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Netflix signs licensing agreement with Disney
- debacle 14y agoI may never buy a DVD again.
- mminer 14y agoAs someone who owns many DVDs, I'm sad that the extra features often included on them (interviews, documentaries, behind-the-scenes footage) remain unavailable on streaming services like Netflix. I hope that as competition increases, this extra content is included as a value-add. Some of the features on Pixar DVDs showing the pre-production storyboarding and early animation are particularly interesting.
- jonny_eh 14y agoI haven't bought a DVD/Bluray since I signed up for Netflix streaming.
- mixmastamyk 14y agoI like having a blu-ray of my absolute favorite movies handy... the other 95% I agree, meh.
- ImprovedSilence 14y agoTwo years ago my DVD player broke. A year ago I replaced by laptop with a macbook air. No CD drive anywhere in site. And I've hardly noticed. I don't even remember what DVD's look like. And as somewhat of an apartment dwelling transient, I don't mind the open shelf space, and lack of another box I have to haul around in life after DVDs/CDs. I think generations will look back at the way we stored information and think, "what a waste of physical material".
- l0c0b0x 14y agoHow is this a 'good deal' for Netflix and it's subscribers? We've got this great feature coming up, IN THREE YEARS!. yay?
- xyzzyb 14y ago… Read the read of the article. """ That deal also includes first-run rights to direct-to-video releases, which will begin appearing on Netflix in 2013. What's more, the two companies have also announced a separate multi-year agreement that will see popular Disney catalog titles like Dumbo and Alice in Wonderland be made available on Netflix beginning today. """
- xyzzyb 14y agoIt's not even like this is a long article. It's literally a 140 word paragraph.
- MartinCron 14y agoThe Disney catalog is such a big deal that even without the 2016 new releases, this would be newsworthy.
- donpdonp 14y agoThe agreement is a huge deal, but I agree three years out is a long time to wait! I find the exclusive part hard to believe. In the next three years something may supersede Netflix and Disney will want to be able to switch.
- jonny_eh 14y agoIt's a contract. The reason it's a three year wait is because of the existing contracts. This announcement is about Disney's next contract.
- ChuckMcM 14y agoPresumably the reason it isn't happening "right now" is that Disney has current contracts that don't expire until then. The good news is that Disney, a major content provider, has recognized that a streaming company, NetFlix is worth negotiating with like a cable network company, like Stars, Encore, HBO, Etc. Progress is not quick but that is only because one has to wait for existing contracts to expire (their are usually penalties for breaking them early).
- suhailpatel 14y agoThis may be great news for Netflix and I really do hope some of the Disney stuff makes it over the pond to the UK. One thing i've noticed though (especially in the UK) is that it's becoming a three way licensing battle. I think eventually we'll have each major VOD provider (Sky, LoveFilm and Netflix) have exclusive licensing arrangements with 1/3rd of the content providers each so to enjoy a full range of content you'd need subscriptions to all three. I wish they'd compete on other factors other than exclusive licensing arrangements.
- debacle 14y agoNetflix's business model is based on a relatively fixed number of hours of streaming per account, and basing licensing fees off of that number of hours.
- superuser2 14y ago> "Is Netflix really unlimited?" > Yes, you can watch as often as you want, any time you want. https://signup.netflix.com/HowItWorks https://signup.netflix.com/HowItWorks
- debacle 14y agoThere are only so many hours in a month, and like any service they probably make money on a large percentage of their users and lose money on a small percentage.
- xyzzyb 14y agoI don't know about UK pricing, but here in the US subscribing to Hulu Plus, Netflix, and specific shows on Amazon and iTunes (e.g. Mythbusters) is still much cheaper than a monthly cable subscription.
- aqme28 14y agoAdditionally, ~1/3 of a show's duration on cable is taken up by advertisements. Netflix doesn't have ads.
- donpdonp 14y agoThis is an interesting upside to studio consolidation. With this deal, Netflix has access to Pixar and LucasFilm titles too.
- kmfrk 14y agoI think there's a funny balance - or maybe it's an inflection point - where you go from being mad at Netflix over a scarce catalogue to being mad at the content providers for keeping their movies and TV shows to themselves. I don't know whether to think "Geez, get with the times, Netflix" or the same, but for Disney.
- thisisrobv 14y agoReally excited about the Disney catalog titles. Will be interesting to see how this plays out short term for them, I can imagine a lot of families subscribing over the holidays.
- jonursenbach 14y agoWonder if this agreement includes Star Wars now that Disney acquired Lucasfilm...
- jdechko 14y agoHopefully this deal will also include more recent films like the Pixar movies, Tangled, etc. There's little that's more frustrating that having your kids scratch up their movies, rendering them unwatchable. Fortunately, I've made iTunes copies of many movies, but they get new movies faster than I can keep up. And my oldest, 5, stepped on the Avengers less than a week after buying it, and cracked the disc. Fortunately, I had already ripped it, so I burned it back to DVD.
- mirzmaster 14y agoMore Netflix content we Canadians can't watch. <sigh/>
- mdm_ 14y agoPfft, totally moot anyways. By 2016 the average Canadian internet package will be so expensive/low cap, subscribing to Netflix will be completely impractical.
- andrewla 14y agoWhy exclusive? I can understand why Netflix would want it, but this means that Netflix has to pay a ton more money, thus limiting their ability to get more of these deals. As a Netflix subscriber, I'd rather see them signing more non-exclusive deals than fewer exclusive deals. For Disney, it seems a ridiculous move -- why not offer multiple channels? It seems very shortsighted to sign these exclusive contracts when the marketplace is so immature. Why not get money for every channel that's willing to pay you?
- kmfrk 14y agoDisney own ABC and are BFFs with Apple. They already have a bunch of places to go through, and it's probably in their interest to shut out their competitors in the respective space anyway.
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- jdonahue 14y ago> As a Netflix subscriber, I'd rather see them signing more non-exclusive deals than fewer exclusive deals. It seems like a deal like this would be more intended to attract customers of competing services than appease current subscribers (many of whom are overwhelmingly likely to resubscribe by default month after month). I could easily imagine people switching from <Amazon/Hulu/some 2016 subscription service> to Netflix because the former no longer has Disney content and the latter does. I agree with you on Disney though - I don't really see the logic in it on their part, unless they foresee Netflix being enough of a monopoly in 2016 (possibly due in significant part to this deal itself - maybe they even expect other media titans to join in) that the sales from all competing services combined over whatever time period the deal covers would be less than the lump sum Netflix offered.
- cpeterso 14y agoA non-exclusive deal would make Netflix a dumb pipe for commodity content. They would rather have a monopoly on Disney's popular content.
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- gpayan 14y agoI don’t see Star Wars coming to Netflix anytime soon unfortunately. Disney paid $4 billion for LucasFilm to acquire essentially the rights for the Starwars franchise. And, IMO LucasFilm still makes a lot of money from Star Wars DVD & Blu-ray’s sales (for instance: http://io9.com/5843342/star-wars-blu+rays-break-sales-records-take-in-84-million http://io9.com/5843342/star-wars-blu+rays-break-sales-record...). Overall, Lucas has made close to $3.8 billion with DVD sales (http://www.statisticbrain.com/star-wars-total-franchise-revenue/ http://www.statisticbrain.com/star-wars-total-franchise-reve...). This is one of the reasons why Star Wars movies are not available on iTunes and other VOD platforms. Putting those titles on Netflix would decrease their value. Netflix would have to pay big money for that…
- dougbarrett 14y agoI disagree. From what the article sounded like, Disney is all in on this. Disney has been providing Netflix content for their streaming service probably since day 1. I remember when it first launched, I believe Lost was available on the server. All 6 seasons are available and have been since the series finale. The future for entertainment is not physical media that you can buy. It's much easier and quicker for me to switch my TV to my Roku box, load up Netflix and start a movie than it is to switch to Bluray, and wait for it to load and show previews. I can't remember the last time I purchased a DVD/Bluray that wasn't in the bargin bin for $2, but we watched Netflix just last night. I don't think Disney is going to lose out on Star Wars sales if they start streaming it, there will always be people that want to buy the package so when the internet is off, and all they have is a portable DVD player, they can watch Star Wars, but by making this deal with Netflix they are only increasing their profits, there is no devaluing going on here.
- VikingCoder 14y agoIs this specifically Netflix Instant Watch, or isn't it?
- njharman 14y ago2016! Who (other than investors/competion/etc) the fuck cares? 3+ years out? Like is netflix even going to be in bui Stuff 3mo out isn't even on my radar, mostly.
- dkokelley 14y agoIt's nice to see that Netflix is getting more content. I like Netflix. But I wonder if this isn't Netflix learning to play the content producer's games. I think it would be better for everyone if content production/distribution was profitable not because of exclusivity but because of ubiquity. Disney could (should) be most profitable when they make access to their product (content) easier. Note I am speaking prescriptively. When I say "should" I mean "the way the world ought to work according to me..." I'd love to hear what others think about this.
- gpayan 14y agoWhat it comes down to is money and how much Netflix is willing to pay for exclusif access to Disney content. Disney tries to maximize the amount of money it can get from its content & distribution partners. If the money made from providing exclusive content on Netflix > Money made from the same content available on Amazon + Hulu Plus + Netflix + Xfinity => then Disney goes with the option of exclusive content on Netflix.
- Steko 14y ago> Disney could (should) be most profitable when they make access to their product (content) easier. Ok I'll bite. Access to content has multiple facets: First main point is price. Obviously it's not "most profitable" for Disney to make it's stuff free. A subscription service is going to charge a monthly fee and that fee is going to be primarily licensing and overhead. Dividing that over a dozen companies reduces the profit taking of a market leader like Netflix but also multiplies the overhead. Note, the 3 year contracts already control Netflix from taking too much of the profits so it seems like there is little incentive for Disney to want a market of say 10 netflixes over one. Second main point is that not all access is equal. Disney has strong incentives to associate its content with: (1) a quality service both in delivery and interface; (2) a service that provides useful data back to Disney; (3) a service that will promote Disney. Why should Disney associate itself with your fly by night terribly performing service that streams in 360p, constantly drops and has a 15 step sign up process riddled with malware carrying flash ads? Why should Disney help me launch a foreign film centric service where Disney movies are also rans?
- TommyDANGerous 14y agoWow, nice move on Netflix's part. Disney movies/shows will equal cartoons, Marvel, and now Star Wars.
- sev 14y agoSince Disney is part owner of Hulu[1], I wonder how the exclusivity of Netflix will play out? [1]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hulu http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hulu
- adrianm 14y agoIs it weird that reading this news actually brought a tear to my eye? No, not because I am such a Disney or Marvel fan that I couldn't live without their content being available to stream at my convenience. No... I just honestly think it's truly beautiful to see companies bring elements of what I always conceived would be part of "the future" into my actual (non-imaginary) life. I think this deal could perhaps finally solidify the Internet as being the mainstream medium of digital content delivery. Don't worry, I'm not forgetting about iTunes. But this is DISNEY. Maybe I'm just biased because I was one of those 90s kids (not really so long ago!) with shelves full of Disney VHS's. Perhaps it's a strange trigger; but the breakneck speed of our innovative times has finally hit me.
- shmerl 14y agoWhen will come the era of DRM free Netflix?