6 ms·

>That’s especially true in the Middle East, Europe, and Africa, where BitTorrent now accounts for 32% of all upstream network traffic. One major reason for BitT

by idlern 8y ago

>That’s especially true in the Middle East, Europe, and Africa, where BitTorrent now accounts for 32% of all upstream network traffic. One major reason for BitTorrent’s rising popularity? Annoying exclusivity streaming deals. In my country you can't even watch Netflix exclusives on Netflix because they already sold the rights to local TVs. So you sign up for Netflix and it's a wasteland of 2nd tier movies and old series. Yeah Friends is cool but who cares about it in 2019. Segmentation is the biggest problem. But that's true for every digital store not just Netflix. I wish these stores were one unfied thing not US Netlix, German Netflix, UK Netflix etc. I know it comes down to copyright laws and such but the difference between the countries is soooo big. Feels like you are signing up for a 3rd tier service for the same amount of money

ataturk 8y ago
I setup a proxy and looked at Netflix through European eyes and then canceled my subscription in the US. What a bunch of frauds these people are.
wlesieutre 8y ago
From what I understand, "Netflix Original" means two different things: 1) Things that are actually Netflix's shows, like House of Cards 2) Things that Netflix bought exclusive distribution rights for in the US and markets as "Original" just like House of Cards, but actually had nothing to do with. So it's less that Netflix sold the rights to local TVs and more that they never had those rights to begin with.
- SketchySeaBeast 8y ago
  And that means that Netflix exclusives can go off the air due to poor TV viewership. Dirk Gently, you were gone too soon.
  - mcv 8y ago
    Is Dirk Gently gone from Netflix?! It's one of the best things there. I thought I still saw it listed recently. Maybe it's only gone from your region and not mine, in which case I recommend a VPN.
    - SketchySeaBeast 8y ago
      It's still there, but because the BBC didn't get a lot of traction with it in the UK they canceled further seasons.
      - mcv 8y ago
        I frankly was surprised to even see a season 2. Season 1 was brilliant, but it didn't seem possible to do a follow up that wouldn't be lame. I was wrong, but I'm still happy we got these two seasons. I imagine it's pretty hard to keep up this level of weirdness.
  - cannonedhamster 8y ago
    It's on Hulu.
- dagw 8y ago
  In some countries (I think Australia was one of them) Netflix did sell the distribution rights to House of Cards before they entered the market and then couldn't show House of Cards on Netflix once they did enter the market.
- mcv 8y ago
  In Netherland, The Expanse used to be a Netflix Original, while in the US it was on SyFy. But this "Netflix Original" appeared on Netflix half a year after it had aired on SyFy. And of course now that Amazon bought all rights to The Expanse from SyFy, this "Netflix Original" vanished from Dutch Netflix. "Netflix Original" clearly doesn't mean much. I think it'd be wiser for Netflix to reserve it for shows they actually own, so they can never disappear from Netflix.
- amyjess 8y ago
  Also 3) Joint productions like Lilyhammer where Netflix partnered with a foreign broadcaster to produce. So something like Lilyhammer that was a joint Netflix/NRK production means it's a Netflix Original in the US and aired on NRK1 in Norway, but it's actually produced by both companies.
- scott_s 8y ago
  I was extremely surprised to learn one of what I thought was Netflix's first original shows is not in fact owned by them: Orange is the New Black. According to this piece on Netflix's general problem (https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/1/7/18166911/netflix-friends-the-office-crisis https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/1/7/18166911/netflix-friend...), it is actually owned by Lionsgate, and I assume Netflix has an exclusive distribution deal.
- pintxo 8y ago
  In Germany "House of Cards" was shown first on Sky and only months later available on Netflix ...
repsilat 8y ago
> Segmentation is the biggest problem. But that's true for every digital store not just Netflix. The effect in TFA only really happens with fixed-cost, apl-you-can-eat offerings. (Amazon Prime is another.) It's why people groused for years about a la carte cable, but nobody cares about McDonald's not serving Pizza Hut.
- SmellyGeekBoy 8y ago
  Amazon Prime isn't fixed cost though - anything remotely worth watching on there costs extra. I'm not paying £7.99 on top of my existing subscription just to watch a 30-year-old movie I've already seen 15 times.
  - mcv 8y ago
    I recently tried a free month trial on Amazon Prime because it looked like they had Good Omens. They only had the trailer and very little else. There's a cute kids' show that my youngest son loves, but I don't think we're going to extend this trial.
  - repsilat 8y ago
    > anything remotely worth watching on there costs extra. Sorry, I just meant to refer to Prime free shipping. That was super ambiguous of me.
  - sliken 8y ago
    Agreed, the selection is pretty terrible. Seems to be where terrible movies go to die. I had a pretty high opinion of HBO from decades ago, tons of premium movies etc. I got a few months free from comcast and was surprised how little content there was.
P_I_Staker 8y ago
This has been a problem for a long time with media. For some time, we've been perfectly capable of delivering globally. They don't want to do this, because the money gets made through a calculated release process. They want to maximize revenue on this extremely expensive asset, and there are strategic / logistical concerns. On side note, I think there's a bit of a "look at this awesome thing you can't have" aspect to IP and content; this can be very frustrating, and has been one of the main reasons people turned to piracy (mostly people are just jerks though). There's actually some very understandable reasons why you'd want, or even need to carefully release in each region; however in other cases the attitude seems to be "we haven't figured out how to monetize this, so I guess no one gets it", "we'll need you to buy that again", or "you can't have this, because we want you to buy something else"
- pdimitar 8y ago
  > There's actually some very understandable reasons why you'd want, or even need to carefully release in each region Please, do tell.
  - P_I_Staker 8y ago
    I'd be happy to! Lots of strategic, logistical, and legal stuff. The obvious thing is that I can't release a movie if it's gonna get banned. So you may need to make tweaks or campaign for a different rating / classification. It helps to be proactive and get ahead of these things. Cultures are different and you need to account for that. Then there's marketing. You need only look at examples like Blair Witch, or "Blumhouse Films" (eg. Paranormal Activity, The Purge), to see what marketing and word of mouth can do for a movie. Of course you'd like to see a bit of that magic (this explains why so many movies are marketed as "reality" / found footage), but in any case, you want to optimize the hype and buzz around a movie. This is a whole skillset, that may differ by culture, and can make or break a film. We're talking about millions of dollars here. Now none of those things interest me personally. I don't "like them". I definitely don't like restrictions by region. However saying: "they have it in their country, why don't I have it yet?" is a bit like saying "they've made a final cut of the film, why can't I watch it yet?". They have this incredibly expensive asset that they're trying to maximize revenue on.
panarky 8y ago
> So you sign up for Netflix and it's a wasteland of 2nd tier movies and old series Same thing in my country (United States).
qbaqbaqba 8y ago
I believe the EU is about to forbid geo-blocking.

by idlern 8y ago

ataturk 8y ago

I setup a proxy and looked at Netflix through European eyes and then canceled my subscription in the US. What a bunch of frauds these people are.

wlesieutre 8y ago

From what I understand, "Netflix Original" means two different things: 1) Things that are actually Netflix's shows, like House of Cards 2) Things that Netflix bought exclusive distribution rights for in the US and markets as "Original" just like House of Cards, but actually had nothing to do with. So it's less that Netflix sold the rights to local TVs and more that they never had those rights to begin with.

SketchySeaBeast 8y ago
And that means that Netflix exclusives can go off the air due to poor TV viewership. Dirk Gently, you were gone too soon.
- mcv 8y ago
  Is Dirk Gently gone from Netflix?! It's one of the best things there. I thought I still saw it listed recently. Maybe it's only gone from your region and not mine, in which case I recommend a VPN.
  - SketchySeaBeast 8y ago
    It's still there, but because the BBC didn't get a lot of traction with it in the UK they canceled further seasons.
    - mcv 8y ago
      I frankly was surprised to even see a season 2. Season 1 was brilliant, but it didn't seem possible to do a follow up that wouldn't be lame. I was wrong, but I'm still happy we got these two seasons. I imagine it's pretty hard to keep up this level of weirdness.
- cannonedhamster 8y ago
  It's on Hulu.
dagw 8y ago
In some countries (I think Australia was one of them) Netflix did sell the distribution rights to House of Cards before they entered the market and then couldn't show House of Cards on Netflix once they did enter the market.
mcv 8y ago
In Netherland, The Expanse used to be a Netflix Original, while in the US it was on SyFy. But this "Netflix Original" appeared on Netflix half a year after it had aired on SyFy. And of course now that Amazon bought all rights to The Expanse from SyFy, this "Netflix Original" vanished from Dutch Netflix. "Netflix Original" clearly doesn't mean much. I think it'd be wiser for Netflix to reserve it for shows they actually own, so they can never disappear from Netflix.
amyjess 8y ago
Also 3) Joint productions like Lilyhammer where Netflix partnered with a foreign broadcaster to produce. So something like Lilyhammer that was a joint Netflix/NRK production means it's a Netflix Original in the US and aired on NRK1 in Norway, but it's actually produced by both companies.
scott_s 8y ago
I was extremely surprised to learn one of what I thought was Netflix's first original shows is not in fact owned by them: Orange is the New Black. According to this piece on Netflix's general problem (https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/1/7/18166911/netflix-friends-the-office-crisis https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/1/7/18166911/netflix-friend...), it is actually owned by Lionsgate, and I assume Netflix has an exclusive distribution deal.
pintxo 8y ago
In Germany "House of Cards" was shown first on Sky and only months later available on Netflix ...

repsilat 8y ago

> Segmentation is the biggest problem. But that's true for every digital store not just Netflix. The effect in TFA only really happens with fixed-cost, apl-you-can-eat offerings. (Amazon Prime is another.) It's why people groused for years about a la carte cable, but nobody cares about McDonald's not serving Pizza Hut.

SmellyGeekBoy 8y ago
Amazon Prime isn't fixed cost though - anything remotely worth watching on there costs extra. I'm not paying £7.99 on top of my existing subscription just to watch a 30-year-old movie I've already seen 15 times.
- mcv 8y ago
  I recently tried a free month trial on Amazon Prime because it looked like they had Good Omens. They only had the trailer and very little else. There's a cute kids' show that my youngest son loves, but I don't think we're going to extend this trial.
- repsilat 8y ago
  > anything remotely worth watching on there costs extra. Sorry, I just meant to refer to Prime free shipping. That was super ambiguous of me.
- sliken 8y ago
  Agreed, the selection is pretty terrible. Seems to be where terrible movies go to die. I had a pretty high opinion of HBO from decades ago, tons of premium movies etc. I got a few months free from comcast and was surprised how little content there was.

P_I_Staker 8y ago

This has been a problem for a long time with media. For some time, we've been perfectly capable of delivering globally. They don't want to do this, because the money gets made through a calculated release process. They want to maximize revenue on this extremely expensive asset, and there are strategic / logistical concerns. On side note, I think there's a bit of a "look at this awesome thing you can't have" aspect to IP and content; this can be very frustrating, and has been one of the main reasons people turned to piracy (mostly people are just jerks though). There's actually some very understandable reasons why you'd want, or even need to carefully release in each region; however in other cases the attitude seems to be "we haven't figured out how to monetize this, so I guess no one gets it", "we'll need you to buy that again", or "you can't have this, because we want you to buy something else"

pdimitar 8y ago
> There's actually some very understandable reasons why you'd want, or even need to carefully release in each region Please, do tell.
- P_I_Staker 8y ago
  I'd be happy to! Lots of strategic, logistical, and legal stuff. The obvious thing is that I can't release a movie if it's gonna get banned. So you may need to make tweaks or campaign for a different rating / classification. It helps to be proactive and get ahead of these things. Cultures are different and you need to account for that. Then there's marketing. You need only look at examples like Blair Witch, or "Blumhouse Films" (eg. Paranormal Activity, The Purge), to see what marketing and word of mouth can do for a movie. Of course you'd like to see a bit of that magic (this explains why so many movies are marketed as "reality" / found footage), but in any case, you want to optimize the hype and buzz around a movie. This is a whole skillset, that may differ by culture, and can make or break a film. We're talking about millions of dollars here. Now none of those things interest me personally. I don't "like them". I definitely don't like restrictions by region. However saying: "they have it in their country, why don't I have it yet?" is a bit like saying "they've made a final cut of the film, why can't I watch it yet?". They have this incredibly expensive asset that they're trying to maximize revenue on.

panarky 8y ago

> So you sign up for Netflix and it's a wasteland of 2nd tier movies and old series Same thing in my country (United States).

qbaqbaqba 8y ago

I believe the EU is about to forbid geo-blocking.