3 ms·

Netflix, too, is getting into the production business. http://blog.netflix.com/2011/03/house-of-cards.html http://blog.netflix.com/2011/03/house-of-cards.html I

by macrael 16y ago

Netflix, too, is getting into the production business. http://blog.netflix.com/2011/03/house-of-cards.html http://blog.netflix.com/2011/03/house-of-cards.html I guess it is inevitable, but it makes me sad. What makes either of these developments any different from Comcast trying to buy NBC, something that most observers seemed to think was a bad idea? I think this is bad for a couple of reasons. First, production seems way outside their area of expertise. These companies are primarily good at distributing video, secondarily perhaps at negotiating for rights with production houses. Producing video is a completely new endeavor. Second, it changes the rules of competition between today's video services. Instead of competing on prices and business models (monthly subscription vs. ad supported vs. owning videos outright) they may now be competing more on what actual videos are available. If a number of different distribution channels all end up with some hit exclusives, we'll want to pony up for several mostly redundant channels. Seems pretty similar to the setup we have right now with cable. Meet the new boss.

RuadhanMc 16y ago
They will no doubt outsource the ideas + production to more capable people. I, for one, welcome our new overlords -- so long as they don't restrict the content to the US of A. Not being from the US of A I haven't had the luxury of watching Hulu or anything similar, which is a bit of a bummer. Though I fear that the YouTube homegrown shows will be aimed at Teens and not 20-something hackers.
jokermatt999 16y ago
You make a good point about video availability between different channels (something I hadn't really considered here, surprisingly), but I'm somewhat more optimistic. Some of the best television I've seen over the past few years has been exclusive content. The example I always come back to is The Wire. On one hand, I'll be sad to see online services becoming the new premium cable channels, but on the other, I look forward to more excellent shows. It's worth the problems with distribution if we can get some more high quality content.
- macrael 16y ago
  You're quite right about The Wire. Maybe this is just naturally the way that the art is going to be funded in the future. Really, all television is developed exclusively at the network level. NBC, CBS, and HBO all fund the creation of TV that they then broadcast exclusively at a specified time. They go out through the cable wires to their subscribers who either pay by watching ads (NBC), or by paying for access (HBO) (or both, right? (basic cable?)). Then after a while, it comes out on DVD, and can be syndicated by other channels. In that light, these new digital distributors really are changing things up. The idea that the show would be watchable somewhere besides the cable channel at the specific time and date is quite novel. So, the networks now make shows available on their own websites, on Hulu, on iTunes, eventually on Netflix. I guess I just saw the digital distributors as competitors to cable as a whole instead of new 'networks'. There is some truth to my original impression: many different networks, creators of video, distribute their wares on these sites. You see shows from NBC, Fox, etc. all sharing space on Hulu. My guess is that those relationships are going to be strained by having these distributors also pushing their own video. My worry is that now these distributors are becoming networks too, and that that is going to cause problems that didn't exist in the past. Perhaps it is going to solve some problems too, but we'll see.

by macrael 16y ago

RuadhanMc 16y ago

They will no doubt outsource the ideas + production to more capable people. I, for one, welcome our new overlords -- so long as they don't restrict the content to the US of A. Not being from the US of A I haven't had the luxury of watching Hulu or anything similar, which is a bit of a bummer. Though I fear that the YouTube homegrown shows will be aimed at Teens and not 20-something hackers.

jokermatt999 16y ago

You make a good point about video availability between different channels (something I hadn't really considered here, surprisingly), but I'm somewhat more optimistic. Some of the best television I've seen over the past few years has been exclusive content. The example I always come back to is The Wire. On one hand, I'll be sad to see online services becoming the new premium cable channels, but on the other, I look forward to more excellent shows. It's worth the problems with distribution if we can get some more high quality content.

macrael 16y ago
You're quite right about The Wire. Maybe this is just naturally the way that the art is going to be funded in the future. Really, all television is developed exclusively at the network level. NBC, CBS, and HBO all fund the creation of TV that they then broadcast exclusively at a specified time. They go out through the cable wires to their subscribers who either pay by watching ads (NBC), or by paying for access (HBO) (or both, right? (basic cable?)). Then after a while, it comes out on DVD, and can be syndicated by other channels. In that light, these new digital distributors really are changing things up. The idea that the show would be watchable somewhere besides the cable channel at the specific time and date is quite novel. So, the networks now make shows available on their own websites, on Hulu, on iTunes, eventually on Netflix. I guess I just saw the digital distributors as competitors to cable as a whole instead of new 'networks'. There is some truth to my original impression: many different networks, creators of video, distribute their wares on these sites. You see shows from NBC, Fox, etc. all sharing space on Hulu. My guess is that those relationships are going to be strained by having these distributors also pushing their own video. My worry is that now these distributors are becoming networks too, and that that is going to cause problems that didn't exist in the past. Perhaps it is going to solve some problems too, but we'll see.