Re: Netflix/Streaming Services
 

That's not how increased competition works.

Re: Netflix/Streaming Services
 

Increased competition in many areas has given us higher rail ticket prices , higher energy bills , higher water bills etc , etc , etc....

Re: Netflix/Streaming Services
 

True competition does not exist in the areas you quote, Den. For example how do you get to choose which water company you are going to have providing services to you other than by moving house?

Genuine free competition in which customers can choose between multiple providers without government controls getting in the way leads to lower prices.

Re: Netflix/Streaming Services
 

Look at the mobile phone sector as one example where the prices of middle to top spec mobile phones seem to get dearer and dearer so increased competition there has not lowered the prices one iota.

Re: Netflix/Streaming Services
 

It's exactly how it worked when the Premier League were forced to stop Sky getting all the UK rights.

With the entry of new broadcasters ensured to have at least 1 package of rights the cost for these packages spiralled as the competing broadcasters tried to secure as many of the packages as they could/wanted.

Prime example of competition raising prices!

---------- Post added at 08:59 ---------- Previous post was at 08:58 ----------

Have to agree with you regarding genuine free competition - however it rarely works that way

Re: Netflix/Streaming Services
 

Would those be the same government controls stopping monopolies, which lead to increased prices?

Re: Netflix/Streaming Services
 

In textbooks maybe.

However you’ve ignored the important qualifications to that economic theory. It assumes a large number of suppliers offering directly comparable products that substitute for each other.

It also assumes barriers to entry are low allowing suppliers to enter or exit the market easily.

The pay-tv market doesn’t work this way. Barriers to entry are high, even in streaming, which is why the current market can at best be described as oligopoly. The same applies to their upstream supliers: the Vauxhall Conference isn’t a comparable product to the Premiership. Last years cinema releases aren’t comparable with movies from the 90s.

Streaming won’t change that if it’s dominated by huge US media conglomerates plus Amazon and Netflix.

Re: Netflix/Streaming Services
 

Sorry, jfman, I don't quite understand your argument. What are the 'barriers to entry' that you are talking about here? Do you mean the fact that some households cannot yet receive super-fast broadband? If so, that problem will be solved when the Government's programme is fulfilled.

Re: Netflix/Streaming Services
 

No, Old Boy he means the charges that companies will charge.

So, if you're a independent film maker with a £200k budget, most of which is spent on making a film, the chance that the film will ever appear on Netflix, Amazon, Disney+ etc is zero because the barriers, the charges, will be too high.

Another example is premiership football. If you're a new media company today, you could never afford to compete against the big players for the rights to show matches, as the barriers, the charges, are too high.

I've not always agreed with jfman in regards to this thread, but on this I do agree. I had a graphic somewhere (which I can't find) which illustrated that something like 40-50 years ago there were 200+ American media companies. Essentially, that 200 is now down to less than 10.

And its not just tv, newspapers in the States are dominated now by just a couple of companies.

Another "recent" example of this is search engines. Anyone remember Lycos, Yahoo, Alta Vista? Now its pretty much just Google or Mircosoft's Bing. Two companies dominating all internet search, where there used to be dozens. And those two companies decide what is relevant or not, when you search for a term.

All organisations want to get as big and powerful as possible and streaming will be no different. There may well be dozens of streamers out there, like there is now, but the streaming market will be dominated by no more six players at most. Which six, take your bets now.

Re: Netflix/Streaming Services
 

No, because that’s not within the control of a new entrant. What you are suggesting there is an insufficient market to sell into.

Barriers to entry would be anything that stops you, me or anyone else easily setting up a streaming service and makes it easier for Comcast or Disney to do it.

---------- Post added at 21:46 ---------- Previous post was at 21:16 ----------

And importantly those six are unlikely to replicate the pricing strategies of companies that exist in perfectly competitive markets. Profits are maximised by allowing prices to creep up, as with a monopoly.

It’s nice that Netflix found people to borrow $20bn from to develop and grow their business, however it’s unrealisable for all but a small number of companies to do this.

Re: Netflix/Streaming Services
 

These seem to have started appearing now in the On Demand section , 30 Rock , The Mindy Project and Law and Order SVU have also suggesting Comcast is now bolstering On Demand with it's NBC Universal content.

Re: Netflix/Streaming Services
 

Makes sense. By vertically integrating the major distributors can lock out the competition throughout the supply chain. On a global level.

Re: Netflix/Streaming Services
 

On the BBC boxsets appearing on Sky, that would seem to suggest that Britbox won't be the exclusive home of older Beeb content, which was assumed was going to be the case.

Re: Netflix/Streaming Services
 

Discovery streaming service global launch planned for 2020.

http://www.csimagazine.com/csi/Disco...D-services.php

EXTRACT

Discovery is expanding its push into subscription streaming TV with a range of new direct-to-consumer video services, including a natural history partnership with the BBC.

Discovery was among the first of the major media brands to try its hand at the direct-to-consumer proposition, originally with an OTT offer launched in the Nordics. The content producer is planning to launch new themed SVOD services, drawing on the specialties of Discovery’s channels. The company owns TV channels including Discovery, Food Network and HGTV. The plan is to segment and package content into streaming plans catering for viewers with different interest, as Discovery aims to become something of a Netflix of factual programming.

The most high profile of these is a new natural-history service that includes content from the BBC, creating a combined library with titles such as “Planet Earth” and “Blue Planet.” Discovery didn’t disclose the price, but expects it will cost a few dollars a month when it launches globally in 2020. The 10-year content partnership is effective for all territories outside the UK, Ireland and Greater China.

Discovery has also acquired SVOD rights to hundreds of hours of BBC programming across factual genres. All of this content will form one of the pillars of a new global streaming service, which will also include some of the best of Discovery’s programming library, original content created for the service, and experiences.

Re: Netflix/Streaming Services
 

To be expected really.

The worldwide end to end vertical integration of content makes sense for Discovery, Viacom, Comcast, Liberty Global, Disney, Fox, CBS, Netflix and Amazon in the long run.

It'll be interesting to see what a "few dollars per month" translates into. Everyone wants the Netflix customer base but without the $20bn of debt.