
Ways Streaming Services Are Getting Worse - nkurz
http://www.cracked.com/blog/12-ways-streaming-services-are-getting-worse/
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jetrink
It is shocking to me how few old movies are available on Netflix. Here is a
complete list of English language movies from the 1960s on Netflix right now:

* Color Me Barbara

* My Name is Barbara

* Barbara Streisand: A Happening in Central Park

It does not seem that unusual to me to want to watch a movie starring Audrey
Hepburn, Clint Eastwood or Elizabeth Taylor. The presence of even a dozen of
the better movies from that decade would increase the value of Netflix to me
and, I suspect, many others. What is going on?

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dragonwriter
> What is going on?

The copyright owners of movies with know stars from the 1960s have their own
platforms and aren't licensing the movies to Netflix.

Hence, why Netflix has for years been making a huge original-contenr push;
once it proved out streaming as a business model with other people's content,
getting (or keeping) such content became more difficult.

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andy_ppp
I keep thinking why on earth the Hollywood system doesn’t realise the shear
tonnes of cash there is out there for the following; DRM free downloads of HD
movies for $2, 4K for $3-4. No-one would bother pirating and I’d probably
spend a fortune over the next few years to legally have copies of this stuff.
My bet is that most people would pay and do it legally because it’s far
simpler this way.

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Mindwipe
Because this market doesn't exist to any statistically measurable amount.

Just because you want it to doesn't mean it does.

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andy_ppp
Well until it's tried I guess we'll never know... worth noting the DVD market
is still pretty big. No reason it wouldn't be several times bigger with a
simple online version.

Pirates going to pirate so it will literally make no difference providing
people with a legal alternative that is easy and simple to use.

~~~
Mindwipe
> Well until it's tried I guess we'll never know...

It has been. The BBC tried selling Doctor Who via Bittorrent for example, with
signficant publicity.

The DVD market is big because it's cheap and no other reason.

People already have an abundant legal alternatives that are widely available
and simple to use.

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andy_ppp
It’s currently £20 to buy an arbitrary superhero movie on Amazon Prime in 4K.
I mean, it’s up to you if you want to believe selling Dr Who or selling all
movies ever are the same thing...

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BonesJustice
And let’s not forget one of my “favorites”: ads before the content. Sure, for
now it’s mostly just promos for their other shows, and it’s generally
skippable, but that’s how it starts. They ease you into it, like boiling a
frog.

HBO and AMC, I’m looking at you. You have, like, two or three shows worth
watching at any given time of the year. I don’t need to be reminded about them
_every damn time_ I watch an episode.

And, FYI, when I’m binging some dark-ass drama series, nothing kills the
feeling of immersion like a loud-ass promo for some upbeat sitcom between
episodes.

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leetbulb
Glad I've never dealt with any of that. Plex is great and my family loves it.

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hsk0823
That's great, where did your content for your Plex server originally come
from?

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Skunkleton
The most likely place HE got the content for his Plex server Is fRom legAlly
archived dvds. ThE process for this is not so BAd, You should try it.

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Cypher
back to torrenting we go...

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TeMPOraL
Totally. The situation is absolutely ridiculous.

It was all fun when Netflix, Hulu & HBO were the only names in town. Now that
they're constantly removing good movies, and adding cookie-cutter "original
content", I'm actually considering cancelling my subscriptions. Trying to keep
up without subscribing to everyone starts to feel more like buying individual
movies, and half of the things I want to watch is geo-locked anyway.
Meanwhile, random shady free streaming services are becoming more usable,
especially for caching up with shows older than 5 years. All it takes is
updating uBlock and killing an occasional cryptominer.

I'm strongly convinced torrenting will experience a resurgence of interest
now.

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onemoresoop
Oh no, Filmstruck[0] shut down??

I guess we're going to find those old harddrives and swap them around.

[0] [https://variety.com/2018/digital/news/filmstruck-shutdown-
wa...](https://variety.com/2018/digital/news/filmstruck-shutdown-warnermedia-
turner-1202998364/)

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Roboprog
Online TV was so cool back around 2010. Balkanization:-(

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foxfired
That 16TB hard drive announced a few days ago is gonna fix that for me. I hear
there is a 100TB in the works too.

To old really relentless extremely nice technology!

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Reedx
> There Are Way Too Many Platforms

What's the goldilocks number of platforms?

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TeMPOraL
I'd say two, maybe three. Beyond that, one wishes for a meta-platform
integrating this all together.

(The same applies to IMs and groupchats. Personally, I can't reliably follow
more than 3-4 channels, e-mail included.)

~~~
BonesJustice
Also, all the legacy content creators are clinging to their old production
models and airing shows one episode at a time. Just sign up for one month a
year, binge, and cancel. Or do it twice a year.

