
Become an Expert in This Before Netflix Unbundles - aaronbrethorst
http://rafer.net/post/138323466431/become-an-expert-in-this-before-netflix-unbundles
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pedalpete
I'm not sure I get the title, or maybe it's the content that I'm missing.

What I understand is the author (possibly the poster too) is saying that
Netflix will start charging a premium in the future on the media assets it is
buying now.

I'm no media expert but I'd suggest this is wrong (sure they may increase
prices but I doubt out of a reasonable scope) because 1) there is ALWAYS
competition for entertainment, meaning there is a ceiling in how much they can
charge. 2) Piracy is too easy, meaning what they are really competing with is
free. I think any price gouging in entertainment is likely to run up against
this issue.

If netflix is the only place I can watch House of Cards, and it costs $50, I
either won't watch it (do I really care that much?) or somebody else who got
it will pirate it. But why would somebody pirate it when they paid $50?
Simple, if I paid for it, and I thought I over-paid, you are my friend and you
didn't pay for it because you thought it was too much, maybe I give you a copy
because I'm a good friend. Of course, you know so much more of the world would
want to enjoy it, but don't want to pay, so you make it available to more
people.

The price of netflix may be artificially low right now, but is it 30% low, or
200% low? I'd suggest 30% and I suspect we'll see marginal increases in
subscription fees over the next few years.

