5 ms·

Don't build the Torment Netflix? These fundamentally anti-consumer moves are why it's called the Internet of sh**y things. I have no concern whatsoever whether

Don't build the Torment Netflix? These fundamentally anti-consumer moves are why it's called the Internet of sh**y things. I have no concern whatsoever whether this is about licensing or just money grubbing. You're making things suck for the paying customer. But to be fair, all the streaming services are chasing the last few drops of blood from the stone trying to stop people from actually watching from two screens they paid for in two different locations and other idiocy. I canceled Netflix a while back. And I only watch prime video through an ad blocker on my PC now. Clearly I must hate freedom.

troupo 11mo ago
> I have no concern whatsoever whether this is about licensing or just money grubbing. You're making things suck for the paying customer. That's the thing though. Streaming services have very little say in how the content is licensed. > the last few drops of blood from the stone trying to stop people from actually watching from two screens they paid for in two different locations and other idiocy. Those restrictions you're talking about? They literally come from licensing terms that rights owners impose. (Most) streaming platforms would gladly not spend a lot of time figuring the devices, what they are playing etc.
- LogicFailsMe 11mo ago
  My post obviously struck a nerve, but I would rather pay a higher subscription fee than experience a crappy customer experience. Ads are an exception here, if I'm paying, no ads, and also why I cancelled my NYT subscription long ago. However, that is not the storyline services like Disney and Netflix have been telling. They have gassed on and on about stopping piracy. 2 screens isn't piracy, it's any family with someone who travels or is away at college. The solution would appear to be an official android API for streaming content from mobile devices that has resolved these issues or locked out the rights holders. That would require spine so not expecting it, sigh. But they're sure happy to pick on sideloaders.
  - troupo 11mo ago
    > The solution would appear to be an official android API for streaming content from mobile devices that has resolved these issues or locked out the rights holders. How would you lock out rights holders who hold the rights to content to create such an official streaming API? Such an official API would have to abide by all the licensing rules rights holders impose.
    - LogicFailsMe 11mo ago
      That's a question for lawyers to resolve. IANAL but I have great faith in their ability to impose arbitrary roadblocks to anything as needed. And even if ultimately overturned, just making the bottom line more affordable allowing casting would seem to be the "shareholder value" friendly message. Further, there was already precedent for such behavior on Netflix with some content being downloadable for later viewing and some not. I'm a bit surprised that you think Google and the streaming services are helpless here when pretty much every foundation model effort has stolen tremendous amounts of IP to build their AI models without consequence. Otherwise, frog.pot.boiled, no?
      - troupo 11mo ago
        > I'm a bit surprised that you think Google and the streaming services are helpless here They own about 0 rights to the content they stream. Netflix almost collapsed when major studios pulled their content to create competing platforms. That's why they spent to the tune of 8 billion dollars a year to produce their own content and flooded the service with mediocre movies and a bunch of Korean movies and series. Also that's why you can watch the content they have rights to in every country, download it etc. That's the same reason why AppleTV is busy creating their own content etc. If streaming platforms dare to go against rights holders, the lawsuits will hurt even Google. As for AI: it doesn't hurt the rights holders yet. The moment it does, you'll see lawsuits.
        LogicFailsMe 11mo ago
        I will probably never stop being astounded by people who embrace enahittification rather than losing a silly thing like Netflix. At some point, the free market works this out, but I'm guessing people can stay irrational about things like this longer than they ought to. Other than Wednesday, at this point there's nothing I want to watch on that service anymore. I truly do not miss it. What I do miss these days is all of the wonderful summaries and presentations about AI and other research papers on YouTube that are now dominated by horrific notebookLM AI slop podcasts.

troupo 11mo ago

> I have no concern whatsoever whether this is about licensing or just money grubbing. You're making things suck for the paying customer. That's the thing though. Streaming services have very little say in how the content is licensed. > the last few drops of blood from the stone trying to stop people from actually watching from two screens they paid for in two different locations and other idiocy. Those restrictions you're talking about? They literally come from licensing terms that rights owners impose. (Most) streaming platforms would gladly not spend a lot of time figuring the devices, what they are playing etc.

LogicFailsMe 11mo ago
My post obviously struck a nerve, but I would rather pay a higher subscription fee than experience a crappy customer experience. Ads are an exception here, if I'm paying, no ads, and also why I cancelled my NYT subscription long ago. However, that is not the storyline services like Disney and Netflix have been telling. They have gassed on and on about stopping piracy. 2 screens isn't piracy, it's any family with someone who travels or is away at college. The solution would appear to be an official android API for streaming content from mobile devices that has resolved these issues or locked out the rights holders. That would require spine so not expecting it, sigh. But they're sure happy to pick on sideloaders.
- troupo 11mo ago
  > The solution would appear to be an official android API for streaming content from mobile devices that has resolved these issues or locked out the rights holders. How would you lock out rights holders who hold the rights to content to create such an official streaming API? Such an official API would have to abide by all the licensing rules rights holders impose.
  - LogicFailsMe 11mo ago
    That's a question for lawyers to resolve. IANAL but I have great faith in their ability to impose arbitrary roadblocks to anything as needed. And even if ultimately overturned, just making the bottom line more affordable allowing casting would seem to be the "shareholder value" friendly message. Further, there was already precedent for such behavior on Netflix with some content being downloadable for later viewing and some not. I'm a bit surprised that you think Google and the streaming services are helpless here when pretty much every foundation model effort has stolen tremendous amounts of IP to build their AI models without consequence. Otherwise, frog.pot.boiled, no?
    - troupo 11mo ago
      > I'm a bit surprised that you think Google and the streaming services are helpless here They own about 0 rights to the content they stream. Netflix almost collapsed when major studios pulled their content to create competing platforms. That's why they spent to the tune of 8 billion dollars a year to produce their own content and flooded the service with mediocre movies and a bunch of Korean movies and series. Also that's why you can watch the content they have rights to in every country, download it etc. That's the same reason why AppleTV is busy creating their own content etc. If streaming platforms dare to go against rights holders, the lawsuits will hurt even Google. As for AI: it doesn't hurt the rights holders yet. The moment it does, you'll see lawsuits.
      - LogicFailsMe 11mo ago
        I will probably never stop being astounded by people who embrace enahittification rather than losing a silly thing like Netflix. At some point, the free market works this out, but I'm guessing people can stay irrational about things like this longer than they ought to. Other than Wednesday, at this point there's nothing I want to watch on that service anymore. I truly do not miss it. What I do miss these days is all of the wonderful summaries and presentations about AI and other research papers on YouTube that are now dominated by horrific notebookLM AI slop podcasts.