
Netflix Loses Toy Story 3, Tron and 1,000 More Movies - ssclafani
http://mashable.com/2012/03/01/netflix-starz-goodbye/
======
JunkDNA
Ever since my daughter was born two years ago I basically stopped watching
movies and only watch a small amount of TV. This has made me realize that the
products being put out by Hollywood are inconvenient and not a good value for
the money. The few times I've sat down to rent something I did want to see, I
found it wasn't available on onDemand, iTunes, etc... Instead of watching a
movie, my wife and I end up goofing around on Facebook or something. I have
plenty of entertainment options. Making it hard to see a movie just means I
will do something else. I suspect I'm not alone in this regard.

~~~
kellishaver
Boardgames have replaced movies and TV in our house. There are some great
games out there. Good ones can run anywhere from $20-80 (though usually around
$40-50) but the value for your money is far greater. We get some quality time
together as a family and the kid gets some strategic and problem-solving
skills.

Of course... they take up a lot more space. :)

~~~
officemonkey
Try Bananagrams. Takes up as much space as a pair of socks.

~~~
kellishaver
We have it, along with many others. Our newest addition is Cutthroat Caverns,
which we played tonight, for the first time. If you like tile-based word
games, we picked up Lexigo a while back and it's pretty fun.

~~~
plasmatichaze
Race for the Galaxy! It's so much fun, though I found the rules to be
difficult to understand at first. [http://www.amazon.com/Rio-Grande-Games-
RGG301-Galaxy/dp/B000...](http://www.amazon.com/Rio-Grande-Games-
RGG301-Galaxy/dp/B000YLAOEW)

~~~
kellishaver
Got that, too! :D Here.... let me just make a list of what's in the cabinet:
<http://pastie.org/3502486> There's not anything there that we don't like, but
I'd say family favorites would be Qwirkle, Ticket to Ride, Robo Rally,
Carcassonne, and Pandemic. Caverns was a lot of fun and may make the favorites
list, too, but that could just be the newness... too soon to tell. :)

Our daughter's almost 10, and with the exception of Twilight Imperium (this
game is massive, especially when you add both expansions) plays them all with
us. In addition to spending more time together as a family, I'd say it's
helped a with her math, reading, and critical thinking.

~~~
officemonkey
Cosmic Encounter is a space game that has _lots_ of optional rules. The basic
game is pretty easy to learn but it can get very deep.

My son's almost four and I can't wait for him to want to play all these games.

------
mrb
> “This decision is a result of our strategy to protect the premium nature of
> our brand by preserving the appropriate pricing and packaging of our
> exclusive and highly valuable content,” Starz said last September.

And the movie industry wonders how to fight piracy... well for one, don't kill
a legitimate and convenient way for _paying_ customers to access your movies!
"Protecting your brand" you say? You are putting yourself out of business...

~~~
forrestthewoods
It's perfectly reasonable if that legitimate and convenient method isn't a
sustainable business model. Tragically $10 a month for every movie and TV show
ever isn't viable. It is in Starz' interest to focus on acquiring expensive
premium cable subscriptions rather than collecting a small portion of the
Netflix $10 monthly subscription.

~~~
derleth
> Tragically $10 a month for every movie and TV show ever isn't viable.

Why not?

Further, can you explain that in terms an avid Netflix customer can
understand?

~~~
res0nat0r
Why do you think 10$ for all you can eat movie watching via Netflix is
sustainable, when new releases at the theater cost $7-12 PER movie?
Unfortunately the industry set the price this low and now it is expected to be
that cheap. Since the price is going to inevitably go up, or Netflix will just
lose more content, the public is going to have to deal with the increase, or
the people who don't want to pony up will just have to cancel their service.

~~~
a_a_r_o_n
A movie at the theater and a movie in your living room are two different
products.

~~~
MatthewPhillips
A true comparison isn't really possible. The closest would be a premium movie
channel; HBO, Showtime, Starz. Those cost more than Netflix and have a much
smaller selection of titles.

------
crikli
I'm a very heavy Netflix user. Some people listen to music while they code, I
watch movies/series. I don't care that Starz has removed their content and I'm
not going to chase it down. They've overplayed their hand and it's going to
bite them.

~~~
gcv
Curious. How do you manage to pay attention both to a video and to your code
at the same time?

~~~
crikli
Well...this will sound mildly insane but if i don't have something going it's
like there's a bored 5 year old in my head that wants to distract me from
coding. Of course there are segments of the video I miss but I follow the
dialogue. It's how I watched most of Lost, for example.

~~~
VMG
Be careful, it might not be good for you:
<http://www.health.com/health/article/0,,20505051,00.html>

------
wam
Stories like this make the Netflix Prize seem ancient. You can build a better
mousetrap and then spend a lot of time adjusting the springs, but keep an eye
on your cheese supply.

------
staunch
Netflix just needs to raise their damn prices -- or offer a higher tier. Many
of us were used to paying $30-$80 for our cable TV packages and another
$20-$30/mo for Blockbuster. It's been about 7 years since I paid those, but
now I'm only paying $8/mo for TV/movie entertainment in total.

I'd be more than happy to pay $18/mo if it meant I had 2-3x more content.

Netflix: $8/mo, Netflix Plus: $18/mo, and even Netflix Premium: $28/mo.

That they haven't done this is kind of dumbfounding.

~~~
serge2k
I would cancel my subscription just on principle if they started doing that
crap.

I would be willing to just pay more. But tiered content is trash.

~~~
krschultz
That's absurd. Back when Netflix was primarily competing with Blockbuster, you
would say something like 'Well, if I rent 2 or 3 movies at Blockbuster a
month, I'll come out ahead using Netflix'. That's the world that Netflix
prices came from.

Now Netflix has grown into something so great that it can replace not only
your DVD rentals at Blockbuster, but also your Cable subscription, and for a
lot of us, the thought of even buying movies. Suddenly they have gobbled up
what used to be $100 worth of money going from my pocket to the industry.

And people cry foul when Netflix raised their prices $5. Get over it.

------
sehugg
The main impression I have surrounding the "premium nature of their brand" is
when I go to a Residence Inn and enjoy free movies.

------
fabricode
For those that purport to track piracy, this will be an interesting case
study. Perhaps if they can see (again) the inverse relationship of easy, non-
free availability to downloads of free copies, maybe they'll finally begin to
adjust their business model. I doubt it, but one can hope.

------
MtotheThird
Yeah, I can't really remember the last time I watched a Starz movie on
Netflix. It's been nothing but TV series for me for at least a year now.
Occasionally I'll watch a movie that shows up in new releases, but they've
been signing a ton of premium shows lately, far more than I can watch.

I think it's a perfectly viable strategy for them to focus on series - more
content per deal and a perfect match for a long-tail streaming strategy.

------
darrenkopp
It's ok, they weren't in HD, so I would never watch them. No point in having
movies that clearly have HD versions in standard definition.

~~~
rhizome
"Streaming HD" is usually a marketing pipedream.

~~~
adorton
Netflix's "HD" streaming content looks great. I don't know if it's "real" HD
or not, but it's better quality than their non-HD stuff.

~~~
rhizome
I know tons of people for whom "I don't own a TV" means "I watch everything on
my laptop/computer" rather than "I am opposed to the mass media." So, how well
does it work over wifi?

------
lukasb
Good luck getting people to pay for plastic discs in boxes.

~~~
dangrossman
Plastic disc in box sales this week: $74M

<http://www.the-numbers.com/dvd/charts/weekly/thisweek.php>

<http://www.the-numbers.com/weekly-bluray-sales-chart>

------
ary
People forget why Universal Studios was originally founded. The monopoly
envisioned by Edison and company (slowly) gave way to a cartel that arose out
of opposition to the incumbent surrounded by a desire to capitalize on
untapped opportunity. See this Ars Technica article:

[http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/09/thomas-
ediso...](http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/09/thomas-edisons-plot-
to-destroy-the-movies.ars)

Far from being a hinderance, the actions of the MPAA and its member studios
are an opportunity for smaller, more agile companies to start producing
content and refusing to license it to the incumbents. There is a whole new
world of distribution out there, and no forced middle-man. Get out there and
make it happen.

------
nl
Hollywood continues to punish consumers, and then complain about piracy.

It is time for statutory streaming licences.

------
leeoniya
this will lead to 10x more piracy than Starz premium subscribers.

the flexibility of internet distribution has shown publishers and content
creators that consumers will not stand for being sold a bill of goods - not as
16-track albums, nor packaged cable channels.

------
mickt
I'd never heard of Premium cable network Starz until I read that article, and
I guess now I'll never see any of their content.

I do have Netflix and I don't have cable. I don't understand why people pay so
much money to watch TV?

------
InclinedPlane
This is the biggest problem with Netflix, the value of Netflix is the value of
its library. If it's not constant then it's a lot harder to justify a
consistent monthly payment.

------
wavephorm
This sounds like a delusional way of saying "We'll wait until we can replicate
the premium cable channel model over the Internet". They clearly don't
understand that the concept of a "channel" is what's being disrupted.

------
jQueryIsAwesome
Hollywood is never going to learn; i think Netflix should get themselves in
the content creation business by making alliances with indie movie makers.

~~~
Tichy
article says they are about to launch a tv show

