pay them $10+ a month to stream their content, they are going to be very mistaken. I can't imagine that a lot of people want to spend the collective hundreds of dollars to sign up for all the streaming services. It's almost asking to drive people to torrents. Now, if Disney does something like $30/year or something really affordable - sure. I might do that on a whim. I guess it's a…

I would pay $20 a month if it had every disney movie ever, and every new release after a certain time period. I imagine there are a lot of parents that would as well.

Offline playback would be the killer feature for parents for long road trips and flights. Won't need to buy Bluray + digital copy of Disney movies if you can even find them for older releases like "Little Mermaid".

Re: Disney acquires own streaming facilities, will pull Netflix content

#170

Post by derefr » Tue, Aug 08, 2017, 10:41 PM UTC

spilk wrote: post #115

px1999 wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Long term, we'll probably wind up with a couple of major marketplaces that provide a UI that ties together content bundles that you've purchased from different distributors (who will actually serve up their catalogs). It's a bit depressing how similar that sounds to how cable networks work. Or platform specific app stores.

FireTV and AppleTV already do this some degree. On FireTV when you search for a movie/show it will give you options where to play it based on which apps you have installed (netflix, hulu, or via amazon/prime)

The Apple TV's "TV app" is great for this... but for some reason, it only functions in the US. I get that it has a "live cable" Single-Sign-On component that cable providers need to sign up with–but all I want from it is the unified interface for searching/browsing and watch-tracking of content within streaming services!