Quote:
Originally Posted by harry_hitch
1st paragraph. So you because you missed the first run of shows, that makes Netflix the best option?!?. I have seen plenty of the shows they have on there (and Amazon too) so whilst it is still good value, it does not have appeal to me as it does to you. You seem to be unable to grasp this. Define "good quality stuff" though, I think GOT is utter tripe and the 1st series of True Detective is one of the best shows ever made, people at work think True Detective was rubbish but love GOT.
You have changed your mind. You have been challenged since since you stated your first premise (which included all shows being on demand for people to watch at anytime they want) and how your thoughts will become reality. You have been unable to answer sensible questions and points by sticking to your original points. The only you answers you have been able to answer sensible questions with, is to change your thoughts. When you are then challenged, your thoughts then change. You also said there will be no adverts and have now changed your mind and acknowledge ad's will have to be used (albeit as a tiered level of payments.) I still disagree and think ad's will have to come to streaming services, at any price point.
What has been the point of this thread if you have not been trying to persuade people how your thoughts will become reality?
And how is thread not about cord cutting? It was only last week you mentioned about packaged deals. The link you have posted is about cord cutting. 
If you don't want to do the maths, then that's a shame. Just some basic figures will do
I now see your point on Netflix, and do you seriously think people will be happy pay £11 (how do you get to that figure?) just for the non-premium original series? Where is the value in that? How are they going to market that?!? "Can't afford the good stuff? Well here is a load of average junk for £11 a month"
Okay, I ask again what freedom will people get from streaming? Do you think companies will let people just drift in and out as they wish? Please answer again, as we have been here before.
I agree there will be a selection of streaming services available in the future, it will just be alongside linear TV. |
My argument is based on the simple premise of a shift of linear TV viewers to a streaming preference and the impact of this on the broadcast TV channels. Why is this so difficult to understand, when ITV came so close to collapse when advertising started to decline a few years ago?
You are taking what I have said in this thread out of context on many occasions. This time, you are saying that I have changed my mind about advertisements on streaming services - no I haven't! I said from the start that Netflix have confirmed that they will not take advertising on their service. You said they would have no choice, but this is ridiculous! The whole point of streaming services is that they provide a way of watching what you want, when you want, free of advertisements. My 'conceding' that adverts might appear on Netflix in the future was simply in answer to your persistent view that ads would indeed appear on Netflix. My view is this will only happen if they decided to attract an even bigger audience via a completely different option that included ads, such as happens on the ITV Hub, All4, etc. That doesn't mean I agree that ads will appear on Netflix. I simply suggest that this might be a way of getting even more money for the company, but you need to understand that this does not form part of their business plan.
You say I keep changing my mind, but you are wrong. Sometimes someone may come up with an argument which deserves taking seriously and I don't discount those arguments, but my view of things remains the same. You may have forgotten that in my post 29 in January 2015, I clearly stated:
'Linear TV may survive, I agree, but I think new ways of watching TV will become prevalent over time and the way we view now will seem pretty primitive.
The main issue will be how these programmes are funded in the future.
To be clear, the discussion I am inviting is how the funding issue is going to work on the commercial broadcast channels when they face increasing competition from streaming services. That is the issue, but you have studiously avoided confronting this problem. Maybe there is an answer, but if so I don't know what it is. Only the BBC would not have that particular problem, but ultimately with more people watching their programmes via alternative means, they will be faced with a decision about whether they can justify the higher costs of broadcasting in this way.
Picking up on various points you have made this time around, I have not mentioned Netflix being a 'best option'. I am merely saying that they have many programmes on there that appeal to me and it will take me an age to get through them, while additional original series keep being added. I accept that maybe Netflix is not your cup of tea, but there will be other streaming services popping up that may appeal more to you over time.
This thread is not about cord cutting, but that is not to say that cord cutting may not result. I have said before that if Virgin Media and Sky embrace the change that is coming, they could offer bundles of streaming services in the same way as they currently offer bundles of channels. So that isn't cord cutting, is it? The link I gave you contained a list of steaming services available in the US that I thought would be useful in helping you to understand how streaming services would start to develop in earnest over here. You did ask, after all!
I have explained why your issue about 'the maths' is irrelevant. Everyone knows that when you purchase in bulk, you get it cheaper. I'm not going to compile a spreadsheet for you to prove this, Harry, I'm sorry, I have a life!
My figure of £11 for Netflix I think is pretty accurate and it is based on what I think the existing choices on Netflix will cost us in a few short years. The price has already increased to £8.99 for new subscribers, so we are already half way there. The more basic package I was talking about would be cheaper than this (or as you seem to think, even free with ads, although I stress this is not what I think will happen).
As for people drifting in and out of streaming services as they wish, yes, I think most of the streaming providers will allow this. Now TV does it now; in fact your subscription isn't even renewed at the end of the period unless you actively renew it. Only Amazon has so far insisted on annual subscriptions and I see no moves anywhere to follow their example.
I hope this answers your questions, Harry, but please - I am not changing my mind at all! I could just sit here and say that all your assumptions are wrong, but I try and engage in a sensible debate. This thread is all about what might happen when broadcast TV audiences decline. I'm not trying to brainwash you at all. I am more interested in how the broadcasters will deal with it.
There have been remarkably few responses to that central question.