Comment AG2Y Re: It's just like Cable TV

Story

Netflix is running ads, which it insists aren’t ads

Preview

It's just like Cable TV (Score: 2, Insightful)

by Anonymous Coward on 2015-06-03 17:46 (#ABZ3)

When cable TV was first introduced, we were promised no commercials because the revenue was coming from the monthly fee, and the channel selection would attract more customers and revenue. Well, there were two bad effects from that. First, the content providers very quickly went to commercials, I suppose instead of raising rates, and worse we ended up getting forced to buy content we don't want. Although I dropped cable over 15 years ago, and satellite about 5-6 years later, I never appreciated having to pay for ESPN. I'm sure the programming is fine, but I'm not interested in sports, but there was never an option to not pay for it.

Now Netflix is in the same boat. Obviously, they are looking to generate more revenue, but given that selection isn't a big draw, no commercials is a major feature. If they want to use commercials, they need to offer an option out with a higher-priced tier. I don't watch a lot of movies on Netflix (because the selection isn't so great, but there's a lot of cool older stuff on there), I mostly watch old TV shows (right now I'm reliving "M*A*S*H"), which I really enjoy and find it a great value. I _will_ pay more for no commercials if I have to, and if I can't, I'll consider dropping Netflix.

Re: It's just like Cable TV (Score: 2, Funny)

by tanuki64@pipedot.org on 2015-06-03 18:40 (#AC2T)

Hihi. when you said "M*A*S*H" I got curious... how long would it take for me to find it on a torrent site... Result: Less than a minute. All 11 seasons complete. Not that I would ever download something like that.... not my genre. ;-)

Re: It's just like Cable TV (Score: 2, Funny)

by zafiro17@pipedot.org on 2015-06-05 13:11 (#AG2Y)

Here's a classic infographic illustrating the difference between watching a legitimately paid for video, vs watching a pirated video. Hint: watching the illegal video is a hundred times easier because all the consumer-antagonistic stuff has been stripped out.

http://boingboing.net/2010/02/18/infographic-buying-d.html

Guess Netflix never saw it then, or were blinded by the glare of gold bullion glinting off their lawyers ...

Moderation

Time Reason Points Voter
2015-06-05 23:34 Funny +1 bryan@pipedot.org

Junk Status

Not marked as junk