Netflix Won't Join Apple's Video Streaming Service (cnet.com) 46
Netflix CEO Reed Hastings confirmed that his company won't be playing a role in Apple's upcoming video streaming service. From a report: "We want to have people watch our content on our service," he said Monday. "We've chosen not to integrate into their service." Apple is expected to reveal its offering at an event next Monday. Apple is trying to supplement its original shows by finalizing deals with networks like HBO, Showtime and Starz to license a library of already released content. Hastings pointed out that Netflix has already been competing with Amazon, so it's used to rivals with deep pockets. "You do your best job when you have great competitors," he said, but he acknowledged that sourcing original content is getting more expensive.
Original Content? (Score:5, Insightful)
he acknowledged that sourcing original content is getting more expensive
I have no doubt that sourcing original content is expensive - But there is so much existing content that could be offered that never is -
M*A*S*H
St. Elsewhere
Hill Street Blues
Northern Exposure
Max Headroom
Boston Legal
The X-Files
Miami Vice
24
ER
I'm sure everyone here could come up with their own list...
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Yes, I believe that would be covered by the phrase "license a library of already released content."
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Law and Order - why do we never see that any more?
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Because there's two networks currently running 24/7 Law & Order episodes so you can literally watch it any time you want over the air for free.
Re:Original Content? (Score:4)
Re: Original Content? (Score:1)
Sure, but when you spend 2 weeks downloading the content, you appreciate it more.
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I'm sure everyone here could come up with their own list
I have my own list. It's all available (and has been) on my Plex server. Most of it's not new, and the few things that are magically have No Commercials. Hell, I'm STILL catching up on a few things and they've been finished for decades.
The same with music albums from the '70s and '80s - for some reason they're not making those much anymore.
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Video on demand is becoming ever more crowded (Score:5, Insightful)
Amazon Prime, HBO Now, Hulu, Youtube, TV channels themselves, Playstation Vue, Sling, Hotstar... Apple and Disney are coming in as well.
Sadly contrary to the rules of market forces, this additional competition may not benefit the consumer with lower prices and a better product.
Fractured access to what you wish to watch renders each platform somewhat less likely to provide it, resulting in the need to subscribe to more and more platforms, erasing much/all of the savings of cord-cutting.
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It will generate a new weirdness in content consumption, invisible content creators.
Here is how it will work. Most subscribed content is commercial free and to be honest, that is the only way you can 'sell' it in numbers. So advertising free, well, that means that off channel content advertisements are never seen and these people are not watching free to air either, so they do not see alternate content in any real sense.
Right now the exclusive content is running on old publicly known content, new content
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erasing much/all of the savings of cord-cutting
I expect that in the end a full complement of streaming services will cost more than a full cable package, simply because there aren't any commercials. Although, realistically, they'll probably just add commercials at some point. Streaming does provide a little savings in the form of removing a middle-man, the cable TV company, but I can't imagine that offsetting the extra money from advertising.
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Good (Score:1, Offtopic)
Good. I don't want to have to install iTunes to use Netflix.
Or whatever silly things Apple makes you do these days to use their services.
Delivery should be separated from Content (Score:2)
The internet is better than cable, but Netflix is still an issue.
TVs only work properly on a few providers. There should be no need for a special app to view content. Just a URL. And maybe some sort of centralized billing.
I didn't think any other company was... (Score:2)
I thought Apple's service was all original content anyway, so is this really a story? The bigger question is are ANY other companies known to be in on Apple's service? I had not heard of any. I didn't think it was going to be a Netflix competitor, but rather something more like HBO with custom programming...
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I think Apple's service is less content provider and more content aggregator. If we take what Apple has done with AppleTV, and why Netflix is entering into this discussion, you basically tell Apple (or s
What a shock (Score:2)
Netflix never supports any integration... they don't even work with search on any platform I'm aware of. They want to be the one and only but might find themselves in for a rude awakening as new services start to eat their lunch. If I'm signed up for a number of services Im likely to lean heavily on platform based searches (particularly as voice search has become more popular) if results aren't showing up for Netflix I might find myself going to the app less and less, which might result in ultimately drop
They will learn (Score:2)