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Streaming services are driving viewers back to piracy

theguardian.com

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Re: Streaming services are driving viewers back to piracy

#61

Post by sunrunner »

crooked-v wrote: post #9

To really sum it all up in one place, check out the absurdity of the official guide on where to watch the Pokemon cartoon: https://www.pokemon.com/us/animation/where-to-watch-pokemon-... And that doesn't even actually list the movies, which are even more fragmented.

And I thought the problem was (just) limited to fragmentation of complete IPs between services. I'd love for someone in the know to explain how you get to this stage.

It it some kind of hedging strategy by The Pokémon Company to account for the number of different streaming services (thereby actually making the problem worse)? Was there some kind of timed exclusivity deal that's forced them to put different things in different places? Did one of the streaming services come along at a later time to try to undercut the earlier ones but the earlier licencing deals haven't expired? Anything else?

Re: Streaming services are driving viewers back to piracy

#62

Post by Fire-Dragon-DoL »

sunrunner wrote: post #55
Fire-Dragon-DoL wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pay per episode could be an ok granularity. Anything above that I'm not ok, there is too much garbage

Perhaps pay-per-episode with a discounted price for an entire series (and an option to buy the remainders taking that into account). It seems fair to be able to dip your toe into a series and try a few episodes before committing. On the other hand, that seems just a bit too consumer-friendly...

Would be fine with that. I want a demo before committing, essentially

Re: Streaming services are driving viewers back to piracy

#63

Post by rkomorn »

nickthegreek wrote: post #20
rkomorn wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought the main complaint was "I'm paying for channels I don't watch!" while not realizing the channels they were watching were actually what they were paying for, and the rest of the stuff was just lumped in for nearly free to make the lineups look bigger and more appealing.

I assure you that there are many people who do not need nor want ESPN and knew damn well they were directly paying it.

And those people were having part of their package subsidized by the people who were watching ESPN but not the other channels.

Re: Streaming services are driving viewers back to piracy

#64

Post by do_not_redeem »

mattbee wrote: post #60
sunrunner wrote: post #24

"Piracy is almost always a service problem and not a pricing problem" -- Gabe Newell [1] And I think he was largely correct, although the term _service_ seems like it now has to do a lot of heavy lifting as it now encompasses: - Availability by Company - Availability by Global Region - Stream Quality - Advert Policy (why does the lowest tier need to be ad supported? What am I paying for aside from being upsold?) - Qu…

Absolutely right! A week ago I downloaded a couple of movies and shows from Netflix for my 6yo daughter, to watch on a 3hr flight. Worked nicely! Today we made the return flight. She opens Netflix, and ⅔ of the films have now "expired" with no notice and she can't watch the one she wanted. For the next flight I'll remember to pirate!

Getting 'em started early. You arr a great dad!

Re: Streaming services are driving viewers back to piracy

#65

Post by rkomorn »

sunrunner wrote: post #19
rkomorn wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought the main complaint was "I'm paying for channels I don't watch!" while not realizing the channels they were watching were actually what they were paying for, and the rest of the stuff was just lumped in for nearly free to make the lineups look bigger and more appealing.

For some reason I always saw it in reverse, that I had to pay to subsidise a set of channels I'm _not_ interested in for the one I am.

Chances are that's not what was happening unless you were watching the channels nobody else watches.

I haven't looked into cable pricing for a while but i remember a few of the contract disputes that caused some big channels to drop off big cable providers in the 2010s. The price-per-customer those channels were asking the cable companies were significant chunks of what a package would cost the customer (eg upwards for $1).

Meanwhile some of the less common ones were a few cents per customer.

That means that unless you weren't watching any of the $1+ ones, you were mostly actually "paying for what you're watching".

Re: Streaming services are driving viewers back to piracy

#66

Post by platevoltage »

squigz wrote: post #44
platevoltage wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's amazing how blurred the line is getting between streaming and cable TV.

It already came full circle some years ago when we started seeing new streaming services every year, and those companies pulling their content from other platforms to put on their own. Then you had to start thinking about what servces you need, whether you still want those services, etc. Just like cable! Absurd.

True, although I guess this is sort of understandable. It's the "you're paying us, but here are some ads" that really gets me.

Either way, 5 bucks a month to Emby, a really easy to get membership to a large private torrent site, and a 16TB hard drive solves these problems for me, and will continue to.

Re: Streaming services are driving viewers back to piracy

#67

Post by Ferret7446 »

sunrunner wrote: post #24

"Piracy is almost always a service problem and not a pricing problem" -- Gabe Newell [1] And I think he was largely correct, although the term _service_ seems like it now has to do a lot of heavy lifting as it now encompasses: - Availability by Company - Availability by Global Region - Stream Quality - Advert Policy (why does the lowest tier need to be ad supported? What am I paying for aside from being upsold?) - Qu…

Why make it complicated? Service means the user experience. If the user needs to do anything other than click pay click play, you done goofed, simple as that.

Re: Streaming services are driving viewers back to piracy

#68

Post by ta1243 »

sunrunner wrote: post #24

"Piracy is almost always a service problem and not a pricing problem" -- Gabe Newell [1] And I think he was largely correct, although the term _service_ seems like it now has to do a lot of heavy lifting as it now encompasses: - Availability by Company - Availability by Global Region - Stream Quality - Advert Policy (why does the lowest tier need to be ad supported? What am I paying for aside from being upsold?) - Qu…

I cancelled prime when they told me they were putting adverts on

Went to resubscribe, no option given for no adverts, no money from me.

Re: Streaming services are driving viewers back to piracy

#70

Post by 0cf8612b2e1e »

rgblambda wrote: post #43
whobre wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep. I swear I liked the old Netflix with DVDs better. I could rent pretty much any movie I wanted.

Netflix found that while it was a nice advertising tool to boast about the broadness of its catalogue, most customers rarely ordered the more niche stuff so it wasn't particularly profitable.

That’s what happens when you have a big library. The usage is going to be some 80:20 rule. A small slice drives the numbers. Yet it is nice to be able to consume some long tail content. Without the DVD catalog, access to the long tail has disappeared from mainstream providers.
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