VOD : Netflix/Streaming Services

[OLD BOY]

Originally Posted by 1andrew1

Maybe to ensure Netflix comes out on top?
It should be compared to Now TV's entertainment pack if we're comparing it to a Sky product.

No, it was a quick check of the main pay-tv general entertainment channels. You can do exactly the same with the full range of channels available within Sky Basics. I agree that the premium channels - Sky Cinema and Sky Sports - are in a different league. Of course, Netflix does not show sport, so it did not make sense to compare that.

Fair enough to compare Sky Cinema, but add that to all the TV shows and then compare prices.

---------- Post added at 19:48 ---------- Previous post was at 19:42 ----------

Originally Posted by Chris

Netflix has done remarkably well at allowing established Hollywood figures to use their platform to produce vanity projects - actors getting producer credits, that sort of thing. That’s less charitable than I mean it to be; Enola Holmes names Millie Bobby Brown as a producer and by all accounts she was fairly hands-on. But no matter how talented she is, she’s only 16 and her reputation stems entirely from one ensemble show (Stranger Things). Again, that sounds less charitable than I mean it to; all I’m really saying is she wouldn’t have got such a massive opportunity anywhere else. Netflix is happy to chuck money at projects like that and see if it sticks. Given the names they’ve been able to attract to what, in old money, would have been disparagingly called a “tv movie” or “straight to video”, it’s a strategy that’s working for them - especially if Enola Holmes is anything to go by. It managed to draw in Henry Cavill *and* Helena B.C., and has been in the U.K. top 10 since it dropped. The commissioning of a sequel is all but a formality.

Massive companies like Amazon and Apple, which are increasingly looking like conglomerates with their only tangentially connected business divisions, may well have the deep pockets needed to cross-subsidise their TV operations and out bid Netflix for big name productions like Star Trek or Borat, but I believe Netflix already learned a hard lesson in that regard when Marvel went to Disney, Disney started making streaming noises, and Netflix’s well-developed and well-received corner of the MCU came to a sudden halt, long before it ran out of stories to tell.

In short, I don’t think Netflix’s business model is threatened by Amazon or Apple throwing big money at bids for third party content, and I don’t think Netflix is going to reduce spend on its own commissions and retreat to being a video library. It has found a commissioning model that works for it, and also works for the rather big names who are clearly willing to work for somewhat less than the Hollywood A rate in exchange for the creative freedom Netflix is willing to give them.

I don’t disagree. Incidentally, I didn’t mean to imply that Netflix would stop making originals and become merely a video library. But I do think that they will reduce the amount of new material coming on stream each week once they get to a certain critical mass.

[jfman]

In other words only make comparisons favourable for Netflix. I’m quite sure rational consumers in the marketplace do not act as you suggest Old Boy and it’s up to Netflix to remain competitive despite price rises.

Raider makes a reasonable point about customer apathy, where they don’t feel strongly enough to go out their way to cancel. While I’m sure this happens I’m sure the recession will afford less people the luxury.

[Mad Max]

We only use Netflix occasionally, our main streaming channel is Now TV which we use for their entertainment pack, and at the present cost of only £1.60 per month, is superb value IMO.

[Legendkiller2k]

Originally Posted by Mad Max

We only use Netflix occasionally, our main streaming channel is Now TV which we use for their entertainment pack, and at the present cost of only £1.60 per month, is superb value IMO.

Check your emails mate NOWtv are currently sending out 1 month SKY Cinema free then £2.99p/m afterwards for 6 months.

[jfman]

All this choice is getting a bit much over in the United States

Only needed three channels for all the sports content is described as the "golden age". If Old Boy gets his wish here's where we are going.

[Mad Max]

Originally Posted by Legendkiller2k

Check your emails mate NOWtv are currently sending out 1 month SKY Cinema free then £2.99p/m afterwards for 6 months.

Thx mate, I've already got Sky Cinema on my package with Virgin, but thx again anyway for the info.

[Legendkiller2k]

Originally Posted by Mad Max

Thx mate, I've already got Sky Cinema on my package with Virgin, but thx again anyway for the info.

Anytime mate, happy to help people save money if i can.

[OLD BOY]

Originally Posted by jfman

All this choice is getting a bit much over in the United States

Only needed three channels for all the sports content is described as the "golden age". If Old Boy gets his wish here's where we are going.

It’s not my wish, jfman, I’m just stating the way this all appears to be going. I don’t watch sport at all, hence it is just a passing interest to me.

Where the streamers are excelling is in the field of general entertainment, particularly drama serials. We’ve never had so much choice in drama content, and it is very inexpensive compared with pay tv channels.

[1andrew1]

Originally Posted by OLD BOY

It’s not my wish, jfman, I’m just stating the way this all appears to be going. I don’t watch sport at all, hence it is just a passing interest to me.

Where the streamers are excelling is in the field of general entertainment, particularly drama serials. We’ve never had so much choice in drama content, and it is very inexpensive compared with pay tv channels.

The good things for streaming companies with drama compared to sport are:
- It is still viewed long after its first release so suits a VOD library
- People are happy to watch it when it suits them, not everyone at the same time. Most viewings of sports are live with everyone watching at the same time. This requires a lot more capacity to cope with very popular events.
- Drama rights can be obtained on a multi-country and global basis. TV rights for sports are normally sold by country or region.

[OLD BOY]

Originally Posted by 1andrew1

The good things for streaming companies with drama compared to sport are:
- It is still viewed long after its first release so suits a VOD library
- People are happy to watch it when it suits them, not everyone at the same time. Most viewings of sports are live with everyone watching at the same time. This requires a lot more capacity to cope with very popular events.
- Drama rights can be obtained on a multi-country and global basis. TV rights for sports are normally sold by country or region.

I certainly wouldn’t argue with that.

[jfman]

Originally Posted by OLD BOY

It’s not my wish, jfman, I’m just stating the way this all appears to be going. I don’t watch sport at all, hence it is just a passing interest to me.

Where the streamers are excelling is in the field of general entertainment, particularly drama serials. We’ve never had so much choice in drama content, and it is very inexpensive compared with pay tv channels.

It can only be “your wish” because anyone else wouldn’t have posted so strongly, and so often, about the subject!

Sport is a “passing interest” as it doesn’t suit your narrative. It’s the gaping hole within it.

[OLD BOY]

Originally Posted by jfman

It can only be “your wish” because anyone else wouldn’t have posted so strongly, and so often, about the subject!

Sport is a “passing interest” as it doesn’t suit your narrative. It’s the gaping hole within it.

You assume too much, jfman. I have posted so strongly only because some members dismiss the whole concept out of hand and try to ridicule the whole idea.

[Legendkiller2k]

Originally Posted by OLD BOY

You assume too much, jfman. I have posted so strongly only because some members dismiss the whole concept out of hand and try to ridicule the whole idea.

How's Disney+ doing on VM then?
Didn't you say you'd be surprised if it wasn't on VM on October 1st?

[pip08456]

Originally Posted by Legendkiller2k

How's Disney+ doing on VM then?
Didn't you say you'd be surprised if it wasn't on VM on October 1st?

So he'll be surprised then, so what.

[jfman]

Originally Posted by OLD BOY

You assume too much, jfman. I have posted so strongly only because some members dismiss the whole concept out of hand and try to ridicule the whole idea.

The only person I see dismissing anything out of hand on a routine basis is you.

Everyone else sees the consolidation of the global market into a handful of companies who will dominate the market. You’re the one persisting that this must be platforms which exclusively stream.

Others rationally contest that viewers follow content and that Sky (and other incumbents) have solid business models and streaming presence for those ideological about these things.