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My Mom lives on the West Coast while we live on the East. She's almost 70 and on a fixed income, so I pay for Netflix access for all of us and I'm happy to do s

My Mom lives on the West Coast while we live on the East. She's almost 70 and on a fixed income, so I pay for Netflix access for all of us and I'm happy to do so. However, if they block her access I can't see any reason to keep my 4k plan. I can get anything we want on a Plex server and give her whatever she wants to watch that way. I was already on the fence with the lack of content on Netflix, but this may just be the straw that breaks the camel's back.

dairyleia 4y ago
I'm in a similar situation with my mother-in-law. I'd happily pay a bit more each month to support her Netflix account. If they block her, we may just cancel the subscription completely.
BulgarianIdiot 4y ago
So your thesis is that piracy is cheaper. Ok thanks.
- jwozn 4y ago
  Plex isn't necessarily piracy.
  - oliwarner 4y ago
    I upvoted this because it's technically true, but common "legal" use-cases involve format shifting and that puts you out of bounds straight away, depending on your jurisdiction. Even if your area allows it for "backups" or interop, you're making it available in multiple locations at once. I'm sure it wouldn't take much to demonstrate this was some sort of performance or other act explicitly disallowed by the EULA. But I'm sure you're just sharing Big Buck Bunny ;) My point isn't that it's illegal, only that it's disingenuous enough to suggest it is legal. Plex definitely lies in a grey area of tolerated home use, with features that turn it into a piracy nightmare.
    - rvschuilenburg 4y ago
      Couldn't the same be said about allowing others to use your Netflex account? I think Netflix is licensing you access to their library, and not that friend who uses your account.
      - oliwarner 4y ago
        Yes, that's exactly the argument Rightsholder groups in the UK are making. They claim it's piracy, the same as if you downloaded it yourself.
- nickthegreek 4y ago
  Their thesis is that he isnt using more concurrent streams that he is paying for and if the company wants to start putting additional limitations on this concurrent streams, its not worth the headache anymore.
- ZeroCool2u 4y ago
  It wasn't necessarily cheaper in terms of effort until now and I prefer to support the content creators. But I already pay over $20/month and for what? I barely use it, same with my Wife. The one person that does use it the most is getting blocked, so I have a hard time seeing a reasonable alternative.
- gary_0 4y ago
  "Piracy is almost always a service problem and not a pricing problem." - Gabe Newell, 10+ years ago Once upon a time, Netflix itself was considered the case in point! Then video streaming splintered into a dozen services and now Netflix has decided to make things even more complicated. People don't learn, I guess.
  - mc32 4y ago
    I think that's a bit unfair. Businesses go through business cycles. I never worked there, nor have insight (obviously) but you know the business climate changes, your competitors change and you have to adjust or experience consequences. Sometimes you need to grow subscriptions, sometimes you need to grow revenue, sometimes you have more flexibility, and sometimes less (Netflix has to re-enter agreements with content owners and creators and those can change and they have to adjust and also business changes). However, it seems people only envision greedy accountants and Executives rubbing hands at the prospect.
    - nscalf 4y ago
      Once you go public you have no option other than to just grow at all costs. The cost of Netflix pushing growth is turning consumer sentiment against them by cracking down on account sharing and pushing ads into the service. Netflix had a gross profit of $12.44B in 2022. Why not preserve the large, successful business that consumers have a high opinion of instead of push for further profits? The truth is that Netflix could continue profiting billions per year more or less indefinitely without risking the company by shifting focus from growth, and the only people who would be upset about it would be shareholders. And the only reason they'd be upset is because of greed. They could stop trying to grow and be a strong dividend company overnight.
      - mc32 4y ago
        It's not that simple. Their "greed" affords "those" investors the ability to invest those earnings in other up and comers --some of which may fail and some of which may succeed. If everyone was just happy with going an even course, at scale, the economy would stagnate.
- beeb 4y ago
  Using Plex and downloading movies for personal use is legal in some countries like Switzerland.
- Nullabillity 4y ago
  Goodwill was the only argument they had. Burning that up seems like a great way to kill what income streams they had.
- wellthisisgreat 4y ago
  Yeah it was less convenient and now it will be more convenient.
joshspankit 4y ago
Your logic seems to conclude that you keep paying for Netflix, but that your mom will be the only one to use it.
- ZeroCool2u 4y ago
  Yes, that is the last paying option left. Obviously, that's not appealing though, so I'm more likely to seek out alternatives.
  - tptacek 4y ago
    I think the subtext is: you don't have a problem. You have a single-household Netflix account. You're the kind of account Netflix likes.
    - ZeroCool2u 4y ago
      I'm not sure I agree. If the choices are: I can keep my account and downgrade my plan and then pay for a separate account for my Mom, then they would make about the same or even less money. They certainly won't be getting any ad revenue from either account. I can cancel my account outright and get my content through alternative methods where Netflix is not compensated. It seems to me the choice is obvious here and the calculus doesn't swing in Netflix's favor. Perhaps for the majority of the subscriber population it will, but that's a bit of a gamble when my generation and really every other generation after grew up knowing how to pirate whatever they wanted.
      - tptacek 4y ago
        If your mom is the only user, what is the difference to you?
        ZeroCool2u 4y ago
        She's not the _only_ user, it's just that my "households" usage doesn't justify the expense and effort.
m-p-3 4y ago
Same situation here. I think I'll just cancel, put the subscription money I save into a fund to maintain and upgrade my home server.
dpkirchner 4y ago
I'm not you so I don't know your situation but the thought of having to manually download and share media whenever my mom calls me up sounds miserable. I'd rather just pay for her subscription.
- unforeseen9991 4y ago
  Manually? There's out of the box ways to automate essentially everything including new requests
  - dpkirchner 4y ago
    There's a lot of things I'd want to address beyond the tech: I'd want the videos to have good subtitles, to actually be what was requested and not have surprise porn or whatever, for examples. I don't think these are things I could automate. Netflix is likely to include subtitles and will never return video that wasn't requested. I dunno, it's work the few bucks a month.
    - mtlmtlmtlmtl 4y ago
      Streaming services including Netflix regularly omit subtitles for non-english dialogue, I've found. For a significant number of movies this this can make them unwatchable.
- 111111101101 4y ago
  My system is 100% automated. Sonarr + Radarr + Prowlarr + Deluge + SABnzdb FTW. I stuck to using torrents for years but about 6 months ago I switched to Usenet and the $10 p/m for the Usenet provider and $30/year for an indexer is definitely worth the money. Now instead of having hundreds of seedless torrents in my queue, my system downloads even the most obscure media at a speed that completely saturates my connection.
  - hnburnsy 4y ago
    First rule of usenet! do you want it to end up like zlib?
beAbU 4y ago
Same. I share a netflix account with my parents. Thankfully I've already introduced them to Emby (similar to plex/jellyfin), and they are already familiar with the app that I installed on their Android tv box. They've been using it more than Netflix over the past few months, as the current show they are watching Cancelling Netflix will be a very small disruption for us.
GeekyBear 4y ago
My divorced buddy shares his account with his son, who lives in the next city over with his ex-wife. Cracking down on them will result in one less subscriber, not more money.
yreg 4y ago
I'm angry about their offering. I'm fine with Netflix for me only, but I want the full quality. If they force me to either pay for an entire family without being able to share it with my mom or to stream the content in subpar quality I will probably just go elsewhere.

dairyleia 4y ago

I'm in a similar situation with my mother-in-law. I'd happily pay a bit more each month to support her Netflix account. If they block her, we may just cancel the subscription completely.

BulgarianIdiot 4y ago

So your thesis is that piracy is cheaper. Ok thanks.

jwozn 4y ago
Plex isn't necessarily piracy.
- oliwarner 4y ago
  I upvoted this because it's technically true, but common "legal" use-cases involve format shifting and that puts you out of bounds straight away, depending on your jurisdiction. Even if your area allows it for "backups" or interop, you're making it available in multiple locations at once. I'm sure it wouldn't take much to demonstrate this was some sort of performance or other act explicitly disallowed by the EULA. But I'm sure you're just sharing Big Buck Bunny ;) My point isn't that it's illegal, only that it's disingenuous enough to suggest it is legal. Plex definitely lies in a grey area of tolerated home use, with features that turn it into a piracy nightmare.
  - rvschuilenburg 4y ago
    Couldn't the same be said about allowing others to use your Netflex account? I think Netflix is licensing you access to their library, and not that friend who uses your account.
    - oliwarner 4y ago
      Yes, that's exactly the argument Rightsholder groups in the UK are making. They claim it's piracy, the same as if you downloaded it yourself.
nickthegreek 4y ago
Their thesis is that he isnt using more concurrent streams that he is paying for and if the company wants to start putting additional limitations on this concurrent streams, its not worth the headache anymore.
ZeroCool2u 4y ago
It wasn't necessarily cheaper in terms of effort until now and I prefer to support the content creators. But I already pay over $20/month and for what? I barely use it, same with my Wife. The one person that does use it the most is getting blocked, so I have a hard time seeing a reasonable alternative.
gary_0 4y ago
"Piracy is almost always a service problem and not a pricing problem." - Gabe Newell, 10+ years ago Once upon a time, Netflix itself was considered the case in point! Then video streaming splintered into a dozen services and now Netflix has decided to make things even more complicated. People don't learn, I guess.
- mc32 4y ago
  I think that's a bit unfair. Businesses go through business cycles. I never worked there, nor have insight (obviously) but you know the business climate changes, your competitors change and you have to adjust or experience consequences. Sometimes you need to grow subscriptions, sometimes you need to grow revenue, sometimes you have more flexibility, and sometimes less (Netflix has to re-enter agreements with content owners and creators and those can change and they have to adjust and also business changes). However, it seems people only envision greedy accountants and Executives rubbing hands at the prospect.
  - nscalf 4y ago
    Once you go public you have no option other than to just grow at all costs. The cost of Netflix pushing growth is turning consumer sentiment against them by cracking down on account sharing and pushing ads into the service. Netflix had a gross profit of $12.44B in 2022. Why not preserve the large, successful business that consumers have a high opinion of instead of push for further profits? The truth is that Netflix could continue profiting billions per year more or less indefinitely without risking the company by shifting focus from growth, and the only people who would be upset about it would be shareholders. And the only reason they'd be upset is because of greed. They could stop trying to grow and be a strong dividend company overnight.
    - mc32 4y ago
      It's not that simple. Their "greed" affords "those" investors the ability to invest those earnings in other up and comers --some of which may fail and some of which may succeed. If everyone was just happy with going an even course, at scale, the economy would stagnate.
beeb 4y ago
Using Plex and downloading movies for personal use is legal in some countries like Switzerland.
Nullabillity 4y ago
Goodwill was the only argument they had. Burning that up seems like a great way to kill what income streams they had.
wellthisisgreat 4y ago
Yeah it was less convenient and now it will be more convenient.

joshspankit 4y ago

Your logic seems to conclude that you keep paying for Netflix, but that your mom will be the only one to use it.

ZeroCool2u 4y ago
Yes, that is the last paying option left. Obviously, that's not appealing though, so I'm more likely to seek out alternatives.
- tptacek 4y ago
  I think the subtext is: you don't have a problem. You have a single-household Netflix account. You're the kind of account Netflix likes.
  - ZeroCool2u 4y ago
    I'm not sure I agree. If the choices are: I can keep my account and downgrade my plan and then pay for a separate account for my Mom, then they would make about the same or even less money. They certainly won't be getting any ad revenue from either account. I can cancel my account outright and get my content through alternative methods where Netflix is not compensated. It seems to me the choice is obvious here and the calculus doesn't swing in Netflix's favor. Perhaps for the majority of the subscriber population it will, but that's a bit of a gamble when my generation and really every other generation after grew up knowing how to pirate whatever they wanted.
    - tptacek 4y ago
      If your mom is the only user, what is the difference to you?
      - ZeroCool2u 4y ago
        She's not the _only_ user, it's just that my "households" usage doesn't justify the expense and effort.

m-p-3 4y ago

Same situation here. I think I'll just cancel, put the subscription money I save into a fund to maintain and upgrade my home server.

dpkirchner 4y ago

I'm not you so I don't know your situation but the thought of having to manually download and share media whenever my mom calls me up sounds miserable. I'd rather just pay for her subscription.

unforeseen9991 4y ago
Manually? There's out of the box ways to automate essentially everything including new requests
- dpkirchner 4y ago
  There's a lot of things I'd want to address beyond the tech: I'd want the videos to have good subtitles, to actually be what was requested and not have surprise porn or whatever, for examples. I don't think these are things I could automate. Netflix is likely to include subtitles and will never return video that wasn't requested. I dunno, it's work the few bucks a month.
  - mtlmtlmtlmtl 4y ago
    Streaming services including Netflix regularly omit subtitles for non-english dialogue, I've found. For a significant number of movies this this can make them unwatchable.
111111101101 4y ago
My system is 100% automated. Sonarr + Radarr + Prowlarr + Deluge + SABnzdb FTW. I stuck to using torrents for years but about 6 months ago I switched to Usenet and the $10 p/m for the Usenet provider and $30/year for an indexer is definitely worth the money. Now instead of having hundreds of seedless torrents in my queue, my system downloads even the most obscure media at a speed that completely saturates my connection.
- hnburnsy 4y ago
  First rule of usenet! do you want it to end up like zlib?

beAbU 4y ago

Same. I share a netflix account with my parents. Thankfully I've already introduced them to Emby (similar to plex/jellyfin), and they are already familiar with the app that I installed on their Android tv box. They've been using it more than Netflix over the past few months, as the current show they are watching Cancelling Netflix will be a very small disruption for us.

GeekyBear 4y ago

My divorced buddy shares his account with his son, who lives in the next city over with his ex-wife. Cracking down on them will result in one less subscriber, not more money.

yreg 4y ago

I'm angry about their offering. I'm fine with Netflix for me only, but I want the full quality. If they force me to either pay for an entire family without being able to share it with my mom or to stream the content in subpar quality I will probably just go elsewhere.