Netflix Is Actively Becoming Just Another TV Channel

I can't tell if this article is saying Netflix is "becoming just like every other television channel" is a good thing or bad.

In that sense, Netflix is becoming just like every other television channel, albeit with the added bonus of owning its own distribution model: Netflix takes all of the money its subscribers pay each month, whereas regular television channels have to deal with complex cable company deals. Sarandos's comment hints that Netflix no longer wants to become a replacement for cable (or for Blockbuster, for that matter). Instead, it wants to be seen as more of a standalone content producer—a service you pay for regardless of whether or not you have a cable subscription. Netflix, it’s now clear, was running a long con the whole time.

Another company moving away from what made them great.

If I'm paying for a streaming service, I want a large selection of movies/shows I can watch, not another "channel" of questionable new shows.
If they want my money every month, they need to be a Blockbuster replacement with a much larger selection.
Not that I completely blame Netflix for this, it's the greedy media companies are the most to blame.

nutzo said:

Another company moving away from what made them great.

If I'm paying for a streaming service, I want a large selection of movies/shows I can watch, not another "channel" of questionable new shows.
If they want my money every month, they need to be a Blockbuster replacement with a much larger selection.
Not that I completely blame Netflix for this, it's the greedy media companies are the most to blame.

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We have Netflix and also Amazon Prime. The content of both are about the same.
The only reason we keep netflix I get blu-Ray discs one at a time.
But still I'm wondering if that is worth it anymore.
Netflix has picked up some canceled series that were excellent like Longmire. That is a big +. But also they have some original series that are disgusting. Like Orange is the new Black.

The problem with content is what most companies want to charge for it. If they were to actually have the content that everyone wants for streaming they would have to charge us $75 / month for the service. So they do the best they can while keeping the cost at a reasonable level.

Hadn't this been argued to death already?

Without producing their own content, the studios who do produce content will price the rights for Netflix to steam their content Sky High so eventually it will be too expensive for Netflix to carry them, since for the most part studios want to have their own streaming service and make more money now that they have been shown it works. And also sell content individually.

By producing their own content Netflix is protecting themselves against being priced out of the market with little negociating power.

nutzo said:

Another company moving away from what made them great.

If I'm paying for a streaming service, I want a large selection of movies/shows I can watch, not another "channel" of questionable new shows.
If they want my money every month, they need to be a Blockbuster replacement with a much larger selection.
Not that I completely blame Netflix for this, it's the greedy media companies are the most to blame.

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They are a blockbuster replacement if you get discs in the mail. Their mail catalog is huge. What you're asking for is all that content to be streamed and I agree that it would be great, but it's the studio's that are preventing this from happening. Netflix has tried to get more content for years, but the prices to obtain that content have been too high and that's one reason they've pushed into becoming a studio themselves.

How is any of this a bad thing? We get something new and different from another provider yet we get all the old content that is on the market already?

People gotta complain about EVERYTHING.

The studios are going to slowly jerk the content from them anyway. Cable cutting was never going to get you out from under the huge monthly bill. Now you will just have to sub to every ones streaming service.

Also pay MORE for your ISP to make up for their lost revenue.

XvMMvX said:

The studios are going to slowly jerk the content from them anyway. Cable cutting was never going to get you out from under the huge monthly bill. Now you will just have to sub to every ones streaming service.

Also pay MORE for your ISP to make up for their lost revenue.

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I bet a lot of people will just pirate what the content that gets taken away.

nutzo said:

Another company moving away from what made them great.

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That's what American companies do (and, to be honest, more and more foreign companies as well). They market a product, get a loyal customer base, then gradually cheapen the product to increase profits, until said product sucks so bad that no one wants it anymore. Then they either re-name it, or 'new and improved' it (sometimes even re-name the whole friggin company to fool the customers), and start the process all over again, only this time around the product is made to self destruct 1 hour after the warranty is up, or perhaps the company is a LLC based offshore which goes belly up after they sell enough units and they start THAT process all over again with another 'brand name' of sh!t. There are no companies with people's names on them any more, because no one wants to be associated with the crap that their company pumps out.

I don't think the movie studios understand that customers aren't going to pay $5 to $20 a month for ten different streaming services. I don't exactly know what the answer is. One option would be for the studios not to do exclusive deals and allow all streaming services equal access to their content.

For all the entertainment Netflix provides me at only $8 bucks/month, I'll look elsewhere for complain about.

pgwalsh said:

They are a blockbuster replacement if you get discs in the mail. Their mail catalog is huge. What you're asking for is all that content to be streamed and I agree that it would be great, but it's the studio's that are preventing this from happening. Netflix has tried to get more content for years, but the prices to obtain that content have been too high and that's one reason they've pushed into becoming a studio themselves.

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Which is why I said "it's the greedy media companies are the most to blame"

They keep raising the prices, and restricting the content, then wonder why people pirate their stuff.
Make everything available at a reasonably low price, and piracy would largely disappear. Only people who would still be pirating movies would be people who wouldn't buy at any price.

Tyler-Durden said:

For all the entertainment Netflix provides me at only $8 bucks/month, I'll look elsewhere for complain about.

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$8 a month provides a lot of content. But, the studios want more and more to give Netflix access to some of that content. At what point can Netflix raise prices (remember last time they wanted to and people flipped the fuck out?) and keep customers?

There is a point where consumers are willing to pay for content and where they start looking for alternatives (piracy) or do without. Cable/satellite is too much for a lot of people (and the content is getting pretty bad on some channels).

Netflix right now is great. But, if the content were to drop considerably due to increasing studio prices, I may cancel. If they were to raise prices too high, I may cancel.

The studios may burn themselves if they get too greedy. I'm gladly throwing my money at Netflix. There is a point where I'll stop.

Another TV channel? One of the few that I watch/subscribe to. If studios pull content from there to push their own streaming network, I probably won't subscribe... CBS is pushing their own. Too expensive for too little.

Why is this a bad thing from Netflix? Still only $8 a month, and now they have original shows plus the movies they had already...damn you Netflix!

House of Cards is bleeping fantastic. Orange is the New Black is meh to me, not terrible but my girlfriend and her friends love it. That American summer comedy sitcom is supposed to be good as well.

belfert said:

I don't think the movie studios understand that customers aren't going to pay $5 to $20 a month for ten different streaming services. I don't exactly know what the answer is. One option would be for the studios not to do exclusive deals and allow all streaming services equal access to their content.

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This.

I don't want to subscribe to 10 different services, with 10 different interfaces, and 10 different bills. I need something kid and wife friendly too (10 difference services fails that test). Don't mix pay-per-view with the streaming service, making it easy for anyone watching the TV to run up a large bill, and let me set a filter on what show titles are shown, so I don't have to explain what those X rated titles mean to the kids.

I'd be willing to pay more for Netflix, IF they had a much better selection.
I used to have Netflix streaming and 1 DVD a time before the prices went up. The DVD allowed me to get the movies that weren't available on streaming. After the price increase I went to streaming only, but eventually gave it up as the selection went down.

Movie/TV studios need to move to something like radio/Pandora and music.

The thing with Netflix is that they have never had a profitable model without constant new subs. They are only making money because they keep adding new subscribers. They may have seen their numbers not growing fast enough or stagnating so they have to start dropping shows that aren't Originals to make them more lean. They simply do not have the large margins cable companies do.

I'd be ok with some shows being dropped, or maybe another price hike to $10 a month tops. One or the other though.

XvMMvX said:

The studios are going to slowly jerk the content from them anyway. Cable cutting was never going to get you out from under the huge monthly bill. Now you will just have to sub to every ones streaming service.

Also pay MORE for your ISP to make up for their lost revenue.

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It already has. I have been using Netflix alone for several years now. I AM out from under the huge monthly bill. So Netflix lost Epix, Hulu picked them up. Therefor nothing really changed, it's just that one cord-cutter friendly source won out over another source. that's business, it's competition, it's good news. It means the Providers like Netflix and Hulu are properly vested in the real world and not trying to defy the laws of physics. We should be happy about this. The writer is a glass half empty kind of person or he simply subscribes to the concept that the news has to suck or no one will watch it

Tyler-Durden said:

For all the entertainment Netflix provides me at only $8 bucks/month, I'll look elsewhere for complain about.

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^^^^^ Yes Sir !

Let me get this straight ... people complain about the cable companies and wish more people would cut the cord and switch to streaming ... streaming expands their services so that they can be a better alternative to cable with new content offerings ... people complain that Netflix is trying to be more like a television channel

Either the author of the article only likes movies and hates TV shows or he is just talking out of his ass (or a combo of the two) ... Most of the Networks aren't very good out of the box thinkers ... they are also driven by antiquated consumption models (viewers for first run shows) for their revenue ... with time shifting and other techniques we were already heading towards the binge watching marathon ... the Netflix release model (a full season at a time is a great model and aligns with the viewer wants)

Having more direct to consumer viewing options is a good thing ... I think over time as Amazon, YouTube, Netflix, Hulu, and possibly Apple mature in this market we will start to see more exotic shows (akin to the cable Networks) ... a show like Game of Thrones could never be made on a Network other than HBO (or one of the other subscriber ones) ... a show like Walking Dead or Bates Motel needed cable ... soon we will have another direct to subscriber model with the mature Netflix (and other competitors) ... this will allow a wider range of shows to be made because it is easier to reach their niche (and track the interest of the show in the niche)

TLDR - Netflix, Amazon and others producing original content, including movies and TV series is ultimately a good thing and will give the consumers more choice and make the cord cutting experience more enjoyable

Narcos is a pretty damn good series.

Give me more content like this, pl0x Netflix.

I mostly watch original content and/or TV shows I missed. There's so much content these days, I really don't have time to watch it all.

I wish netflix would show local news to your area, then i could ditch cable all together!

Are they going to get rid of their disc based service? I'm kind of thinking of going back to 2 Blu-Ray at a time. I miss their unlimited movie selection vs their now very limited movie selection.

Now that the networks have figured out it's no longer 1990 and that people want more flexible options it may mean that services like Netflix have to change course, but personally I'd much rather subscribe to a bunch of individual services which produce content I actually want to watch, ad-free, than the same or more for a cable deal which bundles them with a thousand pointless bullshit channels, an inflexible schedule and ad breaks every 5 minutes.

Litfod said:

Now that the networks have figured out it's no longer 1990 and that people want more flexible options it may mean that services like Netflix have to change course, but personally I'd much rather subscribe to a bunch of individual services which produce content I actually want to watch, ad-free, than the same or more for a cable deal which bundles them with a thousand pointless bullshit channels, an inflexible schedule and ad breaks every 5 minutes.

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Why not subscribe to a single service which gives you all of that?