New Streaming TV entrants - good or bad for viewers?

[vrdiver]

When Netflix started up, they were pretty much unique. Programme makers (including Disney) did deals with them to get their stuff out to the masses.

With Amazon Prime, Apple TV, HBO, Disney etc all entering the streaming viewing market, taking back their content from Netflix (or producing their own and not sharing) it looks, at first sight, like the choice for streaming TV is rapidly expanding for us viewers, but...

If each company treats its content as a competitive advantage, it means viewers have to decide either which one has their preferred shows and subscribe to that, missing out on all the others, or to have multiple subscriptions, which becomes expensive (assuming you watch for the same number of hours, just spread between the multiple accounts) or subscription-surf, which plays havoc with any viewing continuity.

Are multiple platforms a good thing for viewer choice, or are we losing out in reality?

VRD

(A Netflix viewer)

[dionaeamuscipula]

When Netflix started up, they were pretty much unique. Programme makers (including Disney) did deals with them to get their stuff out to the masses.

With Amazon Prime, Apple TV, HBO, Disney etc all entering the streaming viewing market, taking back their content from Netflix (or producing their own and not sharing) it looks, at first sight, like the choice for streaming TV is rapidly expanding for us viewers, but...

If each company treats its content as a competitive advantage, it means viewers have to decide either which one has their preferred shows and subscribe to that, missing out on all the others, or to have multiple subscriptions, which becomes expensive (assuming you watch for the same number of hours, just spread between the multiple accounts) or subscription-surf, which plays havoc with any viewing continuity.

Are multiple platforms a good thing for viewer choice, or are we losing out in reality?

VRD

(A Netflix viewer)

Bad. We have Netflix and Amazon, but most of the Disney Content (including Star wars/Marvel/Pixar) is going or has disappeared already, Friends is off to HBO Max... I could be going back to buying DVDs.

DM

[JohnB]

Vast sums of money are being spent on TV production now, so consumers are getting more stuff, often at high quality. But there is probably too much for anyone to watch in their areas of interest. And the cost of keeping up is sky-rocketing, unless you hop between providers a month at a time and binge-watch.

I much preferred the common-carrier approach of dvd rental services like Lovefilm, where you could see everything eventually, accepting that you'd have to wait until premium services like Sky and cinemas had taken the first bite of the cherry.

[monabri]

We took out a trial of Amazon prime for 1 month - it came with Amazon TV which I thought was pretty disappointing in terms of content range. We have been signed up with Netflix for well over 6 months and we're pretty happy with the range of content. I won't be signing up to Apple TV, Britbox etc.

[BobbyD]

You don't have to keep all the subs running at the same time... The beauty of teh current set up is that depending on what and how much you want to watch, you can have a couple of months on Now, switch to Netflix for a bit...

Disney plus will cost $6.99 a month or $69.99 a year in the states, Apple TV $4.99 a month, if anything they are going to put pressure on Netflix to lower prices....

[JohnB]

I run screen capture software on my computer, so it binges on shows when I'm out, which I watch in off months

[AF62]

Recently, we were out do dinner with friends who have Netflix and we don't and they were reeling off 'great' series that we'd never heard of. They were stunned and concerned that we were missing out. I consoled myself with the fact that Netflix's business model is surely unsustainable and the whole thing will come crashing down and the liquidators will be forced to sell these great series to the BBC for next to nothing.

Tends to be the other way, with the BBC selling series to Netflix.

Anyway, I swapped my TV licence for a Netflix and Now TV subscription with money left over, and that combined with All4, My5, UKTV Play, and the ITV hub (with a Raspberry Pi removing the adverts and a VPN to get the American Netflix as well) is more than enough TV for me.

As for the new entrants, most of what they seem to be offering is back catalogue stuff. As I prefer new stuff to repeats, not that interesting to me.

[servodude]

It's still a market trying to catch up with the technology.

I can see Netflix being around in some form when the dust settles; they did a good job of moving from posted DVDs to streaming, and again when they started producing shows.
Releasing "House of Cards" as they did was a watershed moment; once Netflix made the jump to producing content for their platform everyone else woke up. So a good part of what is going on at the moment is producers trying to cut out the middle man. I am sure that not every media producer will be as successful (commercially and technically) as Netflix; bad streaming is almost worse than none, and Netflix do it very well.

There will be the next period of flux while the pricing finds its equilibrium.
It's not easy to see where this will be given that, for a huge proportion of the customer base, paying for media is optional.

Interesting times, good TV though
-sd

[AsleepInYorkshire]

Is this about bums on seats?

I'd be surprised if it was an attempt to push prices up per viewer. I wonder if it's more about vertical integration?

Albeit I suspect Disney are trying to increase their prices per capita. More from less? Apple need to replace revenue as the iPhone income falls. Streaming is mass market revenue.

I think there's every chance the overall cost to the consumer will fall. I've been with Netflix for three years now and genuinely feel they offer very good value for money. Why would I pay more to watch Disney or Apple? Only if the quality of their streamed TV is much better than Netflix. And I think both Apple and Disney may have under-estimated just how good Netflix's own TV offerings really are.

AiY

[nimnarb]

In the good old days, morning work (or before that, school) conversations were always along the lines of 'what did you think of XXXXX last night?' or 'Did you see XXXX?'

Recently, we were out do dinner with friends who have Netflix and we don't and they were reeling off 'great' series that we'd never heard of. They were stunned and concerned that we were missing out. I consoled myself with the fact that Netflix's business model is surely unsustainable and the whole thing will come crashing down and the liquidators will be forced to sell these great series to the BBC for next to nothing.

It's the same with live sport...'hey great, I see Man Ure are playing Liverpong the weekend......ach fuggit. It's on BT'

Another monthly sub...? Hmmmm.

And I wonder how Formula One & the Champions League's viewing figures are now they've sold out to subscription tv.

Amazon seems pretty good value at eighty quid per year though, mainly because of the cost and convenience of Prime delivery, which offsets a large chunk of that cost. Then you realise you're destroying your own high street and there's not actually that much on Amazon tv.

Still, it's only eighty quid......

Just seen this thread..................not sure if its shown in the UK but Amazon just made a deal and I may have got this wrong but over a two day period which I thought was boxing day and perhaps the next day, they will be showing 10 premier league matches? No doubt someone will confirm this....

[SalvorHardin]

Just seen this thread..................not sure if its shown in the UK but Amazon just made a deal and I may have got this wrong but over a two day period which I thought was boxing day and perhaps the next day, they will be showing 10 premier league matches? No doubt someone will confirm this....

Amazon Prime Video are showing 20 Premier League games live in December 2019. They have all 10 Boxing Day games and all 10 midweek Premier League games.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/b?ie=UTF8&node=17025299031

As to streaming entrants being good for viewers, a huge yes for me. As a rule anything that increases choice is good for consumers. Would any of the December midweek games have been shown live before Amazon's entry into the market? Maybe one per week on Sky or BT Sport. Sure people are going to complain about BT Sport grabbing the Champions League games, forcing them to get another subscription, but that's market forces at work.

Netflix has given me access to a wide variety of foreign language TV series that would not have been available otherwise, such as Bordertown (Finnish police drama), Ultraviolet (Polish crowsourced crime investigation), Sacred Games (Indian) and El Ministerio del Tiempo (Spanish time travel). There's only so much that BBC4 can show! £72 p.a. for Netflix is a bargain. I don't have a high opinion of Netflix's original shows (the ones they make as opposed to those that they rebadge as "original") asides from House of Cards (except the last series), Altered Carbon and The Crown (but "Another Life" is so bad it's good), but after a while you learn to quickly appraise a new show. And Netflix gets a lot of praise from me for saving Longmire (police show / modern day western).

Amazon has improved a lot in the last year. Carnival Row is excellent; it's Ripper Street with steampunk, magic and mythological creatures). Again it's more choice for the consumers.

[AF62]

It's not easy to see where this will be given that, for a huge proportion of the customer base, paying for media is optional.

I think the advent of Netflix and Spotify (and similar) has had a huge impact in driving people away from pirating to paid for media. Previously paying high prices for a limited selection from Sky or having to buy DVDs and CDs drove some to take an alternative route.

Being able to swap the hassle of finding what you wanted on the internet for a simple low(ish) payment was what tempted an awful lot of people to come back from the dark side.

Netflix has given me access to a wide variety of foreign language TV series that would not have been available otherwise, such as Bordertown (Finnish police drama), Ultraviolet (Polish crowsourced crime investigation), Sacred Games (Indian) and El Ministerio del Tiempo (Spanish time travel). There's only so much that BBC4 can show! £72 p.a. for Netflix is a bargain. I don't have a high opinion of Netflix's original shows (the ones they make as opposed to those that they rebadge as "original") asides from House of Cards (except the last series), Altered Carbon and The Crown (but "Another Life" is so bad it's good), but after a while you learn to quickly appraise a new show. And Netflix gets a lot of praise from me for saving Longmire (police show / modern day western).

Absolutely agree with all of that, particularly with the foreign language shows (although Walter Presents on All4 is pretty good).

The only thing I find irritating, and it isn't Netflix fault, is the licencing limitations the content producers place where to see some shows you need to jump through the hoops of using a vpn as they are only available in some countries.

[servodude]

The only thing I find irritating, and it isn't Netflix fault, is the licencing limitations the content producers place where to see some shows you need to jump through the hoops of using a vpn as they are only available in some countries.

I think this is a very big reason why content producers (like Disney, Amazon, HBO) are moving to their own streaming platforms
- the business model has been playing catch up with the technology

I think Amazon can manage it as they have the infrastructure already and bundle the video as part of a wider package (and seem relatively cheaper than others)

Disney have a lot of attractive content, but you would have probably said the same about Sony (and Crackle looks to be going pop )
- I hope HBO do not overstretch themselves as they have some/most of my favourite content these days

I don't know where it leaves the smaller less global streaming players; things like Hulu, Stan, SlingTV

Interesting times indeed
- sd

[JohnB]

I get frustrated that seasons come and go on the streaming services, so there are gaps in my completist viewing, and I"m forced to binge before they go. I do more screen capture to timeshift away from their schedules, but it us clumsy.

If Britbox exposes all the BBC's back catalogue and keeps it up that would be best for me. Channel 4 are good in this regard, too many others regard churn as good.