Live data from Hacker News

Too Many Video Streaming Choices May Drive Users Back To Piracy

techdirt.com

81–90 of 556 posts

Re: Too Many Video Streaming Choices May Drive Users Back To Piracy

#81
post #22

Why don't major services (Netflix, Disney, HULU, etc) come together to build a best of breed shared service, that operates vendor-neutrally, and each gets to keep all the profits from people watching their stuff? Each could still have its own promotions, bundles, etc (e.g. pay X more to watch new movies from Disney), but at least the base proposition can have a single subscription price and some pay as you consume mo…

You just invented the Cable TV network.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cable_television_in_the_United...

Re: Too Many Video Streaming Choices May Drive Users Back To Piracy

#83

Ugh, I am so sick of the "if all of the content I ever want isn't available for less than a single $10 a month sub, I'll pirate it" nonsense. Netflix was never going to be the be-all, end-all of content and its time our generation grew up a little bit. For the amount of content you could get in a traditional cable package, you should expect to pay about as much as a traditional cable package.

Woah, free markets balancing themselves...

Crazy

Re: Too Many Video Streaming Choices May Drive Users Back To Piracy

#86
post #14

No surprise. Even we (HN) predicted this the moment the first content company withdrew their content from Netflix. Two reasons: 1. People only have so much money. 2. When people compare it to what they used to payit seems unfair. People complain when gas prices increases by a few percent, no wonder they complain when they suddenly have to pay twice or even three times for the same content they used to pay one low mon…

I remember the days (circa 2009/2010) where the main complaint about streaming Netflix was that there was nothing on it compared to the disk collection. When exactly did that change? There must have been a brief “monopoly period” when Netflix had all of the content, but I don’t remember it.

Maybe there wasn't. Maybe they just had enough stuff. I started using it when they added Star Trek: TNG, later on they added quite a lot of things I was interested in too. At their peak, they had about every other thing I wanted to watch (or rewatch).

Then, the shows and movies started disappearing. This is what annoyed me most - I wanted to rewatch something I've seen few months earlier, or to show it to my SO, and suddenly it isn't there. This became a regular occurence, and I think this is where people started noticing something is wrong.

Re: Too Many Video Streaming Choices May Drive Users Back To Piracy

#87
post #69
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Although I'd prefer to have everything on Netflix, I'm definitely going to get Disney+. Not a fan of Disney the corporation, but if Disney+ contains everything Star Wars, everything Marvel, everything from Jim Henson, and everything from all their other properties, there's no way I'm going to pay for easy access to that. We don't even watch regular TV anymore at my home. It's either Netflix or Youtube.

There's just so many Star Wars movies, and so many Marvel movies, and while I've seen most in theaters, they are basically juvenile blockbuster cookie cutter crap. The first 3 star wars films where important for their era, but most of the later ones are just forgettable sci-fi (for non-discerning fans). Not to mention letting down parts of the canon (e.g. the Solo movie, or "Kylo Ren", a hipster/teenage goth abominat…

You'll find the richness of content you are after in the graphic novels of both franchises, and also the LONG list of star wars novels.

Re: Too Many Video Streaming Choices May Drive Users Back To Piracy

#88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think there is a model for rotating streaming provider. You can easily watch a year's worth of a provider's [good] content in 3 months. Just change provider every 3 months to a different one, then binge it all. Maybe a service that automatically deactivates your account at the best point in the billing-cycle? If you could do it without too much overlap you could actually do it on a monthly basis: Jan - Netflix Feb…

Though unrealistic, all things considered, there needs to be a single site for everything (akin to pirated tv/film sites, incidentally). The user would go to a central place where all streaming options are available to be browsed and watched. The point of differentiation would be at payment, as the cost to the user, for whatever they just selected, would go to those who own the rights. No walled gardens, everyone win…

Amazon could be this. Hulu could be this. They both have a foot in the water with add-on subscriptions. The site that's best suited might actually be YouTube.

Re: Too Many Video Streaming Choices May Drive Users Back To Piracy

#89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think there is a model for rotating streaming provider. You can easily watch a year's worth of a provider's [good] content in 3 months. Just change provider every 3 months to a different one, then binge it all. Maybe a service that automatically deactivates your account at the best point in the billing-cycle? If you could do it without too much overlap you could actually do it on a monthly basis: Jan - Netflix Feb…

I look forward to Netflix et al removing the account deactivate button from our profile pages in favor of a phone number that calls into an IVR Labyrinth.

simpler method trick

1) Create virtual card

2) Switch payment method to new card

3) Delete virtual card

4) Cha ching !

Re: Too Many Video Streaming Choices May Drive Users Back To Piracy

#90
post #57
post #6

"May" drive them back? This has already happened in my circles.. People who had cut the cord but all but walked away from casual piracy and signed up for Netflix and HBO (and probably Prime Video because they had Amazon Prime already) are openly talking about the fact they're definitely not signing up for more streaming services, and are seeking out torrenting again for the stuff that's being pulled from Netflix (esp…

I agree. There is definitely a market for a streaming bundling service where you pay for a bundle and get subscribed to multiple services for some monthly fee which would be at a great discount to subscribing separately to each service.

You could call it "TV over Wires" or something like that.
Post reply on HN