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And we are one step closer to being back to cabel and likely a swing back toward pirating shows instead of working out what combo of 12.99 subscriptions are nee
by totalperspectiv 7y ago
And we are one step closer to being back to cabel and likely a swing back toward pirating shows instead of working out what combo of 12.99 subscriptions are needed to watch some subset of shows and movies.
I would honestly just like blockbuster back.
- jaredklewis 7y agoI found the selection of digitally rentable movies on iTunes and Amazon (not the streaming services, the pay per rental one’s) to be pretty good. If you are willing to pay to rent (ie the blockbuster model), I think either has a much larger and better selection than blockbusters ever had.
- adrianN 7y agoBlockbuster used to cost a Euro per day. 1.50 for new releases. Renting something from Amazon costs 3.99, about as much as buying a used DVD. I don't think that's a fair price.
- darrenkopp 7y agoMaybe that is what rentals at Blockbuster cost at the end of their run (or before they were super popular). I used to go to a wonderful local movie store for $0.99 - $1.99 rentals because blockbuster was $3.99+ a rental. Granted, that was for 5 days, but Blockbuster was definitely pricey in it's prime. Disclaimer: pricing is just based on one suburban area in the United States.
- ethbro 7y agoMy childhood video store had a 5 movies for $5 for 5 days deal. But that's easier with a back-catalog oriented clientele.
- adventured 7y agoOr often worse than $3.99 on new releases. Alita: Battle Angel is $5.99 to rent in HD right now on Amazon. Redbox is charging $2.12 for all Blu-ray releases on disc, including Alita. Their streaming version is also $5.99 in HD. Hard to imagine running those kiosks 24/7, maintaining them and stocking them is cheaper than serving up a stream version. They're no doubt charging $5.99 because they're confident that they can command it based on convenience (laziness factor). $3-$3.50 for a new release in HD is around the edge of reasonable in my opinion; and $1 to $2 for everything else.
- lallysingh 7y agoDon't the kiosks charge late fees? Isn't that where the money was in the rental business?
- adventured 7y agoI'd have to assume they make a nice kicker from it. They add an identical rental fee each day. So if you roll it over past the return time, they re-rent it to you basically. I know someone that owned a rental chain (the old style physical stores) in the 1980s and early 1990s. At any given time 15-20% of their sales came from late fees. Also interesting is that VHS tapes once cost $70-$100 ($40-$60 wholesale; $55 in 1984 is $140 today), so there was a serious investment and risk in renting them out to customers at the time. Stores typically purchased the tapes outright from the studios back then (so you can imagine the VHS tape inventory costs); more recently many independent stores switched to a shared revenue model, where they didn't have to front cash for inventory.
- Mathnerd314 7y agoPart of the kiosks being cheaper is copyright; Redbox can buy retail discs if they have to, so they have a lot more leverage in licensing.
- freddie_mercury 7y agoSince Blockbuster went bankrupt charging €1 and €1.50 it should be pretty obvious that's not a fair price either. Blockbuster was losing $1 billion a year charging those prices.
- csande17 7y ago> Blockbuster was losing $1 billion a year charging those prices. Blockbuster was also running bricks-and-mortar stores, and buying physical DVDs, and replacing them when they broke/wore out/weren't returned. A digital "rental", on the other hand, has basically zero marginal cost.
- slyall 7y agoOTOH Blockbuster paid for the DVD once and got to rent it out as long as it lasted. How much do itunes/Amazon have to pay to the studio every time they rent out a movie?
- scarface74 7y agoIt has to be close to the price they are a charging since every VOD store charges the same. I would think of that weren’t the case, someone would charge less.
- rabidrat 7y agoScarecrow Video in Seattle had a huge selection, more than any other video rental place. A small, independent video store was able to compete in a local market with the giant chain, and they did pretty well for themselves. I wonder how feasible it would be for a small, independent streaming service to even exist these days.
- techsupporter 7y agoFWIW, the past tense isn't needed: Scarecrow Video still operates, five years on as a non-profit. Reckless Video is also still in operation at Roosevelt and 90th in Maple Leaf.
- aaronbrethorst 7y agohttps://www.kickstarter.com/projects/644154729/the-scarecrow-project https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/644154729/the-scarecrow...
- derekdahmer 7y agoWhat value would they provide in a world where it only costs $5 to instantly stream almost any movie ever created directly to your TV? Location and inventory are now irrelevant, and recommendations are instantly accessible on the web. Viewing devices typically have multiple rental provider options. The only things left to compete on are be bitrate and price.
- apatters 7y ago> a world where it only costs $5 to instantly stream almost any movie ever created directly to your TV Wait, where is this world you speak of? I have a Netflix streaming subscription and it's way inferior in terms of selection to when I used their DVD mailing service ten years ago. But it sounds like you're renting individual titles. I am a bit of a movie buff into old and slightly obscure titles so I went to Google Play and tried three of my old favorites from the 1990s off the top of my head. None of them were available. (I didn't even try the truly obscure stuff.) On the other side of the market, Avengers: Infinity War is $10 to rent on Google Play! Where is this place I can go where they have everything and it's all $5?
- gnicholas 7y agoI have been annoyed that on several occasions I wanted to rent a movie and iTunes only had it for purchase. I agree that iTunes has a decent selection, but I have basically zero interest in "owning" (renting for my lifetime, or the lifetime of the iTunes store, whichever is shorter) movie downloads from iTunes.
- kjaftaedi 7y agoAre there any other decent options available? I am not interested in giving money to Amazon due to how they treat their warehouse workers, and I'm not interested in trying to get itunes to run on linux.
- jaredklewis 7y agoThough I haven't used it personally, Google Play Store looks to have a pretty large collection as well.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- ummonk 7y agoIf cable were on-demand, sure...
- tempsy 7y agoI think you mean Comcast? At a certain point, just getting cable is cheaper than buying all these subscriptions.
- sergiotapia 7y agoYARRRR - it's easier than ever to get linux ISOs. It was tricky back in the day with irc bots, and dc++, emule. Now there's magnet links and the linux ISOs are just flooded right there. Oh you want ganoo loonix remuxes? There's a usenet for that. I would like blockbuster to come back too, it was a fun family moment every saturday evening.
- themodelplumber 7y agoYeah, people are finding creative ways to share videos like they used to share tapes, I've noticed. Kinda fun coming across curated mini-collections, even just out on the web.
- Pfhreak 7y agoI mean, you can just get Disney+ by itself for $7/month? It's pretty easy these days to go, "Is this on Netflix? No. Is this on Prime? No." Adding "Is this on Disney+?" isn't a huge burden and it's still miles cheaper than cable and ad free...
- josteink 7y agoLet’s add more: “is it on HBO?”, “is it on CBS all access?”, “is it on showtime?”, “is it on Stars?” Not to mention some local options where I live: “is it on dplay? Sumo?” You may say that’s ridiculous, but apart from Sumo I think each of those services has had exclusive rights for something I would like to watch. How many services do these people realistically expect me to check, not to mention pay for? It’s a fucking mess, and piracy is clearly more convenient at this point.
- dewey 7y agoWe try to make the "checking multiple sources" a bit easier at https://www.justwatch.com/us https://www.justwatch.com/us - Maybe it's useful for you too. Disclaimer: I work there
- LegitShady 7y agothat doesn't solve the fragmentation subscription problem, it just makes it easier to check which subscription service has content. the point here is that there are too many subscriptions. You're not solving that.
- dewey 7y agoI was referring to making the part “How many services do these people realistically expect me to check” easier. Fully agree on the fragmentation issue.
- scarface74 7y agoI don’t know about other devices, but on the AppleTV app on iOS devices, you can search for a title and it will show you all of the places where it is available.
- puranjay 7y agoI recently bought a turntable and some records. Maybe its the tactile feel of the record or maybe it's the lack of a skip button, but it really does feel better listening to physical media. I predict we will see the backlash against digital media become mainstream soon.
- xmprt 7y agoBut cable is actual trash. It has ads despite already paying and you can't chose the show you want to watch. This is miles better even if it's more expensive (and it's not).
- skinnymuch 7y agoHulu has ads in this package. And of course ESPN+, but that’s because of live sports. So 2/3 have ads.
- cryptozeus 7y agoNope, you are wrong. Many people I know are switching subscriptions on monthly bases. So if you know GOT is on , get 2 month hbo and cancel netflix. You see stranger things trending, get 1 month netflix and pause other subs. People are combining shows to watch and then watch it in one month. Not like cable at all.
- ghaff 7y agoI imagine it's very much a demographic thing. Most people subscribe to things and stick with them. But, especially younger people with less money and more time, are probably more likely to optimize around viewing specific shows.
- cryptozeus 7y agoIt is very easy to pause or unpause the service though. All through website within seconds.
- LegitShady 7y agoI did that for a while but its not worth the hassle because often I Want to watch something that isn't on any of the services i have and dont want to wait. Piracy will make a comeback and thats a logical conclusion from this fragmentation.
- moksly 7y agoWe’ve gone back to buying DVDs/Blurays and renting movies. My most recent purchase was all seasons of x-files in a single box for $15. Usually it’s a tad more expensive to pick up an entire season of something though, so there is some front load to pay, but in 10 years not having had 3-5 subscriptions will have saved us money. And we will still have access to our library of things. That being said, if Disney+ makes it to Denmark, that might actually be the one streaming service we want because of our children. It probably should be noted that the Danish national public service tv station has streaming apps for all their channels, as well as a Netflix style selection for their own content. So that gives us 6 commercial free BBC quality channels.
- sevencolors 7y agoUsenet still works well :)