Streaming Exclusivity Wars Risk Driving Users Back to Piracy

Megalith

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Earlier this week, Star Trek: Discovery cracked Pirate Bay’s Top 10 most illegally downloaded shows in less than 24 hours: this isn't too surprising, being that CBS decided to make the show’s second episode — and all the rest to come — available exclusively on CBS All Access streaming service for $6 a month. Forcing the consumer to hunt and peck through an ocean of ever-shifting licensing windows is already confusing, but siloing content across numerous, cumulatively pricey services also risks driving consumers back to piracy.

Many executives will proudly believe that this kind of direct to consumer offering only makes sense. And for outfits like ESPN that were blindsided by cord cutting the logic makes sense to some degree. But in forcing consumers to sign up to too many disparate services (at $6 to $20 each) just to get the content they're looking for, there's a real risk that millions of consumers will once again find piracy the simpler, less expensive option. A shame after the better part of a decade it took to drive users to these alternative, "legitimate" options.
 
Damn, missed it. Guess i'll be joining that number soon. TBH I think Seth MacFarlane's 'The Oroville' may be more enjoyable
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LOL, Kermit D. Frog, great human leader.
 
We the customers are the ones that can make this change.

How? Only subscribe to one or two of these services and sit down and wait for the shows to come to those services.

Sadly, wont happen, nobody is willing to fight for anything these day and age and need to be "served and satisfied" all the time.

Example, I had free Hulu, which was a fair exchange, service for commercials. But when they started charging AND still forcing commercials, I left. I know, they have another tier, with less or no commercials, depending of the material, but the principle stands.
 
I was surprised how mild the humor is in the Orville was, they are clearly targeting a broad audience. Many other opinions online are correct that this would have been a much better 'new star trek' than the alternate.

Side talk aside, this report is 100% spot on. The number of exclusives that are damaging the market is drastic. Aside from the popular favorites of Netflix and HBO, it's really hard to start adding more to your list of monthly payments.

To argue another side, it is possible to simply pay for a month of service for any given choice, watch all of the content available, and then cancel. I think that this is being overlooked in the doom and gloom piracy label, as that will always be in the background. It wasn't long ago that people were willing to drive to a videostore and pay 3-5$ for a 1-2 hour viewing of content. Paying $15-20 for an entire month worth of content, which could amass several shows and movies, giving you over 100 hours of entertainment is still a very good option. It's less than the cost of taking 2 people to a movie (without buying food even.)

I think that networks are smart to try to get their piece of the pie, as cable is clearly just one market segment these days. Unfortunately many people feel like they are entitled to see 'everything' regardless of the cost of entry in our society which is why there is such a protest over actually paying up for content. Having such a huge library on Netflix has really set a substantial bar that is hard to replicate, giving other services a much lower sense of utility.
 
Netflix sort of set the bar for how much people will pay, so any service charging more than $9.99US is going to have a real problem. Beyond that, I can see a lot of people go back to antennas for the primary network stations and then choosing a few subscriptions like CBS All Access and Disney for extra content. There are only something like 4 major media companies controlling most of the content. If CBS has all of Paramount/Viacom's content, Disney has all of theirs including ESPN, Time-Warner does something with Warner Bros. content and a fourth service with all of NBC/Universal's content, that could replace most current cable TV bundles. Comcast is testing out a broadband only service that has all of the antenna channels for those in poor reception areas, so that may be the wave of the future. The cable channels that need to worry are the ones not backed by the major media companies since they'll be hit hardest when most people drop their cable bundles and switch to subscription services. I used to pay $105 for all those cable channels that I didn't watch so I cut the cord last year. But if I could pay something like $40 for all the subscription services that I like, I'll go for that.
 
Netflix sort of set the bar for how much people will pay, so any service charging more than $9.99US is going to have a real problem. t.
You're missing the point. It's not about the price. It's about people not wanting to subscribe to a dozen separate services each with it's separate issues, players and apps to watch the shows they want to watch. The price 10 100 or 0 doesn't matter one bit. They could offer to pay me $10 each, I'd still choose the simpler way, the reliable way, the proven way.
 
You're missing the point. It's not about the price. It's about people not wanting to subscribe to a dozen separate services each with it's separate issues, players and apps to watch the shows they want to watch. The price 10 100 or 0 doesn't matter one bit. They could offer to pay me $10 each, I'd still choose the simpler way, the reliable way, the proven way.
Actually, he does have a point about the price.
I never bothered in subscribing to anything else besides NetFlix and Amazon Prime because they are asking more money than netflix, yet doesn't really have a compelling reason to charge more, IMHO.

Also, we are in this situation because cable got way too expensive and people are leaving them for Netflix, mainly, so, yes, they set the pricing standard.
 
I think it may be partially about the price. If service A allows me to watch so many hours of content for X number of dollars, I might be willing to pay for it. Example: CBS drops the price to $1.99 enables live streaming and offers 7 hours of non live content a week. I might buy into that for some channels, but I agree Netflix sets the bar for all you can eat at $10 a month.
 
Actually, he does have a point about the price.
I never bothered in subscribing to anything else besides NetFlix and Amazon Prime because they are asking more money than netflix, yet doesn't really have a compelling reason to charge more, IMHO.

Also, we are in this situation because cable got way too expensive and people are leaving them for Netflix, mainly, so, yes, they set the pricing standard.

But CBS is charging $6 and people still won't pay it. You could charge $2/month and people aren't going to pay it. It's about convenience of 1 platform, I shouldn't need 4 different apps on my phone to stream my favorite shows. It's why I just put everything on Plex because fuck that noise.
 
I was surprised how mild the humor is in the Orville was, they are clearly targeting a broad audience.
Same here. I am glad it isn't Peter Griffin in Space full of ultra-crudeness. The CG is pretty good as well IMO. Oh and Adrianne Palicki. :woot:
 
I called this happening years ago. It's a nickle and dime strategy that people won't put up with. You want a cup holder? That's $40 (No joke on Volvo's) It's what lead to the death of cable in the first place as greed of individual corporate entities takes over.

Fragmentation = death.
 
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Actually I think this is going to end up in the ala carte service that everyone has been asking for. As it stands right now Amazon Video can automatically set up subs for streaming networks. Someone with that kind of pull should be able to get more of these places onboard, so I can end up paying for my several ala carte subs through one place. Even Comcast now has "skinny" bundles they are trialing, so it's only a matter of time before they would have to jump on board with the streaming subs because they can't let someone like Amazon dominate the market. And if Amazon gets them on board, then you can bet Google, Apple, and many others would be willing to setup these automatic payments for you.

NickJames: Whether or not CBS is worth $6 a month will be determined by the market. Someone people will gladly pay it because in the long run it will be much cheaper than them having to setup an antenna, or a media server, or subscribe to cable and have a box. If you can pay Amazon $6 a month and they automatically bill you for CBS, and you hop on your Fire TV and the content is all there and it works, that's going to trump everything else.


Fragmentation = death.

Death for the content that no one deems worth paying. I'd be willing to venture that content that people truly want will make it's way through.
 
You're missing the point. It's not about the price. It's about people not wanting to subscribe to a dozen separate services each with it's separate issues, players and apps to watch the shows they want to watch. The price 10 100 or 0 doesn't matter one bit. They could offer to pay me $10 each, I'd still choose the simpler way, the reliable way, the proven way.

It's about price for me. Despite having a healthy income, I'm a cheapskate I admit it. No I don't like having 50 different apps because getting universal support across all devices (Roku Gen 1, Gen 2, Gen 3, Android, Computer) is a major pain in the ass for anything besides netflix and hulu. But price is a bigger factor. People don't sit and do budgets and realize how lots of little things can seriously eat into your budget.

$200+/month for phone + internet + tv...hell no.
$90 is what I pay and I don't buy into a lot of extras ($50 comcast, $20 phone $10 Netflix $10 Amazon (averages out))
 
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Always amused me when a show that's broadcast freely for all to see, is considered "pirated" if you watch it under your own terms. This is like your friend recording it, and giving you the copy to watch... WHOA!! PIRACY!!!

I can understand why Game of Thrones they consider piracy because you need to pay for the service (HBO) to view it.
 
Death for the content that no one deems worth paying. I'd be willing to venture that content that people truly want will make it's way through.

Maybe. But I still haven't seen game of thrones, or the last season of true blood because HBO is trying to milk me to join HBO. I'm not that interested.

BTW: Over the Air cost me $50 + cable + a copper rod. It paid for itself in a year.
 
But CBS is charging $6 and people still won't pay it. You could charge $2/month and people aren't going to pay it. It's about convenience of 1 platform, I shouldn't need 4 different apps on my phone to stream my favorite shows. It's why I just put everything on Plex because fuck that noise.
Because in people's mind, CBS All Access is not worth the 6 bucks. I agree with them for several reasons:
1- It's already free over the air, with the same commercials,
2- There isnt much in there.
3- 6 bucks and you still get commercials.
4- Many are already saturated by the fragmentation.

Perhaps I'm wrong on those.
 
Always amused me when a show that's broadcast freely for all to see, is considered "pirated" if you watch it under your own terms. This is like your friend recording it, and giving you the copy to watch... WHOA!! PIRACY!!!

It is broadcast 'freely' because of the commercial advertisements that pay for the content. Even when I bring up an on demand show that is labeled free from comcast, you can't fast forward through commercials (except premium channels which obviously have none). However, when I DVR a 'live' or regularly scheduled show it can't stop you from fast forwarding all the commercials so are they in fact enabling 'piracy'? Clear double standard.
 
Maybe. But I still haven't seen game of thrones, or the last season of true blood because HBO is trying to milk me to join HBO. I'm not that interested.

BTW: Over the Air cost me $50 + cable + a copper rod. It paid for itself in a year.
You could sign for HBO Now, binge watch those in a month and cancel right after, until your backlog is long enough to do another month of binge watching.
 
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You could sing for HBO Now, binge watch those in a month and cancel right after, until your backlog is long enough to do another month of binge watching.

On a related note: You won't be able to do this with CBS all access. No binge watching as they cull old episodes out. They are also spoon feeding new episodes so you have to subscribe the entire season. (So I read)

So you really aren't paying $6. You're paying $72/year on their schedule for 1 show which is receiving mixed reviews at best.
 
Yes yes I Would love to sign up for another streaming service. Can I get a streaming service for each and every major network? I want to pay $300 a month.
 
Maybe. But I still haven't seen game of thrones, or the last season of true blood because HBO is trying to milk me to join HBO. I'm not that interested.

BTW: Over the Air cost me $50 + cable + a copper rod. It paid for itself in a year.

Are you recording OTA? If you are then getting the content on demand is generally a few more pennies. Usually members on here can get the equipment for cheap or repurpose something they already have, but if I were to build the setup required to record and stream tv, it's going to cost a few hundred dollars to do so. Computer + Tuner of some kind + software doesn't come cheap. I'm planning to jump into OTA at some point, but there definitely is a barrier of entry for me in that I'll likely need to sink at least $200 to get the equipment needed to pull in stations since I'm not sitting on top of the towers.
 
Yes yes I Would love to sign up for another streaming service. Can I get a streaming service for each and every major network? I want to pay $300 a month.

Why would you even want every major network? If you wanted all of the channels then sticking with cable might still make sense to you because they were able to negotiate better rates for some of the content. But you're likely already paying $300 a month for the privilege. To get satellite or cable, I estimate the current cost is around $80 a month to get your standard lineup. Yes you can find promos here or there that are cheaper, but I'd guess the average person is paying at least $80 for what they are getting. That gives you a lot of buying power, and you can still save money. You can get Hulu, Netflix, CBS, HBO and even Sling TV or PS Vue and only rack up $65 - 75 a month. The whole point of ala carte is because everyone complains they are constantly paying for stuff they don't watch. If a network doesn't have anything of value to you then don't pay for it.
 
On a related note: You won't be able to do this with CBS all access. No binge watching as they cull old episodes out. They are also spoon feeding new episodes so you have to subscribe the entire season. (So I read)

So you really aren't paying $6. You're paying $72/year on their schedule for 1 show which is receiving mixed reviews at best.
Well, that seals the deal for me there.

They wont see a penny from me.
 
Actually, he does have a point about the price.
I never bothered in subscribing to anything else besides NetFlix and Amazon Prime because they are asking more money than netflix, yet doesn't really have a compelling reason to charge more, IMHO.

Also, we are in this situation because cable got way too expensive and people are leaving them for Netflix, mainly, so, yes, they set the pricing standard.
Well I guess if the service would be good, then price would become a factor. But as long as they offer something I don't want, price really doesn't matter.
 
Are you recording OTA? If you are then getting the content on demand is generally a few more pennies. Usually members on here can get the equipment for cheap or repurpose something they already have, but if I were to build the setup required to record and stream tv, it's going to cost a few hundred dollars to do so. Computer + Tuner of some kind + software doesn't come cheap. I'm planning to jump into OTA at some point, but there definitely is a barrier of entry for me in that I'll likely need to sink at least $200 to get the equipment needed to pull in stations since I'm not sitting on top of the towers.

The software is free (Kodi is generally regarded as the best) http://kodi.wiki/view/PVR. Hauppauge is generally the best, but silicon dust is highly regarded for computer based ATSC receviers. You're looking about $80 + an old PC.
 
They are also spoon feeding new episodes so you have to subscribe the entire season. (So I read)

CBS All Access is the Web version of the channel. It wouldn't make sense at all if they released all of the episodes of a season online all at once if they are airing weekly on their broadcast station. Unless I'm mistake with HBO, there isn't any streaming channels that release their content before it airs in it's normal time slot. Yes after all of the episodes have aired you could sign up for 1 month and watch all of the old episodes, but you're not going to be able to watch new episodes that haven't aired yet because you are subscribing to streaming.


The software is free (Kodi is generally regarded as the best) http://kodi.wiki/view/PVR. Hauppauge is generally the best, but silicon dust is highly regarded for computer based ATSC receviers. You're looking about $80 + an old PC.

Yea no... Kodi is awful and I wouldn't want to force that on anyone... I do have a HTPC setup, I've paid for several different pieces of software so I don't have to deal with something that doesn't suck. If you're using Plex as your front end, you probably paid for it. You paid for it because it was good. I've built enough HTPCs to not give anyone false hope that it's only $80 to build one. That has never happened regardless of what I have laying around so I know that will never happen in reality.
 
CBS All Access is the Web version of the channel. It wouldn't make sense at all if they released all of the episodes of a season online all at once if they are airing weekly on their broadcast station. Unless I'm mistake with HBO, there isn't any streaming channels that release their content before it airs in it's normal time slot. Yes after all of the episodes have aired you could sign up for 1 month and watch all of the old episodes, but you're not going to be able to watch new episodes that haven't aired yet because you are subscribing to streaming.
.

While you can go back and watch old episodes with HBO, that is not the intent of CBS. They will pull them after they reach so many weeks past air date (like Hulu does)

If you don't like Kodi, you can try OSMC
 
I'm in Canada so the all access thing doesn't apply to me. We have our own crappy cable backed streaming services here though... and ya bottom line. If you offer me less then Netflix... force me to consider the devices I'm using to use your app (Netflix runs on everything from a PS3 I still have around xbox/roku/android you name it)... Force me to watch commercials... and expect me to consider paying you even $1, all I can say is dream on.

What has to happen for me to pay for a service.
1) can't cost me more then netflix unless it offers me more then netflix.
2) can't contain commercials unless its free >.< I will not EVER pay to be advertised to ever again.
3) has to be = or damn near = to the convenience of Netflix. It isn't expensive to port apps these days to ps3/4 xbox roku android ios ect.

The network guys trying to force commercials into their streaming options already means they will never get any of my coins... should they ever find away into the Canadian market anyway. Netflix has been the only streaming company willing to face our Canadian content laws... recently to avoid being slapped with a Netflix Tax they agreed to spend at least 500 million a year on Canadian content. I don't see CBS or any other US network going the same route.
 
2) can't contain commercials unless its free >.< I will not EVER pay to be advertised to ever again.

Many Hulu users said the same thing to Hulu: "Why am I paying for a service and being FORCED to watch commercials?" Even though paid Hulu had less commercials than the completely free service. But the network execs actually protested it and fought Hulu on it for the longest time.
 
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Why would you even want every major network? If you wanted all of the channels then sticking with cable might still make sense to you because they were able to negotiate better rates for some of the content. But you're likely already paying $300 a month for the privilege. To get satellite or cable, I estimate the current cost is around $80 a month to get your standard lineup. Yes you can find promos here or there that are cheaper, but I'd guess the average person is paying at least $80 for what they are getting. That gives you a lot of buying power, and you can still save money. You can get Hulu, Netflix, CBS, HBO and even Sling TV or PS Vue and only rack up $65 - 75 a month. The whole point of ala carte is because everyone complains they are constantly paying for stuff they don't watch. If a network doesn't have anything of value to you then don't pay for it.

Those things combined cost more than my cable internet service with premium channels combined
 
Been saying this for a while, fragmentation is going to set streaming back. I've been cable free for years now, yet no way in hell will I subscribe to more than 2-3 services. Realistically that number is 2 as Amazon/Netflix are the only two I keep going regularly. I mention a third as the wife and I have a couple shows on HBO (GOT for her and Boardwalk empire for me) that I enjoy. However their service isn't worth the asking price endlessly so I subscribe for a month, binge watch the new season and drop it. Disney, CBS and all the others lining up with their hand out can honestly eat a big bag of dicks. I won't pirate anymore, but I'll just simply not watch something before I play this stupid game of service juggling.
 
This premiere episode of Star Trek: Discovery was freely and widely available in the United States on all local CBS stations. In Canada, it was on CTV and the Space Channel. Everywhere else in the world, it aired on Netflix the next day. Netflix is a platform that almost everyone who streams anything is already using. So to use this show as an example of the "paying for too many streaming services causes piracy" argument seems a bit premature, don't you think? Most of the world will watch it on Netflix. It was in the top 10 list of pirated shows for a variety of other reasons.
 
Many Hulu users said the same thing to Hulu: "Why am I paying for a service and being FORCED to watch commercials?" Even though paid Hulu had less commercials than the completely free service. But the network execs actually protested it and fought Hulu on it for the longest time.

Pure greed I guess. I get it... they have been used to having both streams of income since the rise of cable. At this point though they are going to have to look to the future and come up with a better option if they want to stay relevant. When I think about how much time I spent watching TV as a kid and how much time my own kids spend watching TV... they have a pretty painful shock coming down the road. My 20 something boys barely watch TV.... and my teenage daughter watches even less actual TV.
 
You're missing the point. It's not about the price. It's about people not wanting to subscribe to a dozen separate services each with it's separate issues, players and apps to watch the shows they want to watch. The price 10 100 or 0 doesn't matter one bit. They could offer to pay me $10 each, I'd still choose the simpler way, the reliable way, the proven way.

This is how companies have chosen to react to cord cutters. Don't have cable/satellite? Get X amount of individual streaming services to get your fix.

The fact that this show is exclusive to CBS's streaming app shows how far they are willing to go to get people onto more services.

Thankfully we have illegal downloads of this to completely squash their expectation that people would subscribe to their shitty service because of the one show.
 
But CBS is charging $6 and people still won't pay it. You could charge $2/month and people aren't going to pay it. It's about convenience of 1 platform, I shouldn't need 4 different apps on my phone to stream my favorite shows. It's why I just put everything on Plex because fuck that noise.

$6 to watch shows...with commercials. If they are going to put commercials in my face, then they need to broadcast it over the airwaves to watch for free since the commercials are already paying them to peddle their wares to people like me. The price is higher without commercials.
 
Maybe. But I still haven't seen game of thrones, or the last season of true blood because HBO is trying to milk me to join HBO. I'm not that interested.

BTW: Over the Air cost me $50 + cable + a copper rod. It paid for itself in a year.

what??? 15 PC master race demerits for you young man!
 
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