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Netflix loses 1M users in Spain over password policing

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Re: Netflix loses 1M users in Spain over password policing

#561

Post by youreincorrect »

Faark wrote: post #349
phpisthebest wrote: post #286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nothing in your post has anything to do with free markets... markets maybe, but copyright is not a "free market".... it is by definition a monopoly a free market in content would be requiring the copyright holder to following something like FRAND for patents, and disallow them from making "exclusive" deals with one provider, this would then mean the market would be on price, speed, other competitive factors not on co…

Jup, gp was talking about unregulated markets. Those surprisingly often have winner take it all outcomes. I don't want to go back to company towns. BTW back to the current situation with streaming services, we nearly would have had the same with movie theaters. But United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc. shut that down, thankfully. Wouldn't expect such a ruling these days, though :(

> If we don't regulate streaming services to have exactly one really good service that I prefer, then we will go back to company towns.

What are you talking about?

Re: Netflix loses 1M users in Spain over password policing

#563

Post by jstarfish »

jerf wrote: post #407
mikeryan wrote: post #313

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When Reed Hasting left and Ted Sarandos took over he had a bit of power shakeup and handed over the content reins to Bela Bajaria - who was brought in to head up international over Cindy Holland who was in charge of US content. Holland had brought in House of Cards, Orange Is the New Black, Stranger Things, The Crown, Ozark and Narcos. Holland seemed to focus more on developing fewer shows of higher quality content w…

"Holland seemed to focus more on developing fewer shows of higher quality content while Bajaria was more focused on "get all the content, throw it all at the wall and see what sticks" (who saw "Squid Games" coming?)." I think the root problem is that no studio anywhere is large enough to put out enough high-quality content to keep the people engaged continuously. Not even Disney. All the studios were looking over at…

> Take any Writing 101 course, and if you want to write for Hollywood, completely throw it out the window because they do not care in the slightest about any of that.

I don't think it's that. Historically, you'd have a strong cast and crew on board for the first ~2-3 seasons.

Any show attracts its critical mass of viewers early on, so the first way to keep production of later seasons profitable is by eliminating expensive gimmicks (helicopters, SFX, on-location, etc.).

Firing the writers and replacing them with Writing 101 interns is usually the next step. It's not that nobody cares, but the replacement labor is new to the game; they're not writing award-winning scripts at that stage in their lives. It's a step above mining fanfiction.net for scripts.

Re: Netflix loses 1M users in Spain over password policing

#564

Post by BLO716 »

alexfromapex wrote: post #511
pier25 wrote: post #483

Netflix really messed this up. They shouldn't have tried to tackle password sharing. Instead they should have enforced concurrent streams and let people pay for more concurrent streams. Psychologically it's very different and people paying for the premium plan of 4 streams would probably not be affected.

I feel like lots of companies make this mistake of not valuing the customers over shareholders. This is a fatal mistake.

Well, the Netflix content is not going to get any less palatable because their business model works.

Re: Netflix loses 1M users in Spain over password policing

#566

Post by somethingreen »

aflorez wrote: post #72
juanse wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Absolutely agree. I also had a family account that kept instead not watching anything anymore. In the end I felt like paying for watching propaganda that I could see for free in national television. This came at the perfect time as an excuse.

What kind of agenda/propaganda is it? Which values are promoted?

I don't think there is an agenda, but design by committee has gotten to the point where it does look like there is one. If you are hell bent on checking the same set of was-well-received-before boxes in every piece of schlock you pump out, people reasonably start to believe that checking boxes is the point. From there any checkbox that doesn't align with viewer's world view is perceived as propaganda.

Re: Netflix loses 1M users in Spain over password policing

#567

Post by jjulius »

ModernMech wrote: post #527
oefrha wrote: post #357

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pirating popular shows is actually pretty darn easy, and you get the benefit of watching it with your favorite player wherever you want to, not with the crap player they offer under scenarios they dictate. Want to watch an HBO show offline on a plane or train, no problem. I actually “pirate” some of stuff I pay for.

> the benefit of watching it with your favorite player wherever you want to, not with the crap player they offer under scenarios they dictate This is the part I don't get. Why do you feel you have this right? FYIW, HBO Max allows you to download episodes for offline viewing, so it's not exactly true they are dictating the scenarios. I watch HBO all the time on plane rides.

You seem to have missed the key line:

>I actually “pirate” some of stuff I pay for.

So, if someone pays for HBO Max and watches the latest episode of Barry at home via the app, but, as I do, feel that HBO's UI/UX is dogshit, and they then download a copy of it and slap it on their phone or laptop in a way that's more comfortable to them for their flight tomorrow, what's the difference? OP continues to pay HBO, but that next view is just on a local device.

Edit: HBO Max downloads "expire" after 30 days, and you have 48 hours to finish it once you've started[1]. You're also limited to 30 downloads at once. This is hardly 'convenient' for some people.

[1]https://help.hbomax.com/us/Answer/Detail/000001242

Re: Netflix loses 1M users in Spain over password policing

#568

Post by manmal »

BLO716 wrote: post #560
pier25 wrote: post #483

Netflix really messed this up. They shouldn't have tried to tackle password sharing. Instead they should have enforced concurrent streams and let people pay for more concurrent streams. Psychologically it's very different and people paying for the premium plan of 4 streams would probably not be affected.

Some folks run businesses that succeed, other ran (past tense) start-ups that failed. Unfortunately, the lasting affect will be a net positive, because sometimes you have to just be the adult and say loosing money isn't an option. I would like to call this shedding the college weight, and firing 80% of the work force, because the business will die otherwise in the case of Twitter. Would you rather run a business with…

There’s an element of critical mass involved - a streaming platform can only afford to create so much of their own content if they have the revenue to back up those costs. Less users means less revenue means less content, and at some point things might break down.

Re: Netflix loses 1M users in Spain over password policing

#569

Post by ho_schi »

Netflix: ”You get two parallel streams with your family. Family means trust and password sharing.“

Customers: “Farewell pirating. We pay a fair flat and it is automatically shared between Netflix and artists. Great!“

Netflix: “We increase the flat permanently. And we have now competitors and doesn’t over anymore all relevant content (e.g. Star Trek Picard, Expanse, Disney). How about ruining it and blocking family members with heuristics, geoblocking, per-device-checks and so on?“.

Customers „I’m done.”

THE END

We accepted and used the fair system. And you tease us with DRM? And HDCP? Increasing rates? And now you block our family members?

I wouldn’t be surprised if artists (filmmakers, musicians…) create a common fair streaming platform. Let us name it “United Artists“ ;)

Re: Netflix loses 1M users in Spain over password policing

#570

Post by BLO716 »

waboremo wrote: post #498
pier25 wrote: post #483

Netflix really messed this up. They shouldn't have tried to tackle password sharing. Instead they should have enforced concurrent streams and let people pay for more concurrent streams. Psychologically it's very different and people paying for the premium plan of 4 streams would probably not be affected.

Exactly! But that's just how it goes. Once leadership identifies a problem, it takes a lot to dissuade them. They saw password sharing as a fixable problem, an area of loss revenue that they had to do something about to counter the metrics of stagnating subscriber growth. Very little would change that, even though your approach would prove to be quite beneficial

Spot on, my boy. A lot of folks see this as a consumable like music and should be a free commodity. I akin this to free music for download and the death of an industry. A NEW industry popped up and gave us streaming music and there was no longer a need to OWN music. Artists were also given tools to expand their music on every platform w/ very little investment.

The shared resource thing, is just Netflix turning a blind eye, because their business model worked for a time and allowed this to happen. Now that DVDs are all but dead, this was the next logical business revenue model that needed a revamp.

How can anyone blame Netflix for FIXING a loss leader in their business line(s)? We all run and work for start-ups .. its the natural progression of finances at scale.

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