Quote:
Originally Posted by harry_hitch
Maybe they will be. Consider the amount of services and the prices though OB. There can not be that much content we can not get over here currently. If you exclude Netflix and Amazon from that list, the cost for the few American services not on that website, right now is $59.96, and I doubt that includes the HD streaming service. Imagine the cost in 20 years!! That must be roughly £40.00 over here. A lot of people know how much more we pay than the Americans for a number of products or services (Itunes songs, considerably less Netflix content compared to prices paid in the States and last I checked WWE network worked out more expensive over here too, this names just a few of the rip offs) so I can not imagine we will be offered a better price for these services either.
If people want the same content they currently get on Sky VM etc (and I can't see why they won't) I simply can not see why they would pay considerably more for much the same content - even if it does ever get to the stage where everyone in the country (and all the various Islands around the UK) can watch what they want when they want it.
Also, lets say by some miracle we get all of these services they won't all be on one box (everyone will have a box to sell and TV companies will sign exclusive deals), imagine how much more of a faff it will be to change from one streaming service to the next.
Would you be happy to a minimum of £40 (based on my loose calculations of the American prices from the link you posted) to get much the same content you can currently get via Now TV for the price you currently pay?
Not everything that happens in the states happens over here. For a start, netflix don't offer dvd rental. Their love and propensity for guns is mind boggling, the law system is terrible, corrupt and much more racist than ours, supersize fast food ranges failed over here, their beef is not allowed over here, in fact most of their food industry is, effectively, controlled in parliament by former big wigs of big companies (check out a film called food inc) who ensure their old companies get the best deals, the health system is terrible (even though the Tories are systematically trying to kill the NHS) and let's not forget the chocolate is generally horrible out there too. 
Just because things happen in the States, it does not automatically mean it will happen over here - even if logic does dictate that way. |
Wow, you've covered quite a bit in that post, Harry!
First of all, let me agree with your last two paragraphs and I will say that I agree with all that, except the bit about the NHS! (Under Labour, we saw the scandal of Mid Staffs with people drinking out of vases because they were so desperate for water, and the spectacle of Andy Burnham trying to cover it up rather than address it, increased privatisation through PFIs which were bad value for money etc). Compare that with increased investment for the NHS under the Tories and their striving to give the public a better 7 day per week service. I find your perspective on all this, and more relevantly, your pessimism over the advance of streaming services difficult to comprehend.
Back to your first paragraph, and more on topic, I think the jury is out on whether streaming services will be more expensive than existing broadcast services. I envisage that there will be for many more decades to come a BBC/ITV/Channel 4/Channel 5 presence, but access will be via their individual i-players or combined streaming site. The BBC will continue to provide a 'free' service as long as the licence fee survives, and the other channels are likely to provide a choice between a free uninterruptable advertisement ridden offer, or an advert free subscriber based service. Many viewers (myself included) will not watch any platform that forces you to watch commercials and so a subscriber option would be necessary if profits are to be maximised and the whole venture does not go under.
What the other streaming service companies will do is a matter for conjecture. As you know, Netflix have pledged never to have commercials on their site (although you don't believe them) and Amazon don't feature commercials either. Even Now TV doesn't have adverts on their streaming services (except of course on the smaller live TV part of their offering).
The price of Netflix is increasing for new subscribers, but where these price increases will end is anyone's guess. While there is healthy competition between the various providers, maybe the prices will remain fairly reasonable.
Although people like me will probably go for as many of these streaming services as is sensible, those of more modest means might well pimp around a bit, sticking with one service for a while and then changing for another service, benefitting by access to maximum content across a multitude of platforms at minimum cost.
You mention Sky, but you know, there's not an awful lot on their channels (apart from the premium sport and films channels) that is worth watching anymore. This week, Sky 1, for example, is showing the following programmes that I would watch:
Chris Ryan's Strike Back (already seen it)
Pride and Glory (film)
Stan Lee's Lucky Man
And that's it! Pretty bad for a pay TV channel, don't you think?
For me, streaming services are always going to provide better quality choices from a much wider list of programmes than pay TV (excluding premium channels) currently provides.
You certainly have a point about the fact that you currently need different boxes for different services, which is why I keep saying that our new Tivo boxes need to address this problem. Virgin need to embrace all these various streaming services on their box to set them apart from the rest. People would be quick to realise the convenience this gives them.
Currently, I access my streaming services from Tivo, my smart Sony TV and my Roku streaming stick. I am extremely pleased with the variety of quality programmes that I can now access by that means, plus the recordings I take from broadcast channels.