Quote:
Originally Posted by harry_hitch
BIB. Yup, but to be fair to OB has been banging his drum about tv in 10/20 years time. All of them will probably be advertising by then. As has been reported, Netflix are putting their prices up again and next year my bill will probably rise from £5.99/£6.99 (I can't remember the price I pay - I think its £5.99) to £7.99 next year when they probably put prices up again - I don't know if that package will even include HD. I will not pay much more for Netflix if this continues each year. I can rent the DVD's from lovefilm by post if I am desperate to watch any of their shows/films in future. Yeah, I have to wait a bit longer to see them but I am patient enough for that.
There is no way they will not be advertising in 10/20 years time. If, somehow, they choose not to advertise I imagine they will have to flog the rights of some shows to linear TV channels.
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I agree that they might take some advertising, but not in a way that prevents you from starting to watch your show. However, one ad just before the show would just about be acceptable, I think.
However, Netflix have said they are not going to do it, and although they may change their minds over time, I don't think anyone should assume that it is inevitable.
As far as prices are concerned, yes, I think there is a limit on how far they should increase their charges. £5.99 per month is pretty reasonable, but the amount by which they are going up now is a bit alarming.
To avoid losing subscribers, I think they should leave the base subscription where it is and have more expensive packages that enable you to see additional material. I think that would work.
The difference between Netflix US and Netflix UK is massive and I can understand why charges need to go up if we are to get a similar service.
---------- Post added at 09:53 ---------- Previous post was at 09:46 ----------
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris
As with so many arguments advanced in this thread, you start with the assumption that someone could change something about the (usually entirely successful) way they do things in order to accommodate a limitation of VOD.
It's pointless. People and corporations do things the way they do because they work.
I wasn't looking at any statement. Statements are irrelevant - no company can absolutely rule out a revenue stream forever, especially not a revenue stream that is the ordinary, uncontroversial means by which most TV stations fund themselves.
Sooner or later, they will run adverts. That's a fact. The only thing stopping them doing so now is that as a marketplace for ad agencies, they are small beer indeed, and it is worth their while to make a virtue out of a necessity.
No pledge to remain ad-free is sustainable. Eventually it will become too tempting as a revenue stream and they will adopt it. Continuing to run without adverts will eventually make their subscription rates uncompetitive.
As for whether that makes them more or less attractive to viewers - who cares? It's irrelevant. Linear TV will not come to an end based on the success of any non-linear subscription service. Linear TV will not come to an end at any point in the next 30 years at least, and probably much longer than that, because it does a lot of things that non-linear TV, by its very nature, is incapable of doing.
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It's not a fact, Chris, it's your opinion. Are you really saying that the subscription model cannot generate a decent profit?
Whilst I concede that if streaming services become flooded with ads interrupting programmes, linear channels would probably continue much as they are now, my premise is that this will not happen.
Your view seems to be that advertisements on streaming services are inevitable, even though Netflix has ruled that out.
My view is that Netflix should be taken seriously in terms of what it is saying and we should not be cynically implying that they are lying. That being the case, and assuming that other streaming services think the same, linear channels need to come up with some good plans to survive against the competition in the future.