Netflix’s Move Onto the Web Stirs Rivalries (Dinosaur Media DeathWatch™)

The New York Times ^ | November 24, 2010 | Tim Arango and David Carr

[abb]

In a matter of months, the movie delivery company Netflix has gone from being the fastest-growing first-class mail customer of the United States Postal Service to the biggest source of streaming Web traffic in North America during peak evening hours.

That transformation — from a mail-order business to a technology company — is revolutionizing the way millions of people watch television, but it’s also proving to be a big headache for TV providers and movie studios, which increasingly see Netflix as a competitive threat, even as they sell Netflix their content.

The dilemma for Hollywood was neatly spelled out in a Netflix announcement Monday of a new subscription service: $7.99 a month for unlimited downloads of movies and television shows, compared with $19.99 a month for a plan that allows the subscriber to have three discs out at a time, sent through the mail, plus unlimited downloads. For studios that a few years ago were selling new DVDs for $30, that represents a huge drop in profits.

“Right now, Netflix is a distribution platform, and has very little competition, but that’s changing,” said Warren N. Lieberfarb, a consultant who played a critical role in creating the DVD while at Warner Brothers.

For the first time, the company will spend more over the holidays to stream movies than to ship DVDs in its familiar red envelopes (although it is still spending more than half a billion dollars on postage this year). And that shift coincides with an ominous development for cable companies, which long controlled home entertainment: for the first time in their history, cable television subscriptions fell in the United States in the last two quarters — a trend some attribute to the rise of Netflix, which allows consumers to bypass their cable box to stream movies and shows.

snip

[upchuck]

I’m stuck out here in the country on a 56K dialup line. Tried satellite; didn’t like the delay.

I’d kill for DSL.

What is 3G :-)

[listenhillary]

How is your cell phone access out there?

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-3g-internet.htm

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

There is no motivation for the ISPs to play along. As far as they are concerned, their best customers just surf the web on low bandwidth sites. Some even systematically eliminate customers that regularly use high intensity apps for P2P or even USENET.

Most are even getting out of USENET entirely, and throttling whenever and wherever they can. There will be no charity to Netflix, here.

[UCANSEE2]

...or the 1000s of miles of dark fiber across the country will be lit up to take the strain off the infrastructure,

Not without charging 'us' for it.

[Wonder Warthog]

"Allowing off hours downloading of movies should be a discounted service. Let those who need it now pay full price. It would make sense and maybe reduce the load."

Yup. Same idea as the original VCR...."download" the TV/movie show to watch when you want to.

[abb]

See page 40.

http://books.google.com/books?id=KO30kMoLKKkC&printsec=frontcover&dq=paul+starr+the+creation+of+the+media&source=bl&ots=yQqXUTYaol&sig=58DoBz4obxN06ijWkJ9V3RrmaBw&hl=en&ei=EALvTI_WKcOqlAfNoq2iDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CDQQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q&f=false

The creation of the media: political origins of modern communications
By Paul Starr

[upchuck]

How is your cell phone access out there?

I know where you're going. That's why I posted, "What is 3G?" as a joke.

I got all excited about a 3G wireless gadget offered by Sprint. According to their coverage map, reception here should be quite good. I think their map lies. I bought the gadget and could not get it to connect.

When I called Sprint, they suggested I spend another $50 on a cell phone antenna. But, of course, would not guarantee that would fix the problem. I returned the gadget.

Now it appears a company named Open Range my install Wi-Max around here. That would be cool.

[JouleZ]

Netflix’s streaming competition is primarily Hulu,

**********************

I love Hulu BUT I pay the top price for Netflix. Get 3 DVD’s weekly but cannot stream anything without interruption.

I have called Netflix about this and had two differant answers. Neither were good. My provider is also confused.

[spodefly]

If you don’t have cable, how do you watch Hulu?

I have DSL and watch Hulu and Netflix through their web interfaces.

[_Jim]

YOUTUBE will become a ‘paid-member’ only website soon.

Just wanted to lock this in for future reference ...

[_Jim]

Re: EMP

There will be lots of problems will electronics of all description

Bzzzt! Not so much as 'the press' would have you believe ...

[LowOiL]

Fot those of you that have it, I'd recommend watching The Art Of The Steal. The true story of a multi-billion dollar art heist and how they got away with it.

Hey great movie, thanks for the suggestion.

[abb]

I ran across this paper while looking for some history on the early post office in England. It gives some information on how “government news and information” became free.

http://74.125.155.132/scholar?q=cache:qe9ySiEl3aAJ:scholar.google.com/&hl=en&as_sdt=8000000

POSTAL CENSORSHIP IN ENGLAND 1635-1844
BY SUSAN E. WHYMAN

[TomGuy]

cannot stream anything without interruption

It could be your router. When I first tried to set up the Roku box, it would not recognize/connect with my older Belkin router. I bought a new Linksys router, and after I got it up and running on my main pc, Roku connected without a hitch.

I seldom have rebuffering or stalls. When I do, they are usually either the Netflix stream or the cable company screwing with the connections. I have the 12-15 Mbps highspeed Internet.

[abb]

You had asked about intellectual property rights. Here is some discussion on how that concept came to be. See pages 25-30 of this book.

http://books.google.com/books?id=KO30kMoLKKkC&printsec=frontcover&dq=the+creation+of+the+media&source=bl&ots=yQqXVWYgtg&sig=uCagFSe8ESPeIG_-UDxVtCuIfQI&hl=en&ei=ZQDxTObUJ4aKlwfU1dCKDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CCQQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false

The creation of the media: political origins of modern communications - By Paul Starr

This author would seem to argue that ‘copyright’ was created as something that served the interest of the state (control of the flow of information) and also served the purpose of a guild (Stationers).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worshipful_Company_of_Stationers_and_Newspaper_Makers
Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright
Copyright