streaming services

[Necromancer]

Unless it's niche and/or not very popular, most end up on disc eventually.  You just have to wait a year or so, same as cable and broadcast shows.

[xelement5x]

$7.99 with "limited" ads or $11.99 for no ads.

I stand corrected. 

[TheClash603]

Hulu was better when they had the Criterion movies.  Now I will watch Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu occasionally, but when Criterion was on Hulu it was amazing.

[Bloufo]

Speaking of Hulu,

Hulu Lost Nearly $1 Billion In 2017
https://www.gamespot.com/articles/hulu-lost-nearly-1-billion-in-2017/1100-6456685/?utm_source=weekly_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20160510&bt_ee=nuZVTdVYMJiz5YyoureXRzl70dlZSD3niKB8e7TdBRaRkJ4FvYgwzfFe/vathBn6&bt_ts=1518336498154

[xelement5x]

Speaking of Hulu,

Hulu Lost Nearly $1 Billion In 2017
https://www.gamespot.com/articles/hulu-lost-nearly-1-billion-in-2017/1100-6456685/?utm_source=weekly_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20160510&bt_ee=nuZVTdVYMJiz5YyoureXRzl70dlZSD3niKB8e7TdBRaRkJ4FvYgwzfFe/vathBn6&bt_ts=1518336498154

But I'm sure they're thinking, it's better than letting Netflix pay us money!

[SignOfZeta]

Netflix also had an incredibly shitty year. The original programming arms race is expensive as hell.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/22/netflix-earnings-q4-2017.html

I read this article and the figures being thrown around blow my mind...and yet the tone of the article is somehow overall positive. It seems like incredibly high stakes shit to me.

[TheClash603]

The ideal is that these are sticky businesses and once you get subscribers you don't lose them.  If you need to make a few high stakes moves to up that recurring revenue, it will be worth it in the long run.  Plus a $3 price hike down the road won't cause many to drop the service, but it sure will add a ton of revenue.

Also, shows like Stranger Things and movies like Cloverfield may be expensive to purchase, but then you own them (in most cases) forever, so the value proposition continues to rise.  Eventually they won't need to spend as much and will still have a shit load of programming due to the back catalog.

[SignOfZeta]

Oh, I get the idea. I can also see a few ways it could blow up in their face.

[TheClash603]

It's not a streaming service, but it is a movie service, so I'll talk about it.  MoviePass is the one I can't figure out.  I see a movie or more each week now, so I pay approximately $2 per movie.  MoviePass is eating the difference with the theater, doesn't make any sense.

I get they are getting some advertising revenue and they are selling my info to movie studios and whoever will pay for it, but is that really making up for the money they are paying theaters?  Rumor is they will start asking for $3 per movie discounts from theaters due to the extra traffic they are providing, but even there that would mean they need to make up about $26 per month from weekly movie goers.

Unless there are a lot of people with MoviePass that are seeing 0 or 1 movie per month, I'd like to see the stats on attendance.

[Necromancer]

I've been using a borrowed Netflix account on my phone lately.  It works better than I was expecting, with decent quality, no excessive buffering, and reasonable data use (~250mb per hour); the only thing I don't like is that it'll go back to the default home page after a while, making me hunt down the show I was catching up on again.

[SignOfZeta]

Netflix quality is crazy good on the right device. It runs better on major platforms like iOS or Windows than it does on cut rate smart TVs or the DSi. They must port the shit to like 70 platforms at this point. On my new Bravia it will play 4K at about 30mbs which is...a joke, frankly, barely even normal BR bandwidth used for double the res, but more than I thought possible over the same cable that’s been in my house for decades.

[esteban]

I don’t really watch TV, but my wife/kids use:

Netflix
Hulu
Amazon
HBO

And that’s still cheaper than my old cable bill (FiOS).

I like to watch some stuff with my daughter: Voltron, Full Metal Alchemist, etc. (you get the idea), John Oliver, etc.

I occasionally will plop in the couch and watch a few minutes of ______  every day that someone else is watching, but I don’t watch too much TV/films much these days.

I would love to watch more... just too busy.

[GohanX]

Voltron, f*ck yeah! I've been watching that with daughter. And sometimes without my daughter.

... And I bought some lions. Don't judge me.

[Gypsy]

... And I bought some lions. Don't judge me.

I would but I bought some Lupin toys not that long ago lol.

[esteban]

... And I bought some lions. Don't judge me.

I would but I bought some Lupin toys not that long ago lol.

LUPIN TOOTHBRUSH is *not* intended to be used as a toy.

Voltron, f*ck yeah! I've been watching that with daughter. And sometimes without my daughter.

... And I bought some lions. Don't judge me.

It’s so good. I am really impressed with this entire goddamn series. It was consistently excellent, IMHO.